Vitebsk

Coordinates: 55°11′N 30°10′E / 55.183°N 30.167°E / 55.183; 30.167

Vitebsk or Vitsebsk (Belarusian: Ві́цебск, Łacinka: Viciebsk, pronounced [ˈvʲitsʲepsk]; Russian: Ви́тебск, pronounced [ˈvʲitʲɪpsk]; Polish: Witebsk, Yiddish: וויטעבסק‎), is a city in Belarus. The capital of the Vitebsk Region, in 2004 it had 342,381 inhabitants, making it the country's fourth largest city. It is served by Vitebsk Vostochny Airport and Vitebsk air base.

History

Kievan Rus' 974–987
Principality of Polotsk 987-1101
Principality of Vitebsk 1101-1320
Grand Duchy of Lithuania 1320-1569
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth 1569–1772
Russian Empire 1772–1917
Belarusian People's Republic 1918-1919
Soviet Belarus 1919
Soviet Russia 1919-1922
 Soviet Union 1922–1991
 Belarus 1991–present

Vitebsk developed from a river harbor where the Vitba River (Віцьба, from which it derives its name) flows into the larger Western Dvina, which is spanned in the city by the Kirov Bridge.

Archaeological research indicates that at the mouth of Vitba there were settlements by Baltic tribes, which were replaced in the 9th century by Slavic tribes Krivichs. According to the Chronicle of Michael Brigandine (1760), Vitebsk (also known mentioned as Dbesk, Vidbesk, Videbsk, Vitepesk, Vitbesk) was founded by Princess Olga of Kiev in 974. Other versions give 947 or 914. Academician Boris Rybakov and historian Leonid Alekseyev, based on the chronicles, have come to the conclusion that Princess Olga of Kiev could have established Vitebsk in 947. Leonid Alekseyev suggested that the chroniclers, moving the date from the account of the Byzantine era (since the creation of the world) to a new era, got the year 947, but later mistakenly written in copying manuscripts 974. an important place on trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks, by the end of the 12th century Vitebsk became a center of trade and commerce, became the center of an independent principality, following Polotsk, and at times, Smolensk and Kiev princes.

Vitebsk (air base)

Vitebsk (also Vitebsk Northeast or Andronovichi) is a former air base in Belarus located 8 km northeast of Vitebsk. It was a small airfield complex with a single large tarmac. It was home to 339 VTAP (339th Military Air Transport Regiment) flying 32 Ilyushin Il-76 cargo jets as well as Antonov An-22 planes.

References