The history of Lithuanian postage stamps can be conditionally divided into: the period of independence in the Middle Ages, periods corresponding to the postal systems of the states that included the territory of modern Lithuania (Poland, the Russian Empire, the USSR), the period of independence of Lithuania (1918-1940) and the modern Republic of Lithuania since 1991. The first postage stamps of Lithuania (the Baltukai issue) were issued in Vilnius in 1918.