The chief occupation of the inhabitants is agriculture, which is, however, very unproductive in the lowlands; in the Polyesie the peasants rarely have pure bread to eat. Only 23 - 8 per cent, of th⅛ area ia under crops, the average yield being 1,600,000 quarters of corn and 1,170,000 quarters of potatoes. Cattle-breeding is very imperfectly developed, the meadows being marshy throughout the lowlands. Hunting and bee-keeping are sources of income in the Polyesie, and fishing gives occupation to about twenty thousand persons. The chief source of income for the inhabitants of the lowlands is the timber trade. Timber is floated down the rivers, and tar, pitch, various products of bark, potash, charcoal, and numerous sorts of timber-ware (wooden dishes, ⅛c.)are manufactured in villages to a great extent; and shipbuilding is carried on along the Dnieper, Pripet, and Niemen. Shipping is also an important source of income, owing to the traffic on the canalsand rivers of the province. In 1877 560 boats and 1120 rafts with 170,000 cwts. of cargo left the banks of the Berezina and Pripet; and the traffic on the Dnieper and Niemen was nearly as great. The industrial arts are almost entirely undeveloped. There are, however, several distilleries and tanneries; and woollen-stuffs, candles, tobacco, and sugar are manufactured to a limited extent. Corn is exported from the western districts, but imported to the same amount into the southern parts; the chief export trade is in produce of forest industries. The province is crossed by two important railways, one of which connects Poland with Moscow, ana the other Libau and Vilna with the provinces of Little Russia; the great highway from Warsaw to Moscow crosses the province in the south, and its passage through the Berezina is protected by the first-class fortress of Bobruisk. Minsk is divided into nine districts, of which the capitals are— Minsk (43,500 inhabitants), Bobruisk (26,850), Borisoff (5650), close by the place where Napoleon I. crossed the Berezina on his retreat from Moscow, Igumen (2200), Mozyr (4200), Novogrodek (9000), Pinsk (18,000), Ryechitsa (4300), and Slutsk (17,200). The province is well provided with secondary schools, but primary education, especially in the Polyesie, i⅛in a very backward state.

The country now occupied by the province of Minsk was, as far as historical records extend, an abode of Slavonians. That portion of it which was occupied by the Krivichi became part of the Polotsk principality and so of “White Russia”; the other portion, occupied by the Dregovichi and Drevlans, became part of the “Black Russia”; whilst the south-western portion of it was occupied by Yatvyags or Lithuanians. During the 12tb, 13th, and 14th centuries it was divided among several principalities, which were incorporated with the great principality of Lithuania, and later were annexed to Poland. Russia took possession of this country in 1793. In 1812 it was invaded by the army of Napoleon I.

Minsk, the capital of the above province, is situated on the Svisloch, a tributary of the Berezina, at the junction of the Moscow and Warsaw and the Libau and Kharkoff railways, 465 miles by rail west from Moscow. It has 43,500 inhabitants, of whom one-third are Jews of the poorest class; the others are White Russians, Poles, and Tartars (about 700). The manufactures are few and insignificant. Since the introduction of railways the commercial importance of the place, which formerly was slight, has begun to increase.

Minsk is mentioned in Russian annals in the 11th century under the name of Myen’sk or Menesk. In 1066 and 1096 it was devastated, first by Izyaslav and afterwards by Vladimir. It changed rulers many times until the 13th century, when it became a Lithuanian fief. In the 15th century it became part of Poland, but as late as 1505 it was ravaged by Tartars, and in 1508 by Russians. In the 18th century it was taken several times by Swedes and Russians. Russia annexed it in 1793. Napoleon I. took it in 1812.