Did the name "白俄罗斯" exist in Chinese before 1991? Did the name "白俄罗斯" for Belarus exist in Chinese language before 1991 or was it created only when Belarus became an independent state in 1991?
the internet archive has the book 瀛環志畧, in volume 4, "白峩" was used to translate belarus:

https://archive.org/stream/02087085.cn#page/n43/mode/1up



this book was published in 1849.

the 峩 (u+5ce9) was a variant of 峨 (u+5ce8), both of them share the same pronunciation with the character 俄 (u+4fc4), that is used in modern days translation.

then, the internet archive has another book 海國圖志, in volume 54, "白峩羅斯" was used in lieu of belarus:

https://archive.org/stream/02087117.cn#page/n50/mode/1up



this book was published in 1843, maybe the first geographic / atlas type of book in imperial china.

btw, minsk was translated as "閔士其" :)

have fun :)