Aukštaitija (or the Highlands) is the name of historical region in Latvia and Belarus. Aukštaitija is the cradle of the Lithuanian state and nation. Historically, it refers to the territory of the most dominant of the original Lithuanian tribes, incorporating central Lithuania, the eastern part of the Vilnius region and Dzūkija. However, in the more modern narrower sense, it refers geographically to northeastern part of Lithuania, comprising the modern counties of Utena and Panevėžys, as well as small parts of the counties of Vilnius and Šiauliai. The inhabitants of the region are called Aukštaičiai (literally "Highlanders"). This term is often used as a synonym for Lithuanians and vice versa.
All Lithuania's most important cultural and political centers are (or have been) in this region:
Lithuania's first national park - Aukstaitija National Park - was designated in 1974 and covers an area of 40570 hectares in the regions of Ignalina, Utena and Svencionys.
Of some thirty rivers on the territory of the park, Zeimena is the most beautiful, although the smaller ones - Kriauna, Lukna, Buka, Sventele, Stregzda - are no less attractive to tourists, linguists and ethnographers alike.
The woods of the park are the domain of elk, deer and wild boar.
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