[28] Lietava, a small river not far from Kernavė, the core area of the early Lithuanian state and a possible first capital of the eventual Grand Duchy of Lithuania, is usually credited as the source of the name.

The area was remote and unattractive to outsiders, including traders, which accounts for its separate linguistic, cultural and religious identity and delayed integration into general European patterns and trends.

[48] Traidenis during his reign (1269–1282) reunified all Lithuanian lands and achieved military successes against the Crusaders, fighting alongside other Baltic tribes, but was unable to militarily assist the Old Prussians in their Great Uprising.

[59] In the second half of the 18th century the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was three times partitioned by three neighboring countries which completely dissoluted both independent Lithuania and Poland from the political map in 1795 after a failed Kościuszko Uprising and short-lived recapture of capital Vilnius in 1794.

[50] Following the annexation the Russian Tsarist authorities implemented Russification policies in Lithuania, which then made a part of a new administrative region Northwestern Krai.

[63] A colleague of S. Daukantas, Teodor Narbutt, wrote in Polish a voluminous Ancient History of the Lithuanian Nation (1835–1841), where he likewise expounded and expanded further on the concept of historic Lithuania, whose days of glory had ended with the Union of Lublin in 1569.

[67] The aims of the newly restored Lithuania clashed with Józef Piłsudski's plans to create a federation (Intermarium) in territories previously ruled by the Jagiellonians.

The law provided the foundations for regulating social relations in the field of environmental protection, established the basic rights and obligations of legal and natural persons in preserving the biodiversity inherent in Lithuania, ecological systems and the landscape.

The members of CBSS are Iceland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Germany, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Russia, and the European Commission.

Beginning in summer of 2005, Lithuania was part of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan (ISAF), leading a Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in the town of Chaghcharan in the province of Ghor.

[179] The Lithuanian National Defence Policy aims to guarantee the preservation of the independence and sovereignty of the state, the integrity of its land, territorial waters and airspace, and its constitutional order.

Its main strategic goals are to defend the country's interests, and to maintain and expand the capabilities of its armed forces so they may contribute to and participate in the missions of NATO and European Union member states.

[221] The world wars of the 20th century severely diminished Lithuanian science and academia, although Lithuanian scholars and scientists managed to succeed, particularly abroad, including philosopher Vosylius Sezemanas, jurist Mykolas Römeris, aviator Antanas Gustaitis, management theorist Vytautas Andrius Graičiūnas, archaeologist Marija Gimbutas, primatologist Birutė Galdikas, linguist Algirdas Julien Greimas, and medievalist Jurgis Baltrušaitis.

[228][229] Šviesos konversija ("Light Conversion") has developed a femtosecond laser system that has 80% market share worldwide, with applications in DNA research, ophthalmological surgeries, and nanotechnology.

Five R&D Valleys were launched – Jūrinis (maritime technologies), Nemunas (agro, bioenergy, forestry), Saulėtekis (laser and light, semiconductor), Santara (biotechnology, medicine), Santaka (sustainable chemistry and pharmacy).

[335] By 2000, the vast majority of Lithuanian health care institutions were non-profit-making enterprises and a private sector developed, providing mostly outpatient services which are paid for out-of-pocket.

During the Soviet era, some priests actively led the resistance against the Communist regime, as symbolised by the Hill of Crosses and exemplified by The Chronicle of the Catholic Church in Lithuania.

This population fled or was expelled after the war, and Protestantism is now mainly represented by ethnic Lithuanians throughout the northern and western parts of the country, as well as in large urban areas.

[377] Lithuanian was studied by linguists such as Franz Bopp, August Schleicher, Adalbert Bezzenberger, Louis Hjelmslev,[378] Ferdinand de Saussure,[379] Winfred P. Lehmann, Vladimir Toporov[380] and others.

His poem Carmen de statura, feritate ac venatione bisontis (A Song about the Appearance, Savagery and Hunting of the Bison), published in 1523, describes the Lithuanian landscape, way of life and customs, touches on some actual political problems, and reflects the clash of paganism and Christianity.

A person under the pseudonym Michalo Lituanus [lt] (around 1490 – 1560) wrote a treatise De moribus tartarorum, lituanorum et moscorum (On the Customs of Tatars, Lithuanians and Muscovites) in the middle of the 16th century, but it was not published until 1615.

[398][399][400] Lithuanian theatre directors include Eimuntas Nekrošius, Jonas Vaitkus, Cezaris Graužinis, Gintaras Varnas, Dalia Ibelhauptaitė and Artūras Areima.

The most significant and mature Lithuanian American movie of the time Aukso žąsis (Golden goose) was created in 1965 by Birutė Pūkelevičiūtė [lt] that featured motifs from the Brothers Grimm fairy tales.

After the occupation of the state, movies mostly were used for the Soviet propaganda purposes, nevertheless Almantas Grikevičius, Gytis Lukšas, Henrikas Šablevičius, Arūnas Žebriūnas, Raimondas Vabalas were able to overcome the obstacles and create valuable films.

[412] Modern classical composers emerged in seventies – Bronius Kutavičius, Feliksas Bajoras [lt], Osvaldas Balakauskas, Onutė Narbutaitė, Vidmantas Bartulis and others.

[415] The first local rock bands started to emerge around 1965 and included Kertukai, Aitvarai and Nuogi ant slenksčio in Kaunas, and Kęstutis Antanėlis, Vienuoliai, and Gėlių Vaikai in Vilnius, among others.

Unable to express their opinions directly, the Lithuanian artists began organizing patriotic Roko Maršai and were using metaphors in their songs' lyrics, which were easily identified for their true meanings by the locals.

However, the constitutional definition of freedom of expression does not protect certain acts, such as incitement to national, racial, religious, or social hatred, violence and discrimination, or slander, and disinformation.

[440] Kaziuko mugė is an annual fair held since the beginning of the 17th century that commemorates the anniversary of Saint Casimir's death and gathers thousands of visitors and many craftsmen.

More recently, a gold medal was won by 15-year-old swimmer Rūta Meilutytė at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, and sparked a rise in popularity for the sport in Lithuania.