Present-day Belarus is About one-third of the region is forested, consisting of pine, birch, alder, oak, aspen, white spruce, and hornbeam. Pripyat Marsh Culture (a half century before Chernobyl) 1934 Photographs by American geographic explorer Louise A. Boyd. document.write("Last Modified " + document.lastModified) This These too are hunted. The presence of so many birds of national and international significance underscores the importance of this territory for the conservation of biodiversity of Polesie, Belarus and Europe as a whole.

northern Ukraine (about 90 miles from Kiev), was home to most of the During the German invasion of the Soviet Union, the Third Reich armies skirted the wetlands, passing through the north or south of it. In the last fifty years, many of the marshes have been reclaimed for

In 1986, the region became world-famous because of the Chernobyl disaster; however, the Pripet Marshes should not be confused with the ghost city of Pripyat. The common bond, however, was always the Pripyat river basin. In 1986, the Pripyat region suffered terribly from the nuclear accident at Chernobyl with large village of Krevo in Vilna guberniia, circled on this map.

Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... What Indonesian city was originally named Batavia?

The Pinsk Marshes mostly lie within the Polesian Lowland, hence Polesie Marshes (Woodland Marshes), and occupy most of the southern part of Belarus and the north-west of Ukraine.

Almost all of southern Belarus, around the Pripyat River, from the city of Brest eastward, is marshy lowland. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. In Volume VII of Wars of Justinian, by the Roman historian Procopius, is a story that the early Slavs hid out from predators in the Pripet Marshes by breathing through reeds. Belarus These two photos of some of the terrain in the Pripyat Marshes are courtesy of The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.

For the Pinsk swamps typical alternation of open sedge-reed spaces with almost impenetrable shrub thickets.

The Pripyat Marshes are a forested, swampy area (c.38,000 sq mi/98,400 sq km) extending along the Pripyat River and its tributaries from Brest in the west to Mogilev in the northeast and Kiev in the southeast. Historically, for most of the year, the marshes were virtually impassable to major military forces, which influenced strategic planning of all military operations in the region.

In 1942, after an uprising, approximately 1,000 Jews escaped from the Łachwa Ghetto, of whom about 600 were able to take refuge in the Pinsk Marshes. page is copyright © 2007, C.T. Known as Pripjet-Sümpfe by the Germans, the wetlands were dreaded by the Wehrmacht troops. In the spring, when snowmelt occurs, the region’s rivers overflow their low banks and intensify the saturation of the land. Get kids back-to-school ready with Expedition: Learn! The Pinsk swamps are home to thousands of birds from different biotopes of the Earth (Europe, Asia, Africa, Mediterranean) some of which come to nest here during migrations, and also swamps are a wintering area for many species of migratory birds nesting in northern countries such as Scandinavia, Finland, Baltic countries and Russia. They often needed to build tracks with logs over which they could pull light loads in horse-drawn vehicles. The borders of the region were drawn in different sources but each time still differently.