Duchy of Lithuania Duchy of Lithuania Duchy of Lithuania (; ) was a state-territorial formation of ethnic Lithuanians, that existed from the 13th century until 1413. Most of the time it was a constituent part and a nucleus of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Other alternative names of the territorial formation, used in different periods, were Aukštaitija or Land of Lithuania (13th century), Duchy of Vilnius (14th – early 15th centuries), Lithuania Propria or simply Lithuania (in a narrow sense). The formation emerged in the central and eastern part of the present-day Lithuania, known as Aukštaitija, as the Lietuva Land (). It is
Centennial of the Restored State of Lithuania Centennial of the Restored State of Lithuania The Centennial of the Restored State of Lithuania marks the 100th anniversary of the Act of Independence of Lithuania which was signed on 16 February 1918. Lithuania's statehood dates to the 13th-century Grand Duchy of Lithuania. On 6 July 1253, Mindaugas was crowned as the King of Lithuania. In 1385, Lithuania joined Poland in a union that grew into the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth by 1569. Between 1772 and 1795, most of Lithuania was annexed by the Russian Empire. Towards the end of World War I, on 16 February 1918, twenty people signed the Act