Belarus is a beautiful country in the heart of Europe* with pristine landscapes and surviving archaic traditions. Its population are Belarusians — one of the eastern Slavic groups. The first people came to this part of the eastern European plain approximately one hundred thousand years ago. Between the 8th and 9th centuries, the intermingling of Slavs with settled Celtic and Baltic tribes resulted in the creation of tribal unions — the Krivichi, Dregovichi, and Radimichi — which formed the basis of the Belarusian people. The first state entities — the duchies of Polack, Turau, Pinsk, and Smolensk — were established in Belarus in the 9th century. Ancient chronicles mention the existence of the City of Polack, a major centre on a par with Kiev and Novgorod, in AD 862. Christianity was gradually adopted by the Slavs living in the territory of Belarus in the 10th century, but reached its zenith much later, between the 15th and 16th centuries. The major characteristics of the Belarusian language, as reflected in early examples of writings, were established by the 13th century. (fragment)