Belarus, a landlocked, generally flat country (the average elevation is 162 meters above sea level) without natural borders, it occupies in area of 207,600 square kilometers (80,200 sq miles), or smaller than the United Kingdom or the state of Kansas in the USA. Its neighbors are Russia to the east and northeast, Latvia to the north, Lithuania to the northwest, Poland to the west, and Ukraine to the south.
Its highest point is the 346-meter (1,135 ft) Mount Dzyarzhynskaya, named for Felix Dzerzhinsky, head of Cheka. Northern Belarus has hilly landscape with many lakes. In the south, about one-third of the republic's territory around the Pripiac River is taken up by the low-lying swampy plain of Palyessye, shared with Ukraine, Poland and Russia.
Major rivers are the west-flowing Western Dvina and Nyoman rivers, and the south-flowing Dniapro River with its inflows, Berezina River, Sozh, and Prypyat rivers. The Prypyat River has served as a bridge between the Dnepr flowing to Ukraine and the Vistula in Poland since the period of Kievan Rus. Lake Narach, the country's largest lake, covers eighty square kilometers.
Nearly one-third of the country is covered with pushchas. In the north, conifers predominate in forests that also include birch and alder; farther south, other deciduous trees grow. The Belavezhskaya Pushcha (shared with Poland) in the far west is the oldest and most magnificent of the forests; a reservation here shelters animals and birds that became extinct elsewhere long ago.
Its highest point is the 346-meter (1,135 ft) Mount Dzyarzhynskaya, named for Felix Dzerzhinsky, head of Cheka. Northern Belarus has hilly landscape with many lakes. In the south, about one-third of the republic's territory around the Pripiac River is taken up by the low-lying swampy plain of Palyessye, shared with Ukraine, Poland and Russia.
Major rivers are the west-flowing Western Dvina and Nyoman rivers, and the south-flowing Dniapro River with its inflows, Berezina River, Sozh, and Prypyat rivers. The Prypyat River has served as a bridge between the Dnepr flowing to Ukraine and the Vistula in Poland since the period of Kievan Rus. Lake Narach, the country's largest lake, covers eighty square kilometers.
Nearly one-third of the country is covered with pushchas. In the north, conifers predominate in forests that also include birch and alder; farther south, other deciduous trees grow. The Belavezhskaya Pushcha (shared with Poland) in the far west is the oldest and most magnificent of the forests; a reservation here shelters animals and birds that became extinct elsewhere long ago.
Because of the proximity of the Baltic Sea (257 kilometers / 160 miles at the closest point), the country has temperate continental climate. Winters last between 105 and 145 days, and summers last up to 150 days. The average temperature in January is −6 °C, and the average temperature for July is about 18 °C, with high humidity. Average annual precipitation ranges from 550 to 700 millimeters.