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VITEBSK

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Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 147 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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VITEBSK , a See also:

town of See also:Russia, See also:capital of the See also:government of the same name, on both See also:banks of the W. See also:Dvina, and on the railway from See also:Smolensk to See also:Riga, 85 m. N.W. from the former. Pop. (1885) 54,676; (1897) 65,871. It is an old town, with decaying mansions of the See also:nobility, and dirty Jewish quarters, See also:half of its inhabitants being See also:Jews. There are two cathedrals, founded in 1664 and 1777 respectively. The See also:church of St See also:Elias, a See also:fine example of the Old See also:Russian See also:style of See also:architecture, founded in 1643, was burned down in 1904. The manufactures are insignificant, and the poorer classes support themselves by gardening, See also:boat-See also:building and the See also:flax See also:trade, while the merchants carry on an active business with Riga in See also:corn, flax, See also:hemp, See also:tobacco, See also:sugar and See also:timber. Vitebsk (Dbesk, Vitbesk and Vitepesk) is mentioned for the first See also:time in 1021, when it belonged to the See also:Polotsk principality. Eighty years later it became the See also:chief town of a See also:separate principality, and so continued until 1320, when it came under the dominion of the See also:Lithuanians. In the 16th See also:century it See also:fell to See also:Poland.

Under the privileges granted to the See also:

city by the See also:Polish sovereigns it flourished, but it soon began to suffer from the See also:wars between Russia and Poland, during which it was thrice taken by the Russians and burned. Russia annexed it finally in 1772.

End of Article: VITEBSK

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