History
Lithuanians are an indigenous people of the territories of north-eastern Podlaskie Voivodeship in Poland, living there after the merger with the almost extinct of the pre-state Balts neighbours Yotvingians around the 13th century. Poland first acquired its Lithuanian minority after the Union of Lublin in 1569, which transferred the administration of the historical Podlaskie Voivodeship from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to the Polish Crown (both entities then formed a larger, federated state, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth). During the next two centuries, the Lithuanian minority, faced with the dominant Polish culture in the region, was subject to Polonization. After the partitions of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the late 18th century, the Polish cultural pressure in the region was replaced by that of the Russian Empire, until the end of the First World War resulted in the restoration of independent Polish and Lithuanian states.
Read more about this topic: Lithuanian Minority In Poland
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