Minsk, city, capital of Belarus, and administrative centre of Minsk oblast (region). The city lies along the Svisloch River. First mentioned in 1067, it became the seat of a principality in 1101. Minsk passed to Lithuania in the 14th century and later to Poland and was regained by Russia in the Second Partition of Poland, in 1793. The city has suffered many disasters, including frequent destruction by fire, sacking by the Crimean Tatars in 1505, occupation and damage by French troops in 1812, German occupation in 1918, Polish occupation in 1919–20, and almost total destruction in World War II, especially during the Soviet advance in 1944. Nevertheless, Minsk steadily increased in importance, first as a provincial centre after 1793 and later as an industrial centre after the building of the Moscow-Warsaw and Liepaja-Romny railways through Minsk in the 1870s. In 1919 it became the capital of the Belorussian republic.
Minsk is located on the main transportation routes connecting Western Europe and the East, regions of the Black Sea coast and the Baltic States. Highways connect Minsk with the largest cities in Belarus: Orsha, Vitebsk, Molodechno, Brest, Slutsk, Mogilev and Gomel. Minsk has a large railway network which connects Brest, Moscow, Vilnius and Gomel. There is a national airport in the capital.
Minsk is a large industrial centre. The city produces 16% of the total volume of industrial output.
Minsk is a large educational centre within Belarus. The main educational institutions of the country, including lyceums, high schools and colleges, are concentrated in Minsk.
The present-day city, sprawling over gently hilly relief, is almost entirely of new construction; most of the principal buildings in the centre are in the ponderous architectural style of the early Soviet period. The Mariinsky Cathedral and the church of the Bernadine monastery survive as relics of the past.
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