Minsk is currently the capital city and the largest city of Belarus. It was absorbed into Russian Empire in 1793, after the Second Partition of Poland. <span>In 1796, the city underwent slow but steady development as it became the capital of the </span>Minsk Governorate<span>.</span>
Minsk is the capital of Belarus. Historical evidence of the settlement of Minsk exists since 1067, when it was part of the Principality of Polotsk. Minsk became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and then in 1569, part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. It was then annexed by the Russian Empire in 1793, and was the capital of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, in the Soviet Union from 1919 to 1991.
