title: Mazurka

text: The mazurka (Polish: "mazur" Polish ball dance, one of the five Polish national dances and "mazurek" Polish folk dance') is a Polish musical form based on stylised folk dances in triple meter, usually at a lively tempo, with character defined mostly by the prominent mazur's "strong accents unsystematically placed on the second or third beat". The mazurka, alongside the polka dance, became popular at the ballrooms and salons of Europe in the 19th century, particularly through the notable works by Frédéric Chopin. The mazurka (in Polish "mazur", the same word as the mazur) and mazurek (rural dance based on the mazur) are often confused in Western literature as the same musical form.


title: Mazurka

text: The "mazurka" is always found to have either a triplet, trill, dotted eighth note (quaver) pair, or an ordinary eighth note pair before two quarter notes (crotchets). In the 19th century, the form became popular in many ballrooms in different parts of Europe.


title: Mazurka

text: "Mazurka" is a Polish word, it means a Masovian woman or girl. It is a feminine form of the word "Mazur", which — until the nineteenth century — denoted an inhabitant of Poland's Mazovia region (Masovians, formerly plural: "Mazurzy"). The similar word "Mazurek" is a diminutive and masculine form of "Mazur". In relation to dance, all these words ("mazur, mazurek, mazurka") mean "a Mazovian dance". Apart from the ethnic name, the word "mazurek" refers to various terms in Polish, e.g. a cake, a bird and a popular surname.


title: Mazurka

text: "Mazurek" is also a rural dance identified by some as the "oberek". It is said "oberek" is a danced variation of the sung "mazurek", the latter also having more prominent accents on second and third beats and less fluent of a rhythmical flow, which is so characteristical of "oberek."


title: Mazurka

text: Several classical composers have written mazurkas, with the best known being the 59 composed by Frédéric Chopin for solo piano. In 1825 Maria Szymanowska wrote the largest collection of piano mazurkas published before Chopin. Henryk Wieniawski also wrote two for violin with piano (the popular "Obertas", Op. 19), Julian Cochran composed a collection of five mazurkas for solo piano and orchestra, and in the 1920s, Karol Szymanowski wrote a set of twenty for piano and finished his composing career with a final pair in 1934. Alexander Scriabin, who was at first conscious of being Chopin's follower, wrote 24 mazurkas.


title: Mazurka

text: Chopin first started composing mazurkas in 1824, but his composing did not become serious until 1830, the year of the November Uprising, a Polish rebellion against the Russian tsar. Chopin continued composing them until 1849, the year of his death. The stylistic and musical characteristics of Chopin's mazurkas differ from the traditional variety because Chopin in effect created a completely separate and new genre of mazurka all his own. For example, he used classical techniques in his mazurkas, including counterpoint and fugue. By including more chromaticism and harmony in the mazurkas, he made them more technically interesting than the traditional dances. Chopin also tried to compose his mazurkas in such a way that they could not be used for dancing, so as to distance them from the original form.


title: Mazurka

text: However, while Chopin changed some aspects of the original mazurka, he maintained others. His mazurkas, like the traditional dances, contain a great deal of repetition: repetition of certain measures or groups of measures; of entire sections; and of an initial theme. The rhythm of his mazurkas also remains very similar to that of earlier mazurkas. However, Chopin also incorporated the rhythmic elements of the two other Polish forms mentioned above, the "kujawiak" and "oberek"; his mazurkas usually feature rhythms from more than one of these three forms ("mazurek", "kujawiak", and "oberek"). This use of rhythm suggests that Chopin tried to create a genre that had ties to the original form, but was still something new and different.


title: Mazurka

text: The mazurka began as a dance for either four or eight couples. Eventually, Michel Fokine created a female solo mazurka dance dominated by flying "grandes jetés", alternating second and third arabesque positions, and split-leg climactic postures.


title: Mazurka

text: The form was common as a popular dance in Europe and the United States in the mid to late nineteenth century.


title: Mazurka

text: In Cape Verde the mazurka is also revered as an important cultural phenomenon played with acoustic bands led by a violinist and accompanied by guitarists.


title: Mazurka

text: It also takes a variation of the mazurka dance form and is found mostly in the north of the archipelago, mainly in São Nicolau, Santo Antão. In the south it finds popularity in the island of Brava.


title: Mazurka

text: Czech composers Bedřich Smetana, Antonín Dvořák, and Bohuslav Martinů all wrote mazurkas to at least some extent. For Smetana and Martinů, these are single pieces (respectively, a Mazurka-Cappricio for piano and a Mazurka-Nocturne for a mixed string/wind quartet), whereas Dvořák composed a set of six mazurkas for piano, and a mazurka for violin and orchestra.


title: Mazurka

text: In France, Impressionistic composers Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel both wrote mazurkas; Debussy's is a stand-alone piece, and Ravel's is part of a suite of an early work, "La Parade". Jacques Offenbach included a mazurka in his ballet "Gaîté Parisienne"; Léo Delibes composed one which appears several times in the first act of his ballet "Coppélia". The mazurka appears frequently in French traditional folk music. In the French Antilles, the mazurka has become an important style of dance and music.


title: Mazurka

text: A creolised version of the mazurka is "mazouk" which—beginning around 1979 in Paris—morphed into the globally popular dance style “zouk” developed in France and popularised by Paris's Island-creole supergroup Kassav'; "mazouk" had been introduced to the French Caribbean in the late 1800s. In the 21st century in Brazil and the Afro-Caribbean diaspora, "zouk" (and its progenitor band Kassav') remains very popular. In popular 20th century folk dancing in France, the Polish/classical-piano (see Chopin) "mazurka" evolved into "mazouk", a dance at a more gentle pace (without the traditional 'hop' step on the 3rd beat), fostering more-intimate dancing and associating mazouk with a "seduction" dance (see also tango from Argentina). This "sexy" style of mazurka has also been imported to “balfolk" dancing in Belgium and the Netherlands, hence the name "Belgian Mazurka" or "Flemish Mazurka". Perhaps the most enduring style of intimate dancing music of this origin moved "zouk" from the 1980s–2000s into its wildly popular (especially in Brazil and Africa) slow-dancing variant called "zouk love", which remains a staple of French-Caribbean dance venues in Paris and elsewhere.


title: Mazurka

text: Mazurkas constitute a distinctive part of the traditional dance music of County Donegal, Ireland. As a couple's dance, it is no longer popular. The Polish dance entered the UK in the 1840s, but is not widely played outside of Donegal. Unlike the Polish mazurek, which may have an accent on the second or third beat of a bar, the Irish mazurka ("masúrca" in the Irish language) is consistently accented on the second beat, giving it a unique feel. Musician Caoimhín Mac Aoidh has written a book on the subject, "From Mazovia to Meenbanad: The Donegal Mazurkas", in which the history of the musical and dance form is related. Mac Aoidh tracked down 32 different mazurkas as played in Ireland.


title: Mazurka

text: Mazurkas are part of Italian popular music including the Liscio style. Typical of Italian mazurkas are groups of triplets, strong dotted rhythms, and phrase endings of two accented quarter notes and a rest, unlike a waltz.


title: Mazurka

text: In Brazil, the composer Ernesto Nazareth wrote a Chopinesque mazurka called "Mercedes" in 1917. Heitor Villa-Lobos wrote a mazurka for classical guitar in a similar musical style to Polish mazurkas.


title: Mazurka

text: In Cuba, composer Ernesto Lecuona wrote a piece titled "Mazurka en Glisado" for the piano, one of various commissions throughout his life.


title: Mazurka

text: In Nicaragua, Carlos Mejía Godoy y los de Palacaguina and Los Soñadores de Saraguasca made a compilation of mazurkas from popular folk music, which are performed with a violin de talalate, an indigenous instrument from Nicaragua.


title: Mazurka

text: In Curaçao the mazurka was popular as dance music in the nineteenth century, as well as in the first half of the twentieth century. Several Curaçao-born composers, such as Jan Gerard Palm, Joseph Sickman Corsen, Jacobo Palm, Rudolph Palm and Wim Statius Muller, have written mazurkas.


title: Mazurka

text: In Mexico, composers Ricardo Castro and Manuel M Ponce wrote mazurkas for the piano in a Chopin fashion, eventually mixing elements of Mexican folk dances.


title: Mazurka

text: In the Philippines, the mazurka is a popular form of traditional dance. The Mazurka Boholana is one well-known Filipino mazurka.


title: Mazurka

text: In Portugal the mazurka became one of the most popular traditional European dances through the first years of the annual Andanças, a traditional dances festival held nearby Castelo de Vide.


title: Mazurka

text: In Russia, many composers wrote mazurkas for solo piano: Scriabin (26), Balakirev (7), Tchaikovsky (6). Borodin wrote two in his "Petite Suite" for piano; Mikhail Glinka also wrote two, although one is a simplified version of Chopin's Mazurka No. 13. Tchaikovsky also included mazurkas in his scores for "Swan Lake", "Eugene Onegin", and "Sleeping Beauty". Rachmaninoff's Morceaux de salon Op 10 includes a Mazurka in D-flat major as its 7th piece.


title: Mazurka

text: The mazurka was a common dance at the balls of the Russian Empire and it is depicted in many Russian novels and films. In addition to its mention in Leo Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina" as well as in a protracted episode in "War and Peace", the dance is prominently featured in Ivan Turgenev's novel "Fathers and Sons". Arkady reserves the mazurka for Madame Odintsov with whom he is falling in love. During Russian balls, it was danced elegantly and famously by the Tsarina Maria Feodorovna, the second-to-last tsarina of the Russian empire before its collapse in 1918.


title: Mazurka

text: In Swedish folk music, the quaver or eight-note polska has a similar rhythm to the mazurka, and the two dances have a common origin. The international version of the mazurka was also introduced under that name during the nineteenth century.


title: Mazurka

text: The mazurka survives in some old-time fiddle tunes, and also in early Cajun music, though it has largely fallen out of Cajun music now. In the Southern United States it was sometimes known as a "mazuka". Polish Mazurka was danced in upstate New York in the 1950s and 1960s (similarly to the krakowiak, millenium of Christianity) in Polish community centers or social clubs, which can be found throughout the US. The polka remains the best known dance of the Nation of Poland and its people and is regularly danced at weddings, dance halls and public events (e.g., summers outdoors, barn dances) in US.


title: Mazurka

text: In addition to being part of the repertoire of Irish traditional music sessions, the mazurka has been played by a wide variety of cultural groups in California. The mazurka first came to Alta California during the Spanish period and danced among Californios. Later, the renowned guitarist Manuel Y. Ferrer, who was born in Baja California to Spanish parents and learned guitar from a Franciscan friar in Santa Barbara but made his career in the San Francisco Bay Area, arranged mazurkas for the guitar. During the early 20th century, the mazurka became part of the repertoire of Italian American musicians in San Francisco playing in the "ballo liscio" style. Pianist Sid LeProtti, an important Oakland-born early jazz musician on the west coast, stated that before jazz took off, he and other musicians in Barbary Coast clubs played mazurkas in addition to waltzes, two-steps, marches, polkas, and schottisches. One mazurka, played on harmonica, was collected by Sidney Robertson Cowell for the WPA California Folk Music Project in 1939 in Tuolumne County.


title: Alexis von Roenne

text: Alexis Freiherr von Rönne (22 February 1903 – 12 October 1944) was a German Army colonel and senior intelligence analyst. He became one of Hitler's favoured officers in the Abwehr, despite secretly being of anti-Nazi persuasion.


title: Alexis von Roenne

text: Later, in the aftermath of the 20 July Plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, von Roenne was arrested and interrogated by the Gestapo on account of his links with many of the conspirators. Although not directly involved in the plot, he was nonetheless tried and executed.


title: Alexis von Roenne

text: Von Roenne, who has been referred to by modern historians as 'Hitler's favourite intelligence analyst', rose through German intelligence to head Foreign Armies West "(Fremde Heere West)", the branch of the Abwehr tasked with espionage on the Western Front.


title: Alexis von Roenne

text: However, von Roenne was a staunch Christian with beliefs at odds with the Nazi Party. Historians believe that he led a double life by deliberately misleading Hitler and the German general staff. Von Roenne promoted as valid secret intelligence that he clearly suspected to have been planted through Allied deception. In particular, he persuaded Hitler to accept intelligence gained from British campaigns like Operation Mincemeat (the deception plan for the Allied invasion of Sicily) and Operation Bodyguard (disguising the intended target of the Normandy landings). von Roenne's actions would have helped to save thousands of Allied lives by diverting Axis and Nazi forces away from the true sites of the planned beach landings.


title: Alexis von Roenne

text: Arrested in the immediate aftermath of the 20 July plot, because of his connection with several of those responsible, but released shortly afterwards, von Roenne was rearrested on 9 August and tried before Roland Freisler's People's Court on 5 October. Declaring that Nazi race policies were inconsistent with his Christian values, he was found guilty by the show trial and hanged on a meat hook at Plötzensee Prison on 12 October 1944. His final epitaph to his wife, Ursula von Bülow, reflected his faith, stating "in a moment now I shall be going home to our Lord in complete calm and in the certainty of salvation".


title: Alexis von Roenne

text: Historian Ben Macintyre's 2010 book "Operation Mincemeat", provides additional specifics about the involvement of von Roenne in the ruse played on the Germans during the Second World War by the British. Forged "documents" claimed that the Allies would invade Greece and Sardinia before the invasion of Sicily, leading Germany to divert important assets to that area. The Baron was said to have vouched for the authenticity of the documents and also accepted other hoaxes used by the Allies during the war.


title: Alexis von Roenne

text: According to Macintyre,"he faithfully passed on every deception ruse fed to him, accepted the existence of every bogus unit regardless of evidence, and inflated forty-four divisions in Britain to an astonishing eighty-nine."


title: Alexis von Roenne

text: A report published by "The Independent" adds additional perspective on von Roenne's work during the war. "Colonel Baron Alexis von Roenne, in charge of Fremde Heere West (FHW), the western intelligence arm, who had built his reputation on predicting Allied behaviour early in the war, was wrong on almost every important count other than to discount an invasion of Norway. He was fooled by the fantasy invasion of the Pas-de-Calais and was convinced that the fictitious British Fourth Army in Scotland existed and was about to be redeployed to Kent.


title: Alexis von Roenne

text: "It is quite possible that Lieutenant Colonel Alexis Baron von Roenne did not believe the Mincemeat deception for an instant."


title: Muskogee, Oklahoma

text: Muskogee () is the thirteenth-largest city in Oklahoma and the county seat of Muskogee County. Home to Bacone College, it lies approximately southeast of Tulsa. The population of the city was 36,878 as of the 2020 census, a 6.0 percent decrease from 39,223 in 2010.


title: Muskogee, Oklahoma

text: French fur traders were believed to have established a temporary village near the future Muskogee in 1806, but the first permanent European-American settlement was established in 1817 on the south bank of the Verdigris River, north of present-day Muskogee.


title: Muskogee, Oklahoma

text: After the passage of the Indian Removal Act of 1830 under President Andrew Jackson, the Muscogee Creek Indians were one of the "Five Civilized Tribes" forced out of the American Southeast to Indian Territory. They were accompanied by their slaves. The Indian Agency, a two-story stone building, was built here in Muskogee. It was a site for meetings among the leaders of the Five Civilized Tribes. Today it serves as a museum. At the top of what is known as Agency Hill, it is within Honor Heights Park on the west side of Muskogee.


title: Muskogee, Oklahoma

text: In 1872, the Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad was extended to the area. A federal court was established in Muskogee in 1889, around the same time that Congress opened portions of Indian Territory to non-Native settlers via land rushes. The city was incorporated on March 19, 1898.


title: Muskogee, Oklahoma

text: Ohio native Charles N. Haskell moved to the city in March 1901. He was instrumental in building on the land rush; he stimulated expansion of the city of more than 4,000 people to a center of business and industry by 1910, with a population of more than 25,000 inhabitants. Haskell built the first five-story business block in Oklahoma Territory; he built and owned fourteen brick buildings in the city. Most importantly, he organized and built most of the railroads running into the city, which connected it to other markets and centers of population, stimulating its business and retail, and attracting new residents.


title: Muskogee, Oklahoma

text: As Muskogee's economic and business importance grew, so did its political power. In the years before the territory was admitted as a state, the Five Civilized Tribes continued to work on alternatives to keep some independence from European Americans. They met together August 21, 1905 to propose the State of Sequoyah, to be controlled by Native Americans. They met in Muskogee to draft its constitution, planning to have Muskogee serve as the State's capital. The proposal was vetoed by US President Theodore Roosevelt and mostly ignored by Congress; the proposed State of Sequoyah was never authorized. The US admitted the State of Oklahoma to the Union on November 16, 1907, as the 46th state.


title: Muskogee, Oklahoma

text: Muskogee was the operational headquarters of the Muskogee Roads, four regional rail carriers under common management. The first was the Midland Valley Railroad, chartered in 1903. The three carriers surviving until 1963 were sold to the Texas & Pacific, which was a subsidiary of the Missouri Pacific Railroad


title: Muskogee, Oklahoma

text: Muskogee was on the route of the Jefferson Highway established in 1915. That road ran more than 2,300 miles from Winnipeg, Manitoba, to New Orleans, Louisiana.


title: Muskogee, Oklahoma

text: Muskogee attracted national and international attention when, in May 2008, voters elected John Tyler Hammons as mayor. Nineteen years old at the time of his election, Hammons is among the youngest mayors in American history.


title: Muskogee, Oklahoma

text: According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and (3.69%) is water. Muskogee is near the confluence of the Arkansas River, Verdigris River and Grand River. Historically, the area around this confluence has been called Three Rivers.


title: Muskogee, Oklahoma

text: Muskogee lies in the Arkansas River Valley and has a low, sea-level elevation compared to much of the rest of the state. The city is on the boundary of the oak and hickory forest region of eastern Oklahoma and the prairie, Great Plains region of northeastern Oklahoma. It is a suburban community of Tulsa.


title: Muskogee, Oklahoma

text: These data were accessed through the WRCC and were compiled over the years 1905 to 2016. The record high occurred in August 1936, and the record low in 1905.


title: Muskogee, Oklahoma

text: Muskogee is a soft spot for floods. In May 2019, waters rose more than 42 feet on the Arkansas River. Those levels had not been reached since 1943 (although 1986 came close with water 39.6 feet high). The U.S.S. "Batfish" docked at the city's military harbor broke free on the river. Two barges filled with tons of phosphate broke loose and threatened to break the dam they were heading towards. Webber Falls was ordered to evacuate immediately.


title: Muskogee, Oklahoma

text: As of the census of 2000, there were 38,310 people, 15,523 households, and 9,950 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,026.0 people per square mile (396.1/km). There were 17,517 housing units at an average density of 469.1 per square mile (181.1/km). The racial makeup of the city was 61.12% White, 17.90% African American, 12.34% Native American, 0.90% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 1.57% from other races, and 6.16% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.28% of the population.


title: Muskogee, Oklahoma

text: There were 15,523 households, out of which 29.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.2% were married couples living together, 15.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.9% were non-families. 31.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.39 and the average family size was 3.00.


title: Muskogee, Oklahoma

text: In the city the population was spread out, with 25.7% under the age of 18, 9.7% from 18 to 24, 25.8% from 25 to 44, 21.4% from 45 to 64, and 17.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 88.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.4 males.


title: Muskogee, Oklahoma

text: The median income for a household in the city was $26,418, and the median income for a family was $33,358. Males had a median income of $28,153 versus $20,341 for females. The per capita income for the city was $15,351. About 14.6% of families and 19.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 25.9% of those under age 18 and 14.3% of those age 65 or over.


title: Muskogee, Oklahoma

text: The town is served by U.S. Route 62, U.S. Route 64, U.S. Route 69, Oklahoma State Highway 16, Oklahoma State Highway 165, Oklahoma State Highway 351 and the Muskogee Turnpike.


title: Muskogee, Oklahoma

text: Muskogee-Davis Regional Airport, five miles south of downtown, has a paved main runway measuring 7202’ by 150’, and can accommodate light planes through heavy transport-type jet aircraft. The airport had commercial air service from Central Airlines in the 1960s.


title: Muskogee, Oklahoma

text: Commercial air transportation is available at Tulsa International Airport, about 49 miles to the northwest.


title: Muskogee, Oklahoma

text: Muskogee operates the Port of Muskogee on the McClellan–Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System, which grants water access to and from the Gulf of Mexico.


title: Muskogee, Oklahoma

text: Muskogee is an economic center for eastern Oklahoma, and is home to several industrial activities. Georgia-Pacific has a tissue, paper towel, and napkin manufacturing plant in Muskogee. The 2.9 million square foot facility is Muskogee's largest employer with 800 workers.


title: Muskogee, Oklahoma

text: Muskogee is home to Honor Heights Park, a World War I memorial park. It is planted with azaleas and hosts the annual Azalea Festival each April. During the winter, Honor Heights is transformed into the Garden of Lights, a Christmas lights display.


title: Muskogee, Oklahoma

text: Muskogee has six museums. The Five Civilized Tribes Museum preserves the art and culture of the Five Civilized Tribes. The U.S.S. Batfish and War Memorial Park's major attraction is the submarine . The Three Rivers Museum chronicles the history of the Three Rivers area and the railroads that helped create it. The Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame has been honoring Oklahoma musicians since 1997. The Thomas-Foreman Historic Home, aka the Grant Foreman House is an 1898 farm house preserved with the furnishings of the Indian Territory Judge John R. Thomas and his daughter and son-in-law Grant and Carolyn Foreman, Oklahoma historians and authors. The Ataloa Lodge is on the campus of Bacone College.


title: Muskogee, Oklahoma

text: Two feature films were shot in Muskogee through a tax incentive program offered by the state: "Salvation" (2007) and "Denizen" (2010). Writer and director J.A. Steel produced both films.


title: Muskogee, Oklahoma

text: Muskogee is home to The Castle of Muskogee. The Castle hosts Fourth of July Fireworks sales, a Halloween festival 'Haunted Castle', a drive-through Christmas Kingdom and indoor Castle Christmas experience, and the Oklahoma Renaissance Festival, founded in 1995. The Renaissance festival draws in tens of thousands each year, hosting jousts, dancing, vendors and other events.


title: Muskogee, Oklahoma

text: Muskogee Little Theatre (MLT) is part of its flourishing arts scene. It was established in 1972 at the former Sequoyah Elementary School. The theatre puts on up to eight shows per year including youth theatre, senior theatre, holiday shows, and general community productions. The theatre is also committed to education and development arts programs including Youth Theatre camp, voice lessons, mentorships, and weekend workshops.


title: Muskogee, Oklahoma

text: The City of Muskogee Foundation provides grants to community organizations and non-profit groups throughout the Muskogee community.


title: Muskogee, Oklahoma

text: The local paper, the "Muskogee Phoenix", was founded in February 1888 when Oklahoma was still a territory, and continues to be published today.


title: Muskogee, Oklahoma

text: Muskogee is governed by a council–manager form of municipal government. The city manager is the administrative leader of the government and is appointed by the city council. The city's ceremonial head is the mayor, who is a voting, at-large member of the council with limited administrative power.


title: Muskogee, Oklahoma

text: The city is divided into four wards, with two members of the city council elected from each. Each member of the council is elected by the city as a whole but must reside in a specific ward. Elections are held on the first Tuesday in April in each even-numbered year. All elections are non-partisan; the mayor and the members of the city council receive no salary or compensation for their services.


title: Muskogee, Oklahoma

text: Muskogee is represented by two state representatives for House Districts 13 and 14. District 13 includes the west side of Muskogee while District 14 includes the east half of Muskogee. The city is represented in the state senate in Senate District 9, which includes all of Muskogee County, Oklahoma.


title: Muskogee, Oklahoma

text: Both former Attorney General of Oklahoma Drew Edmondson and former Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Sandy Garrett are Muskogee natives.


title: Muskogee, Oklahoma

text: The city is part of Oklahoma's 2nd congressional district. The city is also home to former U.S. Senator Tom Coburn.


title: Muskogee, Oklahoma

text: Since 1995, crime rate has reduced by 45 percent in Muskogee. According to records by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, in 2002, 2008 and 2009, no murders were committed for the entire year. However, on April 10, 2010, a deadly shooting broke out at the Arrowhead Mall, injuring at least five people and leaving one dead; witnesses say that the shooting was gang-related.


title: Muskogee, Oklahoma

text: On February 2, 2021, a mass murder occurred when a gunman opened fire at a home, killing six people, including five children, and one woman was seriously injured.


title: Muskogee, Oklahoma

text: There are two primary public school districts in the city of Muskogee: Muskogee Public Schools, which include the vast majority of the city limits and a large portion of Muskogee County, and Hilldale Public Schools, which covers a small southern portion of the city limits and some parts of the County south of Muskogee. Additional smaller school districts serve the smaller communities of Muskogee County. Muskogee is also home to the Oklahoma School for the Blind, a special institution for meeting the educational needs of blind and visually impaired students residing in the state of Oklahoma. Previous Institutions that where located in the city where Harrell International Institute, Spaulding Institute, and Nazareth Institute.


title: Muskogee, Oklahoma

text: Muskogee has four institutions of higher education: the public four-year Northeastern State University, the public two-year Connors State College, the public Indian Capital Technology Center and the private four-year Bacone College, which is the oldest college in the state of Oklahoma.


title: Muskogee, Oklahoma

text: In 2004, civic rights lawyers took on the case of 11-year-old Nashala Hearn who sued the Muskogee, Oklahoma, Public School District for ordering her to remove her hijab because it was violative of the school's dress code. She refused to submit and was subsequently suspended twice. The court-ordered agreement reached by the Justice Department with the school board permits Nashala, and any other child in Muskogee whose religious beliefs and practices conflict with the school dress code, to receive an accommodation.


title: Muskogee, Oklahoma

text: Muskogee was home to minor league baseball from 1905 to 1957. Changing monikers frequently, Muskogee hosted the Muskogee Reds (1905), Muskogee Indians (1906), Muskogee Redskins (1907-1908), Muskogee Navigators (1909-1910), Muskogee Redskins (1911), Muskogee Indians (1912), Muskogee Mets (1914-1916), Muskogee Reds (1917), Muskogee Mets (1921-1923), Muskogee Athletics (1924-1926), Muskogee Chiefs (1927-1932), Muskogee Oilers (1933), Muskogee Tigers (1934-1936), Muskogee Reds (1937-1942, 1946–1950) and Muskogee Giants (1951-1957).


title: Muskogee, Oklahoma

text: Muskogee teams played were members of the Missouri Valley League (1905), South Central League (1906), Oklahoma-Arkansas-Kansas League (1907-1908), Western Association (1909-1911), Oklahoma State League (1912), Western Association (1914-1916-1917), Southwestern League (1921-1923), Western Association (1924-1932), Western League (1933), Western Association (1934-1942, 1946–1954) and Sooner State League (1955-1957).


title: Muskogee, Oklahoma

text: Three Baseball Hall of Fame inductees played for Muskogee. Bill Dickey played for the 1926 Muskogee Athletics. Bobby Wallace was a player/manager for the 1921 Muskogee Mets. Rube Marquard was a player/manager for the 1933 Muskogee Oilers.


title: Muskogee, Oklahoma

text: Muskogee was an affiliate of the St. Louis Browns (1932, 1947–1949), Cincinnati Reds (1937-1939), Chicago Cubs (1941), Detroit Tigers (1946) and New York Giants (1936, 1951–1957).


title: Muskogee, Oklahoma

text: Muskogee teams played at Traction Park from 1905 to 1911. Muskogee then played at Owen Field, which was later renamed to League Park and finally Athletic Park. In April 1923, Babe Ruth with the New York Yankees played an exhibition game at Owen Field against the Brooklyn Dodgers. Later, Mickey Mantle played at Athletic Park in 1950 for the Joplin Miners in games against Muskogee. Traction Park was located in Hyde Park. Today, the Owen Field/League Park/Athletic Park site is occupied by the Muskogee Civic Center.


title: Muskogee, Oklahoma

text: Muskogee Country Club (Muskogee Golf Club) played host to the 1970 U.S. Women's Open golf tournament won by Donna Caponi.


title: The Night Eats the World

text: The Night Eats the World (French: La nuit a dévoré le monde) is a 2018 French zombie film directed by Dominique Rocher and written by Jérémie Guez, Guillaume Lemans, and Rocher, based on the novel of the same name by Pit Agarman. The film stars Anders Danielsen Lie, Golshifteh Farahani, and Denis Lavant, and follows Sam (Danielsen Lie) in the midst of a zombie apocalypse that suddenly overtakes Paris. The film premiered at the on 13 January 2018, and was theatrically released in France on 7 March 2018.


title: The Night Eats the World

text: Sam, a musician living in Paris, visits his ex-girlfriend Fanny to recover music tapes left in her possession. Fanny is holding a party and brushes Sam off multiple times before telling him the tapes are in the office. Sam is accidentally bumped by a partygoer on his way to the tapes. Once there, his nose starts to bleed and he passes out. Sounds of chaos erupt outside the door of the office, but Sam sleeps through it.


title: The Night Eats the World

text: The next morning, Sam wakes to find the apartment trashed, with blood stains on the walls and no one inside. He ventures into the stairway and discovers a zombified Fanny and others, who charge at him when he calls her name. Locking himself in her apartment, he witnesses a family escaping from an apartment across the street only to be swarmed and killed by zombies as they attempt to escape in their car. The apartment, which is several stories up, is the only safe location that Sam can find. The zombies have seemingly taken over all of Paris, are very fast moving, and respond in hordes to any sight or sound. They are also completely silent, making almost no noise and never vocalizing.


title: The Night Eats the World

text: Unable to leave the apartment, Sam begins cleaning up until a shotgun blast erupts through the floor. Using a pipe to widen the hole, he discovers that one of the residents below has committed suicide, after killing his wife, who he had bound to a chair after she became infected. He retrieves their shotgun and ventures outside, finding the zombies in the stairway gone. He quickly closes the doors to the building to seal himself inside. Sam explores the building's units one by one, finding most of them empty. He finds a zombified elderly man in the building's lift, binds the gate up, and begins conversing one-sidedly with the zombie whose name he learns is Alfred.


title: The Night Eats the World

text: Sam successfully raids the building for a large quantity of supplies. He rations these and discovers musical equipment in one room, which he uses to entertain himself. As time passes, Sam becomes increasingly lonely and unhinged. Desperate for company, he attempts to capture a stray cat wandering aimlessly among the undead, but is nearly killed by several zombies. He makes it back to the apartment; enraged, Sam shoots the cat from the window. Fearing he was bitten, Sam nearly kills himself a second time when he falls asleep with the shotgun placed beneath his head while waiting to see if he would turn.


title: The Night Eats the World

text: As winter approaches, he is forced to contend with a lack of heat, and the water supply to the apartment building stops working. Surviving by collecting rain water and creating a fireplace, Sam's mental state continues to decline. He notices one day that the streets are largely empty. Sam tests how far away the zombies are by loudly playing a drum set. The undead return in hordes and nearly climb onto the apartment's balcony by piling atop one another. An enraged Sam continues to play despite the danger.


title: The Night Eats the World

text: That night, Sam hears movement outside his bedroom door and fires the shotgun through it. He hears cries of pain and realizes he shot another person. He attempts emergency medical aid and finds the woman's bag, which has a large amount of rope and a grapnel hook she uses to go from rooftop to rooftop. The next morning, Sam speaks with the woman, Sarah, who explains how she has survived. He retrieves supplies from the lowest apartment and kills the zombified occupants. She goes to the roof and tells Sam he will either die or go insane if he does not leave the apartment building. Sam at first brushes her off, but relents. He returns to his room and finds Sarah dead from the gunshot, apparently indicating that his conversations with her after he shot her were just a hallucination. He mourns her loss, eulogizes her, and covers her body.


title: The Night Eats the World

text: Sam decides to leave the apartment, burning the tapes and releasing Alfred, who wanders into his nearby apartment where Sam locks him away. The burning tapes set off a fire alarm; zombies attack the building. They break down the doors and rush inside. Killing several, Sam manages to get to the roof and swings across the street to the next building, where he climbs to the rooftop and stares out into the seemingly endless skyline of Paris. He briefly hears a sound that might indicate the existence of other survivors.


title: The Night Eats the World

text: On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The website's critical consensus reads, ""The Night Eats the World" finds a few unexplored corners in the crowded zombie genre, with a refreshing emphasis on atmosphere and character development." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average rating of 50 out of 100 based on ten critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".


title: The Night Eats the World

text: "The Hollywood Reporter" wrote, "Imagine "28 Days Later" without the action, "The Walking Dead" without the ensemble cast or "[REC]" without the video camera and white-knuckle suspense, and you'll get an inkling of what goes on in "The Night Eats the World" ("La Nuit a devore le monde"). IndieWire said, ""Night Eats the World" embarks on a complex meditation that makes it the most innovative zombie movie since Edgar Wright's "Shaun of the Dead"." "Variety" wrote, "Even within the fairly small number of movies about a lone (or nearly-alone) survivor facing some endless apocalyptic or purgatorial non-future, “Night” is short on ideas."


title: Nunavik

text: Nunavik (; ; ) comprises the northern third of the province of Quebec, part of the Nord-du-Québec region and nearly with Kativik. Covering a land area of north of the 55th parallel, it is the homeland of the Inuit of Quebec and part of the wider Inuit Nunangat. Almost all of the 14,045 inhabitants (2021 census) of the region, of whom 90% are Inuit, live in fourteen northern villages on the coast of Nunavik and in the Cree reserved land (TC) of Whapmagoostui, near the northern village of Kuujjuarapik.


title: Nunavik

text: Negotiations for regional autonomy and resolution of outstanding land claims took place in the 2000s. The seat of government would be Kuujjuaq. Negotiations on better empowering Inuit political rights in their land are still ongoing.


title: Nunavik

text: A flag for Nunavik was proposed by Nunavik artist and graphic designer Thomassie Mangiok during an April 2013 Plan Nunavik consultation in Ivujivik.


title: Nunavik

text: Concern about Canada's claims to sovereignty in the high Arctic resulted in the high Arctic relocation when the federal government of Canada forced several Inuit families to leave Nunavik in the 1950s. They were transported much further north, to barren hamlets at Grise Fiord and Resolute in what is now Nunavut in an effort to demonstrate Canada's legal occupation of these territories and thereby assert sovereignty in the High Arctic by increasing its population during the Cold War. Eight Inuit families from Inukjuak (on the Ungava Peninsula) were relocated after being promised homes and game to hunt, but the relocated people discovered no buildings and very little familiar wildlife. They were told that they would be returned home to Nunavik after a year if they wished, but this offer was later withdrawn as it would damage Canada's claims to sovereignty in the High Arctic area and the Inuit were forced to stay. Eventually, the Inuit learned the local beluga whale migration routes and were able to survive in the area, hunting over a range of each year.


title: Nunavik

text: In 1993, the Canadian government held hearings to investigate the relocation program. The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples issued a report the following year entitled "The High Arctic Relocation: A Report on the 1953–55 Relocation". The government paid $10 million CAD to the survivors and their families, and finally apologized in 2010. The whole story is told in Melanie McGrath's "The Long Exile: A Tale of Inuit Betrayal and Survival in the High Arctic".


title: Nunavik

text: Nunavik and other parts of northern Quebec were part of Northwest Territories from 1870 to 1912. In 1912 the area was transferred to Quebec, however the province did little in the area until after the Quiet Revolution in the 1960s. In the 1960s, René Lévesque played a major role in expansion of hydroelectric power in the province. The region was named "Nouvelle Quebec", many place names were francized, and the teaching of French was spread in schools in the region. This cultural encroachment paired with the James Bay Project resulted in the first political organizing of Inuit in Canada in the Northern Quebec Inuit Association which fought for the eventual James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement. This agreement laid the initial legal groundwork for the creation of Nunavik within Quebec.


title: Nunavik

text: Nunavik is a vast territory, larger than the U.S. state of California, located in the northernmost part of Quebec. It lies in both the Arctic and subarctic climate zones. All together, about 12,000 people live in Nunavik's communities, and this number has been growing in line with the tendency for high population growth in indigenous communities.


title: Nunavik

text: Nunavik is separated from the territory of Nunavut by Hudson Bay to the west and Hudson Strait and Ungava Bay to the north. Nunavik shares a border with the Côte-Nord region of Quebec and the Labrador region of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The Ungava Peninsula forms the northern two-thirds of the region. There are no road links between Nunavik and southern Quebec, although the Trans-Taiga Road of the Jamésie region ends near the 55th parallel on the Caniapiscau Reservoir, several hundred kilometres south of Kuujjuaq. There is a year-round air link to all villages and seasonal shipping in the summer and autumn. Parts of the interior of southern Nunavik can be reached using several trails which head north from Schefferville.


title: Nunavik

text: Nunavik has fourteen villages, the vast majority of whose residents are Inuit. The principal village and administrative centre in Nunavik is Kuujjuaq, on the southern shore of Ungava Bay; the other villages are Inukjuak (where the film "Nanook of the North" was shot), Salluit, Puvirnituq, Ivujivik, Kangiqsujuaq, Kangiqsualujjuaq, Kangirsuk, Tasiujaq, Aupaluk, Akulivik, Quaqtaq, Kuujjuarapik and Umiujaq. The village population (census 2011) ranges from 2,375 (Kuujjuaq) to 195 (Aupaluk).


title: Nunavik

text: There are five meteorite craters in Nunavik: Pingualuit crater, Couture crater, La Moinerie crater and the two craters that together form the Clearwater Lakes.


title: Nunavik

text: The climate of Nunavik is dominated by the long and cold winters as the seas to the west, east and north freeze over, eliminating maritime moderation. Since this moderation exists in summer when the surrounding sea thaws, even those temperatures are subdued. Inukjuak for example has summer highs averaging just with January highs of . This is exceptionally cold for a sea-level settlement more than 1/3 of the way from the North Pole to the Equator. Annual temperatures are up to colder than marine areas of Northern Europe on similar parallels. Areas less affected by summertime marine moderation have somewhat warmer temperatures and unlike the west coast, feature marginal taiga due to summers being warmer than in mean temperatures.


title: Nunavik

text: In 2019, a scientific study by researchers from the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital of the McGill University found that the Nunavik Inuit are genetically distinct from any other known population. They possess distinct genetic signatures in pathways linked to lipid metabolism, allowing them to adjust to higher-fat diets and the extreme temperature of the Canadian Arctic. Geographically isolated populations often develop unique genetic traits that result from their successful adaptation to specific environments. Their closest relatives are the Paleo-Eskimos, a people that inhabited the Arctic before the Inuit.


title: Nunavik

text: Nunavik is rich in mineral deposits where Raglan Mine, situated near Salluit, is one of the largest mines in the region. It is linked by all-weather roads to an airstrip at Kattiniq/Donaldson Airport and to the concentrate, storage and ship-loading facilities at Deception Bay. Production began at the mine in 1997. The current mine life is estimated at more than 30 years.


title: Nunavik

text: Because the site is situated in the subarctic permafrost region, it requires special construction and mining techniques to protect the fragile permafrost and to address other environmental issues. The average annual temperature is with an average ambient temperature underground of . There are plans to increase production at a new mine in Raglan South.


title: Nunavik

text: The villages of Nunavik are populated predominately by Inuit. Much like their Nunavummiut neighbours to the North, the Nunavimmiut carve sculptures from soapstone and eat primarily caribou and fish. On clear nights, the aurora is often visible, and outdoors activities are abundant in this region.


title: Nunavik

text: Nunavik, along with the Quebec portion of the James Bay region (or Jamésie in French), is part of the administrative region of Nord-du-Québec. The James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement of 1978 led to greater political autonomy for most of the Nunavik region with the founding of the Kativik Regional Government. All inhabitants of the 14 northern villages, both Inuit and non-Inuit, vote in regional elections. The Kativik Regional Government is financed by the Government of Quebec (50%), the Government of Canada (25%), and local revenues (25%).The Agreement also led to the creation of the Kativik Regional Police Force, which has been providing police services in the Kativik region since 1996. The KRPF was renamed as the Nunavik Police Service (NPS) in mid-2021.


title: Nunavik

text: The Makivik Corporation, headquartered in Kuujjuaq, represents the Inuit of Northern Quebec in their relations with the governments of Quebec and Canada. They are seeking greater political autonomy for the region and have recently negotiated an agreement defining their traditional rights to use the resources of the offshore islands of Nunavik, all of which are part of Nunavut.


title: Nunavik

text: The Cree village of Whapmagoostui, which forms an enclave on the eastern shore of Hudson Bay near the northern village of Kuujjuarapik, is part of the Cree Regional Authority, which itself has been incorporated into the Grand Council of the Crees (Eeyou Istchee). The Naskapi Nation of Kawawachikamach, of the Côte-Nord region to the south of Nunavik, owns an exclusive hunting and trapping area in southern Nunavik and is represented in the Kativik Regional Government.


title: Nunavik

text: The governments of Quebec and Canada and Nunavik had negotiated a proposal to establish a Regional Government of Nunavik. This is in part a recognition of the region's political distinctiveness, having a different language, culture, climate and voting pattern from the rest of the province of Quebec, as well as part of the overall trend towards devolution of Canada's arctic territories. While Quebec and Canada would still maintain full jurisdiction over the area, the Nunavik government will have an elected parliamentary-style council and cabinet, and a public service funded by the province and responsible for delivering certain social services such as education and health. The regional government would have also had rights to the region's natural resources, including royalties from the various mines in the region. This proposal was rejected by about 66% of voters in a referendum in 2011. It is expected that negotiations will continue in the future to work to establish a more autonomous government for Nunavik in the future.


title: Nunavik

text: The government will be based on territory, not ethnicity, so that all people residing in Nunavik can be full participants. Existing government structures, such as the Kativik Regional Government, Kativik School Board, and Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services, will be folded into the new regional government.


title: Nunavik

text: The Quebec government has also expressed a desire to add an additional seat to the National Assembly to represent Nunavik, despite the region's small population. Currently, Nunavik is part of the riding of Ungava, its residents making up just under half of the riding's population. As a riding, Nunavik would be the second least populous in Quebec, slightly more populous than Îles-de-la-Madeleine, which is able to exist as a separate riding under an exception to the laws on population distribution by riding.


title: Gjallarhorn

text: In Norse mythology, Gjallarhorn (Old Norse: ; "hollering horn" or "the loud sounding horn") is a horn associated with the god Heimdallr and the wise being Mímir. The sound of Heimdallr's horn will herald the beginning of Ragnarök, the sound of which will be heard in all corners of the world. Gjallarhorn is attested in the "Poetic Edda", compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional material, and the "Prose Edda", written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson.


title: Gjallarhorn

text: Gjallarhorn is attested once by name in the "Poetic Edda" while it receives three mentions in the "Prose Edda":


title: Gjallarhorn

text: In chapter 15, the enthroned figure Just-As-High tells the disguised Gangleri about the cosmological tree Yggdrasil. Just-As-High says that one of the three roots of Yggdrasil reaches to the well Mímisbrunnr, which belongs to Mímir, and contains much wisdom and intelligence. Using Gjallarhorn, Heimdallr drinks from the well and thus is himself wise.


title: Gjallarhorn

text: In chapter 25 of "Gylfaginning", High tells Gangleri about Heimdallr. High mentions that Heimdallr is the owner of the "trumpet" (see footnote) Gjallarhorn and that "its blast can be heard in all worlds".


title: Gjallarhorn

text: In chapter 51, High foretells the events of Ragnarök. After the enemies of the gods will gather at the plain Vígríðr, Heimdallr will stand and mightily blow into Gjallarhorn. The gods will awake and assemble together at the thing.


title: Gjallarhorn

text: A figure holding a large horn to his lips and clasping a sword on his hip appears on a stone cross from the Isle of Man. Some scholars have theorized that this figure is a depiction of Heimdallr with Gjallarhorn.


title: Gjallarhorn

text: A 9th or 10th century Gosforth Cross in Cumbria, England depicts a figure holding a horn and a sword standing defiantly before two open-mouthed beasts. This figure has been oft theorized as depicting Heimdallr with Gjallarhorn.


title: Gjallarhorn

text: Scholar Rudolf Simek comments that the use of a horn as both a musical instrument and a drinking vessel is not particularly odd, and that the concept is also employed with tales of the legendary Old French hero Roland's horn, Olifant. Simek notes that the horn is among the most ancient of Germanic musical instruments, along with lurs, and, citing archaeological finds (such as the 5th century Golden Horns of Gallehus from Denmark), comments that there appears to have been sacral horns kept purely for religious purposes among the Germanic people; understood as earthly versions of Heimdallr's Gjallarhorn, reaching back to the early Germanic Iron Age.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: The economy of Lithuania is the largest economy among the three Baltic states. Lithuania is a member of the European Union and belongs to the group of very high human development countries and is a member of the WTO and OECD.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: In the 1990s, Lithuania rapidly moved from a centrally planned economy to a market economy, implementing numerous liberal reforms. It enjoyed high growth rates after joining the European Union along with the other Baltic states, leading to the notion of a Baltic Tiger. Lithuania's economy (GDP) grew more than 500 percent since regaining independence in 1990. The Baltic states have a combined workforce of 3.3 million people, with 1.4 million of these working people living in Lithuania.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: GDP growth reached its peak in 2008, and was approaching the same levels again in 2018. Similar to the other Baltic States, the Lithuanian economy suffered a deep recession in 2009, with GDP falling by almost 15%. After this severe recession, the country's economy started to show signs of recovery already in the 3rd quarter of


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: 2009. It returned to growth in 2010, with a positive 1.3 outcome and with 6.6 per cent growth during the first half of 2011. The country is one of the fastest growing economies in the EU. GDP growth had resumed in 2010, albeit at a slower pace than before the crisis. The success of the crisis taming is attributed to the austerity policy of the Lithuanian government.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: Lithuania has a sound fiscal position. The 2017 budget resulted in a 0.5% surplus, with the gross debt stabilising at around 40% of the GDP. The budget remained positive in 2017, and was expected to continue to do so in 2018.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: Lithuania is ranked 11th in the world in the Ease of Doing Business Index prepared by the World Bank Group, 16th out of 178 countries in the Index of Economic Freedom, measured by The Heritage Foundation and 8th out of 165 countries in the Economic Freedom of the World 2021 by Fraser Institute. On average, more than 95% of all foreign direct investment in Lithuania comes from European Union countries. Sweden is historically the largest investor with 20% – 30% of all FDI in Lithuania. FDI into Lithuania spiked in 2017, reaching its highest ever recorded number of greenfield investment projects. In 2017, Lithuania was the third country, after the Republic of Ireland and Singapore by the average job value of investment projects.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: Based on OECD data, Lithuania is among the top 5 countries in the world by postsecondary (tertiary) education attainment. This educated workforce attracted investments, especially in the ICT sector during the past years. The Lithuanian government and the Bank of Lithuania simplified procedures for obtaining licences for the activities of e-money and payment institutions. positioning the country as one of the most attractive for the financial technology initiatives in the EU.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: The history of Lithuania can be divided into seven major periods. All the periods have some interesting and important facts that affected the economic situation of the country in those times.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: The first Lithuanians formed a branch of an ancient ethno-linguistic group known as the Balts. Lithuanian tribes maintained close trade contacts with the Roman Empire. Amber was the main good provided to the Roman Empire from Baltic Sea coast, via a long route called the Amber Road.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: Consolidation of the Lithuanian lands began in the late 12th century. King Mindaugas was the first Catholic King of Lithuania in 1253. The expansion of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania reached its height in the middle of the 14th century under the Grand Duke Gediminas (reigned 1316–1341), who established a strong central government which later came to dominate the territories from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea. Grand Duke Gediminas issued letters to the Hanseatic league, offering free access to his domains for men of every order and profession from nobles and knights to tillers of the soil. Economic immigrants and immigrants, seeking religious freedom improved the level of handicrafts. During the reign of Duke Kęstutis (1297–1382), the first cash taxes were introduced, although most taxes were still paid in goods (e.g., wheat, cattle, horses).


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: In 1569 the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth formed through the union of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The economy of the Commonwealth was dominated by feudal agriculture based on the exploitation of the agricultural workforce (serfs). Poland–Lithuania played a significant role in supplying 16th-century Western Europe with exports of three sorts of goods: grain (rye), cattle (oxen) and fur. These three articles amounted to nearly 90% of the country's exports to western markets by overland and maritime trade. There was even a Lithuanian trading vessel – vytinė, used for four hundred years to transport grain via Nemunas river. Statutes of Lithuania were the main collections of law statements and rules in Lithuania.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: The Commonwealth was famous for Europe's first and the world's second modern codified national constitution, the so-called Constitution of 3 May, declared on 3 May 1791 (after the 1788 ratification of the United States Constitution). Economic and commercial reforms, previously shunned as unimportant by the Szlachta, were introduced, and the development of industries was encouraged.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: Following the partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1772, 1793 and 1795, the Russian Empire controlled the majority of Lithuania. During the administration of the Lithuanian lands by the Russian Empire from 1772 to 1917, one of the most important events that affected economic relations was the emancipation reform of 1861 in Russia. The reform amounted to the liquidation of serf dependence previously suffered by peasants; it boosted the development of capitalism.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: On 16 February 1918, the Council of Lithuania passed a resolution for the re-establishment of the Independent State of Lithuania. Soon, many economic reforms for sustainable economic growth were implemented. A national currency, called the Lithuanian litas, was introduced in 1922. It proved to become one of the strongest and most stable currencies in Europe during the inter-war period. Lithuania had a monometalism system where one litas was covered by 0.150462 grams of gold stored by the Bank of Lithuania in foreign countries. Litas remained stable even in the period of Great Depression. During the time of its independence, 1918–1940, Lithuania made substantial progress. For example, Lithuania was the third-ranking flax producer and exporter in the world market (export of flax constituted about 30 percent of all export share), being surpassed only by Soviet Russia and Poland; Lithuanian farm products such as meat, dairy products, many kinds of grain, potatoes, etc. were of superior quality in the world market. Lithuanian farmers were joining into cooperative companies – e.g. "Lietūkis", "Pienocentras", "Linas", which helped farmers to process and sell their products more efficiently and profitably.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: Having taken advantage of favorable international developments, and driven by its foreign policy aims directed against Lithuanian statehood, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) occupied Lithuania in 1940. Land and the most important objects for the economy were nationalized, and most of the farms collectivized. Just after one year of occupation, poverty level, unemployment increased dramatically, lack of food products appeared. Later, many inefficient factories and industry companies, highly dependent on other regions of USSR, were established in Lithuania. Despite that, in 1990, GDP per capita of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic was $8,591, which was above the average for the rest of the Soviet Union of $6,871 but lagging behind developed western countries.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: The Soviet era brought Lithuania intensive industrialization and economic integration into the USSR, although the level of technology and state concern for environmental, health, and labor issues lagged far behind Western standards. Urbanization increased from 39% in 1959 to 68% in 1989. From 1949 to 1952 the Soviets abolished private ownership in agriculture, establishing collective and state farms. Production declined and did not reach pre-war levels until the early 1960s. The intensification of agricultural production through intense chemical use and mechanization eventually doubled production but created additional ecological problems. This changed after independence, when farm production dropped due to difficulties in restructuring the agricultural sector.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: The overall damage, resulted from the Soviet occupation (including the loss of gross domestic product), estimated according to the UN recognised methodologies amounted to approximately US$800 billion; direct damage (including genocide and deportations of the citizens, property looting) estimation is US$20 billion.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: According to a 2019 study by economic historians, Lithuania had above average economic growth from 1937 to 1973 (when compared to other economies), but below average growth from 1973 to 1990.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: Reforms since the mid-1990s led to an open and rapidly growing economy. Open to global trade and investment, Lithuania now enjoys high degrees of business, fiscal, and financial freedom. Lithuania is a member of the EU and the WTO, so regulation is relatively transparent and efficient, with foreign and domestic capital subject to the same rules. The financial sector is advanced, regionally integrated, and subject to few intrusive regulations.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: One of Lithuania's most important reforms was the privatization of state-owned assets. The first stage of privatization was being implemented between 1991 and 1995. Citizens were given investment vouchers worth €3.1 billion in nominal value, which let them participate in assets selling. By October 1995, they were used as follows: 65% for acquisition of shares; 19% for residential dwellings; 5% for agricultural properties; and 7% remained unused. More than 5,700 enterprises with €2.0 billion worth of state capital in book value were sold using four initial privatization methods: share offerings; auctions; best business plans competitions; and hard currency sales.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: The second privatization step began in 1995 by approving a new law that ensured greater diversity of privatization methods and that enabled participation in the selling process without vouchers. Between 1996 and 1998, 526 entities were sold for more than €0.7 billion. Before the reforms, the public sector totally dominated the economy, whereas the share of the private sector in GDP increased to over 70% by the 2000 and 80% in 2011.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: Monetary reform was undertaken in the early nineties to improve the stability of the economy. Lithuania chose a currency board system controlled by the Bank of Lithuania independent of any government institution. On 25 June 1993, the Lithuanian litas was introduced as a freely convertible currency, but on 1 April 1994 it was pegged to the United States dollar at a rate of 4 to 1. The mechanism of the currency board system enabled Lithuania to stabilize inflation rates to single digits. The stable currency rate helped to establish foreign economic relations, therefore leading to a constant growth of foreign trade.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: By 1998, the economy had survived the early years of uncertainty and several setbacks, including a banking crisis. However, the collapse of the Russian ruble in August 1998 shocked the economy into negative growth and forced the reorientation of trade from Russia towards the West.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: Lithuania was invited to the Helsinki EU summit in December 1999 to begin EU accession talks in early 2000.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: After the Russian financial crisis, the focus of Lithuania's export markets shifted from East to West. In 1997, exports to the Soviet Union's successor entity (the Commonwealth of Independent States) made up 45% of total Lithuanian exports. This share of exports dropped to 21% of the total in 2006, while exports to EU members increased to 63% of the total. Exports to the United States made up 4.3% of all Lithuania's exports in 2006, and imports from the United States comprised 2% of total imports. Foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2005 was €0.8 billion.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: On 2 February 2002 the litas was pegged to the euro at a rate of 3.4528 to 1, which remained until Lithuania adopted the euro in 2015. Lithuania was very close to introducing the euro in 2007, but the inflation level exceeded the Maastricht requirements. On 1 January 2015, Lithuania became the 19th country to use the euro.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: The Vilnius Stock Exchange, now renamed the NASDAQ OMX Vilnius, started its activity in 1993 and was the first stock exchange in the Baltic states. In 2003, the VSE was acquired by OMX. Since 27 February 2008 the Vilnius Stock Exchange has been a member of NASDAQ OMX Group, which is the world's largest exchange company across six continents, with over 3,800 listed companies. The market cap of Vilnius Stock Exchange was €3.4 billion on 27 November 2009.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: During the last decade (1998–2008) the structure of Lithuania's economy has changed significantly. The biggest changes were recorded in the agricultural sector as the share of total employment decreased from 19.2% in 1998 to just 7.9% in 2008. The service sector plays an increasingly important role. The share of GDP in financial intermediation and real estate sectors was 17% in 2008 compared to 11% in 1998. The share of total employment in the financial sector in 2008 has doubled compared with 1998.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: One of the most important factors contributing to Lithuania's economic growth was its accession to the WTO in 2001 and the EU in 2004, which allows free movement of labour, capital, and trade among EU member states. On the other hand, rapid growth caused some imbalances in inflation and balance of payments. The current account deficit to GDP ratio in 2006–2008 was in the double digits and reached its peak in the first quarter of 2008 at a threatening 18.8%. This was mostly due to rapid loan portfolio growth as Scandinavian banks provided cheap credit under quite lax rules in Lithuania. The volume of loans to acquire lodgings has grown from 50 million LTL in 2004 up to 720 million LTL in 2007. Consumption was affected by credit expansion as well. This led to high inflation of goods and services, as well as trade deficit. A housing bubble was formed.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: The global credit crunch which started in 2008 affected the real estate and retail sectors. The construction sector shrank by 46.8% during the first three-quarters of 2009 and the slump in retail trade was almost 30%. GDP plunged by 15.7% in the first nine months of 2009.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: Lithuania was the last among the Baltic states to be hit by recession because its GDP growth rate in 2008 was still positive, followed by a slump of more than 15% in 2009. In the third quarter of 2009, compared to the previous quarter, GDP again grew by 6.1% after five-quarters with negative numbers. Austerity policy (four-fifths of the fiscal adjustment consisted of expenditure cuts) introduced by the Kubilius government helped to balance the current account from −15.5 in 2007 to 1.6 in 2009. Economic sentiment and confidence of all business activities have rebounded from a record low at the beginning of the year 2009.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: Sectors related to domestic consumption and real estate still suffer from the economic crisis, but exporters have started making profits even with lower levels of revenue. The catalysts of growing profit margins are lower raw material prices and staff expense.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: At the end of 2017, investment of Lithuania's enterprises abroad amounted to EUR 2.9 billion. The largest investment was made in Netherlands (24.1 per cent of the total direct investment abroad), Cyprus (19.8 per cent), Latvia (14.9 per cent), Poland (10.5 per cent) and Estonia (10.3 per cent). Lithuania's direct investment in the EU member states totalled EUR 2.6 billion, or 89.3 per cent of the total direct investment abroad.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: Based on the Eurostat's data, in 2017, the value of Lithuanian exports recorded the most rapid growth not only in the Baltic countries, but also across Europe, which was 16.9 per cent. Lithuania performs well in few measures of well-being in the Better Life Index by OECD, ranking above the average in education and skills, and work-life balance. It is below the average in income and wealth, jobs and earnings, housing, health status, social connections, civic engagement, environmental quality, personal security, and subjective well-being. Lithuanian people are the happiest people in the Baltic States.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: On 1 January 2015, Lithuania became the 19th country to adopt the euro. Joining the euro would relieve the Bank of Lithuania of defending the value of the litas, and "it would give Lithuania a say in the decision-making of the European Central Bank (ECB), as well as access to the ECB single-resolution fund and cheaper borrowing costs".


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: Cumulative foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2017 was EUR 14.7 billion, or 35 per cent of GDP, EUR 5215 per capita. The largest FDI flow in Lithuania was into manufacturing (EUR 73.7 million), agriculture, forestry, fishery (EUR 27.4 million), information and communication (EUR 10 million). Sweden, The Netherlands and Germany have remained the largest investors.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: Lithuania seeks to become an innovation hub by 2020. To reach this goal, it is putting its efforts into attracting FDI to added-value sectors, especially IT services, software development, consulting, finance, and logistics. Well-known international companies such as Microsoft, IBM, Transcom, Barclays, Siemens, SEB, TeliaSonera, Paroc, Wix.com, Philip Morris, Thermo Fisher Scientific established a presence in Lithuania.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: Lithuanian FEZs (Free economic zone) offer developed infrastructure, service support, and tax incentives. A company set up in an FEZ is exempt from corporate taxation for its first six years, as well as a tax on dividends and real estate tax.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: 7 FEZ operate in Lithuania – Marijampolė Free Economic Zone, Kaunas Free Economic Zone, Klaipėda Free Economic Zone, Panevėžys Free Economic Zone, Akmenė Free Economic Zone, Šiauliai Free Economic Zone, Kėdainiai Free Economic Zone.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: There are nine industrial sites in Lithuania, which can also provide additional advantages by having a well-developed infrastructure, offering consultancy service and tax incentives. Lithuania is ranked third among developed economies by the quantity (16) of Special Economic Zones – after USA (256) and Poland (21).


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: Lithuanian municipalities provide special incentives to investors who create jobs or invest in infrastructure. Municipalities may tie designation criteria to additional factors, such as the number of jobs created or environmental benefits. Strategic investors' benefits could include favorable tax incentives for up to ten years. Municipalities may grant special incentives to induce investments in municipal infrastructure, manufacturing, and services.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: About 40 percent of surveyed investors confirmed that they are carrying out Research and experimental development (R&D) or plan to do it in their Lithuanian branches. In 2018 Lithuania ranked as the second most attractive location for manufacturers in the Manufacturing Risk Index 2018. In 2019, Lithuania was 16th in "Top 20 European FDI destination countries" list, created by the Ernst & Young.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: Lithuania traditionally has strong agricultural, furniture, logistics, textile, biotechnology and laser industries.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: Maxima is a retail chain operating in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland and Bulgaria and it is the largest Lithuanian capital company and the largest employer in the Baltic states. Girteka Logistics is Europe's largest transport company. "Biotechpharma" is a biopharmaceutical research and development company with a focus on recombinant protein technology development. The BIOK Laboratory is a startup founded by biochemistry scientists which is the biggest producer of Lithuanian natural cosmetic products. UAB SANITEX is the largest wholesale, distribution and logistics company in Lithuania and Latvia, also active in Estonia and Poland. UAB SoliTek Cells – leading producer of solar cells in Northern Europe. One of the leaders of cellular IoT gateways producers in Europe – UAB Teltonika.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: In the "Baltic Top 50", the biggest Baltic states companies rating created by Coface, more than half – 29 – companies are from Lithuania.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: Largest Lithuanian companies by valuation (EUR € billions) according to 15min (2022). Additionally, two more startup companies have been ranked by comparative values in 2022.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: The number of the population aged 15 years and over is 1.45 million, activity rate was 60 percent in 2017.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: During the period of 1995–2017 average salary grew more than four times in Lithuania. Despite this, labour costs in Lithuania are among the lowest in the EU. Average monthly net salary in IV quarter 2018 was EUR 800 and increased by 9.5 percent.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: Unemployment in Lithuania has been volatile. Since the year 2001, the unemployment rate has decreased from almost 20% to less than 4% in 2007 thanks to two main reasons. Firstly, during the time of rapid economic expansion, numerous work places were established. This caused a decrease in the unemployment rate and a rise in staff expenses. Secondly, emigration has also reduced unemployment problems since accession to the EU. However, the economic crisis of year 2008 has lowered the need for workers, so the unemployment rate increased to 13.8% and then stabilized in the third quarter of 2009. Unemployment rate in I quarter of 2018 was 6.3 percent.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: Lithuania is among the top 5 countries in the world by postsecondary (tertiary) education attainment., 54.9% of the population aged 25 to 34, and 30.7% of the population aged 55 to 64 had completed tertiary education. The share of tertiary-educated 25–64-year-olds in STEM (Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields in Lithuania were above the OECD average (29% and 26% respectively), similarly to business, administration and law (25% and 23% respectively).


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: The level of labour productivity in Lithuania today is about one-third below the OECD average. Lithuania is ranked 15th in Employment Flexibility Index.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: Lithuania belongs to high income group according to Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report 2019. As of 2019, Lithuanian average wealth per adult was $50,254 (an increase of 82% from $27,507 in the year 2017) Household debt is among the lowest among EU countries – 49 percent of net disposable income in 2015.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: One of the most important sub-sectors is information and communication technologies (ICT). Around 37,000 employees work for more than 2,000 ICT companies. ICT received 9.5% of total FDI. Lithuania hosts 13 of the 20 largest IT companies in the Baltic States. Lithuania exported EUR 128 million worth ICT services in II quarter of 2018.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: Development of shared services and business process outsourcing are some of the most promising fields. Companies that have outsourced their business operations to Lithuania include Barclays, Danske Bank, CITCO Group, Western Union, Uber, MIRROR, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Anthill, Adform, Booking Holdings (Kayak.com, Booking.com), HomeToGo, Visma, Unity, Yara International, Nasdaq Nordic, Bentley Systems, Ernst & Young and many more.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: The financial sector concentrates mostly on the domestic market. There are thirteen commercial banks that hold a license from the Bank of Lithuania and eight foreign bank branches. Most of the banks belong to international corporations, mainly Scandinavian. The financial sector has demonstrated incredible growth in the pre-crisis period (1998–2008). Bank assets were only €3.2 billion or 25.5% from GDP in 2000, half of which consisted of loan portfolio.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: By the beginning of the year 2009, bank assets grew to €26.0 billion or 80.8% to GDP, the loan portfolio reached €20.7 billion. The loan-to-GDP ratio was 64%. The growth of deposits was not as fast as that of loans. At the end of 2008, the loan portfolio was almost twice as big as that of deposits. It demonstrated high dependence on external financing. Contraction in the loan portfolio has been recorded over the past year, so the loans to deposits ratio are slowly getting back to healthy levels.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: The country has increasingly sought to position itself as the EU's main fintech hub, hoping to attract international firms by promising to provide European operational licences within three months, compared to a waiting period of up to a year in countries like Germany or the UK. In 2017 only, 35 FinTech companies came to Lithuania – a result of Lithuanian government and Bank of Lithuania simplified procedures for obtaining licences for the activities of e-money and payment institutions. Europe's first international Blockchain Centre launched in Vilnius in 2018. The government of Lithuania also aims to attract financial institutions looking for a new location after Brexit. Lithuania has granted a total of 39 e-money licenses, second in the EU only to the U.K. with 128 licenses. In 2018, Google set up a payment company in Lithuania, Vilnius was ranked a seventh FinTech city by foreign direct investment (FDI) performance in 2019.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: Bank of Lithuania, the Central Bank of Lithuania established a Regulatory sandbox to test financial innovations in a live environment under the guidance and supervision of the Bank of Lithuania. Bank of Lithuania has also developed LBChain which is the world's first blockchain-based sandbox developed by a financial market regulator, combining technological and regulatory infrastructures.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: Lithuania has a much larger manufacturing sector share in the economy's structure than the other Baltic countries. In this regards Lithuania is closer to some Central European countries like the


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: Manufacturing constitutes the biggest part of gross value added in Lithuania. The food processing sector constitutes 11% of total exports. Dairy products, especially cheese, are well known in neighbouring countries. Another important manufacturing activity is chemical products. The manufacturing of machinery and equipment sector in Lithuania comprises 7.1% of the country's GDP. 80% of production is exported so chemical products constitute 12.5% of total exports. Year 2019 was exemplary – more than 10 new factories were opened in Lithuania, working in the fields in engineering, high precision instruments, furniture and medical products.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: Furniture production employs more than 50,000 people and has seen double-digit growth over the last three years. The biggest companies in this field work in cooperation with IKEA, which owns one of the biggest wood processing companies in Lithuania. Lithuania is the fourth biggest supplier of furniture for IKEA after Poland, Italy and Germany.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: Continental AG in 2018 started to build a factory for high precision car electronics – the biggest greenfield investment project in Lithuania so far. Another German manufacturer of lighting technology Hella opened a plant in 2018 in Kaunas FEZ, which will produce sensors, actuators and control modules for the automotive industry. Lithuania's automotive cluster experienced significant growth during the past 5 years.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: Companies in the automotive and engineering sector are relatively small but offer flexible services for small and non-standard orders at competitive prices. The sector employs about 3% of the working population and receives 5.6% of FDI. Vilnius Gediminas Technical University prepares experts for the sector.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: Lithuania's life science sector is growing around 20–25% annually; with special focus on the production and research of biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical devices.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: Lithuanian laser companies were among the first ones in the world to transfer fundamental research into manufacturing. Lithuania's laser producers export laser technologies and devices to nearly 100 countries. Half of all picosecond lasers sold worldwide are produced by Lithuanian companies, while Lithuanian-made femtosecond parametric light amplifiers, used in generating the ultrashort laser pulses, account for as much as 80% of the world market.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: Tourism in Lithuania becoming increasingly important for local economy, constituting around 5.3% of GDP in 2016. Lithuania has 22,000 rivers and rivulets, 3,000 lakes, a well-developed rural tourism network, a unique coastal area of almost 100 km and four UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Lithuania receives more than 1.4 million foreign tourists a year. Germany, Poland, Russia, Latvia, and Belarus supply the most tourists, and a significant number arrive from the UK, Finland, and Italy as well.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: Despite a decreased share in GDP, the agricultural sector is still important for Lithuania as it employs almost 8% of the work force and supplies materials for the food processing sector. 44.8% of the land is arable. Total crop area was 1.8 million hectares in 2008. Cereals, wheat, and triticale are the most popular production of farms. The number of livestock and poultry has decreased twofold compared to the 1990s. The number of cattle in Lithuania at the beginning of the year 2009 was 770,000, the number of dairy cows was 395,000, and the number of poultry was 9.1 million.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: Lithuanian food consumption has evolved; between 1992 and 2008, consumption of vegetables increased by 30% to 86 kg per capita, and consumption of meat and its products increased by 23% during the same period to 81 kg per capita. On the other hand, consumption of milk and dairy products has decreased to 268 kg per capita by 21%, and the consumption of bread and grain products decreased to 114 kg per capita by 19% as well.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: In addition to smaller productions of other agricultural products, like apple (92 thousand tons), maize (87 thousand tons)and rye (44 thousand tons).


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: Lithuania is divided into ten counties. There are four cities with a population over 100,000 and four cities of over 30,000 people. The gross regional product is concentrated in the three largest counties – Vilnius, Kaunas, and Klaipėda. These three counties account for 70% of the GDP with just 60% of the population. Service centers and industry are concentrated there. In five counties (those of Alytus, Marijampolė, Panevėžys, Šiauliai and Tauragė), GDP per capita is still below 80% of the national average.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: In order to achieve balanced regional distribution of GDP, nine public industrial parks (Akmene Industrial Park, Alytus Industrial Park, Kedainiai Industrial Park, Marijampolė Industrial Park, Pagegiai Industrial Park, Panevėžys Industrial Park, Radviliskis Industrial Park, Ramygala Industrial Park and Šiauliai Industrial Park) and three private industrial parks (Tauragė Private Industrial Park, Sitkunai Private Industrial Park, Ramučiai Private Logistic and Industrial Park) were established to provide some tax incentives and prepared physical infrastructure.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: The transport, storage, and communication sector has increased its importance to the economy of Lithuania. In 2008, it accounted for 12.1% of GDP compared to 9.1% in 1996.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: Lithuania has a broadly developed radio, television, landline and mobile phone, as well as broadband internet networks.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: Lithuanian National Radio and Television, the public broadcaster in Lithuania operates 3 television channels, including a satellite channel, as well as 3 radio stations. Privately owned commercial TV and Radio broadcasters operate a multitude national, regional and local channels.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: The fixed landline network connects 625 thousand households and businesses (down from the record 845 thousand in 2005). The decline in subscription and utilization of the landline network has been driven by increased availability of mobile phone services. The mobile telephony penetration rate in Lithuania (of 151 per 100 population in 2013) has been one of the highest in the world. In 2013, there were 13 providers of mobile phone services, with the three largest ones – BITĖ Lietuva, Omnitel, and Tele2 – operating their own cellular networks.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: Lithuanian retail internet sector is competitive, with more than 100 service providers. Retail internet connectivity in Lithuania was among the cheapest in Europe; however, the internet penetration rate (64% of households using internet in 2013) was lower than in other EU countries in the region – Estonia (79%), Latvia (70%) and Poland (69%). Lithuanian internet connection speeds have been claimed to be among the fastest in the world based on user-initiated tests at Speedtest.net.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: The utilities sector accounts for more than 3% of gross value added in Lithuania. Electricity production exceeded 12 billion kWh in 2007, and consumption exceeded 9.6 billion kWh. Surplus electricity is exported.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: Lithuania operated a nuclear power plant in Visaginas, which produced 72% of electricity in Lithuania. The plant was shut down on 31 December 2009 in line with the commitments made when Lithuania joined EU in 2004. A new nuclear power plant in Visaginas has been proposed but the status of the project is uncertain after it was rejected by the voters in a referendum in 2012.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: The supply of heating energy has been modernized during the last decade (1998–2008). Technological loss in the heat energy system has decreased significantly from 26.2% in the year 2000 to 16.7% in 2008. The amount of air pollution was reduced by one-third. The share of renewable energy resources in the total fuel balance for heat production increased to almost 20%.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: In order to break down Gazprom's monopoly in the natural gas market of Lithuania, the first large scale LNG import terminal (Klaipėda LNG FSRU) in the Baltic region was built in the port of Klaipėda in 2014. The Klaipėda LNG terminal was called "Independence", thus emphasising the aim to diversify the energy market of Lithuania. Norvegian company Equinor supplies of natural gas annually from 2015 until 2020. The terminal is able to cover 100% of Lithuania's demand and 90% of Latvia's and Estonia's national demand in the future.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: Kruonis Pumped Storage Plant operates as pumped-storage providing a spinning reserve of the power system, in order to regulate the load curve of the power system 24 hours a day. In 2015 Kruonis Industrial Park was established as a place for data centers.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: In 2018 synchronising the Baltic States' electricity grid with the Synchronous grid of Continental Europe has started.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: Lithuania forms part of the transport corridor between the East and the West. The volume of goods transported by road transport has increased fivefold since 1996. The total length of roadways is more than 80,000 km, and 90% of them are paved. The government spending on road infrastructure exceeded €0.5 billion in 2008. Via Baltica highway passes through Kaunas, while membership in the Schengen Agreement allows for smooth border crossing to Poland and Latvia.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: Rail transport in Lithuania provides long-distance passenger and cargo services. Railways carry approximately 50 million tons of cargo and 7 million passengers a year. Direct rail routes link Lithuania with Russia, Belarus, Latvia, Poland, and Germany. Also, the main transit route between Russia and Russia's Kaliningrad Region passes through Lithuania. "Lithuanian Railways" AB transports about 44% of the freight carried through Lithuania. This is a very high indicator compared to other EU countries, where freight transportation by rail amounts to only 10% of the total.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: An ice-free seaport of Klaipeda is located in the western part of Lithuania. The port is an important regional transport hub connecting the sea, land and railway routes from east and west. It handles roughly 7,000 ships and 30 million tons of cargo every year, and accepts large-tonnage vessels (dry-cargo vessels up to 70,000 DWT, tankers up to 100,000 DWT and cruise ships up to 270 meters long). The seaport of Klaipėda is able to receive "Panamax"-type vessels. One of the fastest growing segments of sea transport is passenger traffic, which has increased fourfold since 2002. The inland river cargo port in Marvelė, linking Kaunas and Klaipėda, received first cargo in 2019.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: Lithuania has four international airports – Vilnius Airport (VNO), Kaunas Airport (KUN), Šiauliai Airport (SQQ) and Palanga Airport (PLQ). More than 30 domestic airports being used by aeroclubs and amateur pilots.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: There are more than 600,000 m of modern logistics and warehousing facilities in Lithuania. The biggest supply of new, modern warehousing facilities is in the capital city Vilnius (after the completion of several new projects in the third quarter of 2009, the supply of modern warehousing premises has increased by nearly 12% in Vilnius and currently reaches 334,400 m of the rentable area). Kaunas is in the second place (around 200,000 m), and Klaipėda in the third (122,500 m). Since the beginning of the year 2009, prices for warehousing premises have dropped by 20–25% in Vilnius, Kaunas, and Klaipėda, and the current level of rents has reached the level of 2003. The costs for renting new warehouses in Vilnius, Kaunas, and Klaipėda are similar and reach 0.75 to 1.42 EUR/m, while the rents of old warehouses are 0.35 to 0.67 EUR/m.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: Lithuanian economy is highly open and International trade is crucial. As a result, the ratio of foreign trade to GDP for Lithuania has often exceeded 100%.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: The EU is the biggest trade partner of Lithuania with a 67% of total imports and 61.3% of total exports during 2015. The Commonwealth of Independent States is the second economic union that Lithuania trades the most with, with a share of imports of 25% and a share of exports of 23.9% during the same period. The vast majority of commodities, including oil, gas, and metals have to be imported, mainly from Russia, however in the recent years Lithuania's energy dependence has shifted towards other countries such as Norway and the US.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: Mineral products constitute 25% of imports and 18% of exports, mainly driven by the presence of "ORLEN Lietuva" oil refinery with a refining capacity of 9 million tons a year, owned by Polish concern PKN Orlen. "Orlen Lietuva" sold over €3.5 billion worth of products outside Lithuania, compared to the total Lithuanian exports of €24 billion in 2014.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: Some sectors are directed mainly at export markets. Transport and logistics export ⅔ of their products and/or services; the biotechnology industry exports 80%; plastics export 52%; laser technologies export 86%; metal processing, machinery and electric equipment export 64%; furniture and wood processing export 55%; textile and clothing export 76%; and the food industry exports 36%.


title: Economy of Lithuania

text: The total value of natural resources in Lithuania is around €17 billion, or around one third of Lithuania's GDP. The most valuable natural resource in the country is subterranean water, which constitutes more than half of the total value of natural resources.


title: Time (Fleetwood Mac album)

text: Time is the 16th studio album by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released on 10 October 1995. This album features a unique line-up for the band featuring the addition of former Traffic guitarist Dave Mason and country vocalist Bekka Bramlett (daughter of Delaney and Bonnie). Lindsey Buckingham, who had left Fleetwood Mac in 1987, makes an appearance as a backing vocalist on one track, but "Time" is the only Fleetwood Mac album since 1974's "Heroes Are Hard to Find" not to feature any contribution from Stevie Nicks. It is the final Fleetwood Mac studio album to feature Christine McVie as an official member. Although she appears in some songs on the next studio album, "Say You Will" (2003), she is credited as an additional musician.


title: Time (Fleetwood Mac album)

text: The album received unfavorable reviews from critics and was a commercial disappointment, failing to chart in the US and peaking at number 47 in the UK.


title: Time (Fleetwood Mac album)

text: The new lineup toured in July 1994 with Steve Thoma deputizing for Christine McVie – McVie had retired from touring in 1990. A second leg of the tour began in April 1995 with dates in America, Europe and Japan. Jeremy Spencer, one of the band's original guitarists, joined the group on stage for their Tokyo performance.


title: Time (Fleetwood Mac album)

text: Fleetwood mentioned in his autobiography that Christine McVie did not originally intend to participate on the album (she had technically quit in 1990) but that Warner Bros. had insisted she appear. As such, her five featured songs were recorded separately from the full band and all guitar parts on these were played by session musician Michael Thompson, although Billy Burnette is featured on the album's only single, "I Do", which only charted in Canada. "Hollywood" alludes to the homesickness that would cause her to retire temporarily from the band, while "Nights in Estoril" celebrated time spent at Estoril in Portugal with her then-husband Eddy Quintela, who was Portuguese himself.


title: Time (Fleetwood Mac album)

text: Within a year this band line-up had split, with Mason, Bramlett and Billy Burnette all leaving the band. Christine McVie, who had already retired from live performances, informed the band that it would also be her last album appearance. Bramlett and Burnette recorded the "Bekka & Billy" album together in 1997, the same year Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks rejoined Fleetwood Mac.


title: Time (Fleetwood Mac album)

text: The band did not tour following the album's release in October 1995, but had (without Christine McVie) toured from July to December 1994, and again from April to September 1995. The only songs from "Time" to be performed at these shows were "Blow by Blow" and "Dreamin' the Dream". "All Over Again" received its first live performances on the An Evening with Fleetwood Mac tour in 2018 as a live duet between Christine McVie and Stevie Nicks, with new guitarist Neil Finn playing keyboards.


title: Time (Fleetwood Mac album)

text: Another version of "Blow by Blow" had featured on the album for the 1994 World Cup the previous year. The five-piece lineup fronted by Billy Burnette, Mason and Bramlett performed it at the tournament's launch concert along with "Dreamin' the Dream", "The Chain" and "Oh Well".


title: Time (Fleetwood Mac album)

text: "Nothing Without You" had originally been recorded by Delaney Bramlett, the father of Bekka, on his 1975 album "Giving Birth to a Song" which had featured writing contributions from Billy Burnette. An additional verse written by Bekka ensured she got a writing credit. Aside from this her only writing contribution was "Dreamin' the Dream".


title: Time (Fleetwood Mac album)

text: The album also featured a rare lead vocal from drummer/band leader Mick Fleetwood on the seven-minute spoken piece "These Strange Times", produced by Duran Duran producer John Jones and written with Beach Boys co-writer Ray Kennedy. The spoken-word piece paid tribute to Peter Green and openly alluded to his songs "Man of the World" and "The Green Manalishi". The third verse also alluded to Stevie Nicks' "Dreams" and Lindsey Buckingham's "Walk a Thin Line". Fleetwood's only previous vocal/lyrical contribution to the group had been another spoken piece, "Lizard People" (from the "In the Back of My Mind" single).


title: Time (Fleetwood Mac album)

text: AllMusic gave the album a two star review, considering it to be a drop in quality from their previous efforts. It was voted number 10 in the All-Time Worst Albums Ever Made from Colin Larkin's "All Time Top 1000 Albums".