Aukštaitija

Aukštaitija (literally Highland or Upland) is the name of one of five ethnographic regions of Lithuania. The name comes from the fact that the lands are in the upper basin of the Nemunas, as opposed to the Lowlands that begin from Šiauliai westward. Although Kaunas is surrounded by Aukštaitija, the city itself is not considered to be a part of any ethnographic region in most cases.

Geography
Aukštaitija is in the northeast part of Lithuania and also encompasses a small part of Latvia and Belarus. The largest city located entirely within this region, Panevėžys, is considered to be the capital, though not in a political sense. Sometimes Utena is regarded as a symbolical capital.

The largest cities by population are:
 * Panevėžys – 84,587
 * Jonava – 26,423
 * Utena – 25,397
 * Kėdainiai – 22,677
 * Ukmergė – 20,154
 * Visaginas – 18,024
 * Radviliškis – 15,161

The region has many lakes, mainly on the eastern side.

History
Historically, Aukštaitija corresponded to the Duchy of Lithuania until the 13th century. Its initial capital was most likely Kernavė. In the 1322 treaty of Gediminas, Aukštaitija was called terra Eustoythen (land of Aukštaitians). Some German sources also titled Grand Duke Gediminas, after whom the Gediminids dynasty is named, Rex de Owsteiten (King of Aukštaitija). Aukštaitija was mentioned as Austechia in Chronicon terrae Prussiae, written around 1326. Politically, from the end of the 13th century, it comprised the Duchy of Vilnius/Lithuania and the Duchy of Trakai, and it is possible that the term was then used to refer to both of them. Since the 15th century, the Trakai and Vilnius voivodeships made up Aukštaitija, a political and ethnic entity also known as Lithuania proper.

Demographics
The local people mainly speak the Aukštaitian dialect of Lithuanian. Under the new classification of dialects, Lithuanian is divided into only two dialects, Aukštaitian and Samogitian, with all other varieties now classified as subdialects. The Sudovian and Dzūkian dialects are also considered subdialects of Aukštaitian; the specific subdialect spoken in Aukštaitija is thus known as East Aukštaitian.

The region has Russian and Belarusian minorities in the east. The subdialects spoken there use more loanwords from those languages. However, the usage of dialects in the region, as in Lithuania in general, is declining.