Verkhnyadzvinsk (Vyerkhnyadzvinsk)
Vierchniadzvinsk (Верхнядзві́нск, Drisa, Dryssa) or Verkhnedvinsk (Верхнедви́нск) is a city in Belarus in the northwest of Vitebsk Region; it is the administrative center of the Verkhnyadzvinsk Raion. Until 1962, it was named Drysa (Дрисса, Drissa). It is located at the confluence of the Drysa River and the Daugava River.
Its population in 2009 was 7,600.
Drissa is first mentioned in a chronicle of the year 1386. During the medieval period it formed part of the Principality of Polotsk, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. From 1801 it was the center of the Drissa uyezd of the Vitebsk Governorate, and during the War of 1812 it was the site of a fortified camp described by Leo Tolstoy in Book Three of War and Peace.
It became a raion center in 1924. During the Second World War it was occupied by Germany and most of the local population was massacred.
Its population in 2009 was 7,600.
Drissa is first mentioned in a chronicle of the year 1386. During the medieval period it formed part of the Principality of Polotsk, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. From 1801 it was the center of the Drissa uyezd of the Vitebsk Governorate, and during the War of 1812 it was the site of a fortified camp described by Leo Tolstoy in Book Three of War and Peace.
It became a raion center in 1924. During the Second World War it was occupied by Germany and most of the local population was massacred.
Map - Verkhnyadzvinsk (Vyerkhnyadzvinsk)
Map
Country - Belarus
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Flag of Belarus |
Until the 20th century, different states at various times controlled the lands of modern-day Belarus, including Kievan Rus', the Principality of Polotsk, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the Russian Empire. In the aftermath of the Russian Revolution in 1917, different states arose competing for legitimacy amid the Civil War, ultimately ending in the rise of the Byelorussian SSR, which became a founding constituent republic of the Soviet Union in 1922. After the Polish-Soviet War, Belarus lost almost half of its territory to Poland. Much of the borders of Belarus took their modern shape in 1939, when some lands of the Second Polish Republic were reintegrated into it after the Soviet invasion of Poland, and were finalized after World War II. During World War II, military operations devastated Belarus, which lost about a quarter of its population and half of its economic resources. The republic was redeveloped in the post-war years. In 1945, the Byelorussian SSR became a founding member of the United Nations, along with the Soviet Union.
Currency / Language
ISO | Currency | Symbol | Significant figures |
---|---|---|---|
BYN | Belarusian ruble | Br | 2 |
ISO | Language |
---|---|
BE | Belarusian language |
RU | Russian language |