Lithuanian language area in the 16th centuryLithuania's territorial claims during the Interbellum. They were almost identical to historical ethnic Lithuanian lands.A 1920 map showing the territorial evolution of Lithuania published by the Lithuanian Information Bureau in France."Our Lithuania" 1964-1968 (1989-1991 editions pictured) by Bronius Kviklys. The books are encyclopedia volumes containing information about historical Lithuanian cities, towns and villages both within and outside the modern-day borders of Lithuania.
Ethnographic Lithuania is a concept that defines Lithuanian territories as a significant part of the territories that belonged to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Lithuanians as all people living on them, regardless of whether those people contemporarily or currently speak the Lithuanian language and considered themselves Lithuanian. The concept was in contrast to those of "historic Lithuania", the territories of the Duchy, and the "linguistic Lithuania", the area where Lithuanian language was overwhelmingly spoken.[1][2]
According to the interpretation of Polish historian Piotr Lossowski, the concept of ethnographic Lithuania clashed with the right for self-determination of people living in that large territory, particularly Poles and Belarusians, who, according to the supporters of the ethnographic Lithuania, were "slavicized Lithuanians" who needed to be re-Lithuanized. They argued that an individual cannot choose his ethnicity and nationality, which are determined not by language but by ancestry.[2]
"One cannot define it according to the opinion of every individual. Belonging or not to a given nationality is not something everybody can decide for themselves, it is not something that can be solved according to political liberalism, even if hidden under the cloak of democratic slogans. It is too complex, too tied with ancient history, too related with the history of a given nation, for the will or passivity of any individual to challenge it. [...] Ethnographic Lithuania does not end where the locals no longer speak Lithuanian, it spreads further, to the regions which do not speak - but used to - Lithuanian, since it is composed of one Lithuanian nation, regardless of whether it speaks Lithuanian, has forgotten the language or even holds it in contempt."[2]
According to the interpretations of Polish historian, demands of this early program would only slightly be modified in the coming decades[2] (some would also include part of the Minsk Governorate around Naugardukas and the Lithuanian Minor territory around Memel). In essence, Lithuanian elites demanded the creation of a Lithuanian country with 125,000 square miles (320,000 km2), from the Baltic Sea in the West, Daugava River in the north, to Bug River and Polesie marshes in the south.[2] That territory was inhabited in the early 20th century by 5,850,000 people; out of those, according to the official Russian Empire statistics, linguistic Lithuanians formed 1,659,000 - i.e. less than 30%.[2] Out of the regions mentioned in the 1905 declaration, only the Kovno Governorate and the northern part of Suwałki Governorate had a clear Lithuanian-speaking majority.[2]
Norus, Tomas; Žilius, Jonas (1918). Lithuania's case for independence. Washington, D.C.: B. F. Johnson Publishers. Pages 25-34 discuss the concept of ethnographic Lithuania.
Further reading
Timothy Snyder, The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569-1999, Yale University Press, 2003, ISBN0-300-10586-X
Egidijus Aleksandravičius, Political goals of Lithuanians, 1863-1918, Journal of Baltic Studies, Volume 23, Issue 3 Autumn 1992, pages 227 - 238
Jakubowski J., STUDYA NAD STOSUNKAMI NARODOWOŚCIOWEMI NA LITWIE PRZED UNIĄ LUBELSKĄ, Warszawa, Prace t-wa naukowego warszawskiego, 1912, str. 1-10, [1]
Władysław Wielhorski, Litwa etnograficzna, Wilno, 1928
