PINSK, a district town of the government of Minsk, Russia, is situated in a marshy region at the confluence of the Strumen and Pina rivers, 172 miles to the south-west of Minsk. It has a lyceum, several primary schools, and a great number of Jewish schools. The town is almost entirely built of wood, and has a poor appearance. The population (13,000 in 1865) was in 1884 22,950, more than four-fifths of whom are Jews, who live almost exclusively on trade. This development of trade in a town situated at a distance from all railways (the nearest, that from Moscow to Warsaw, being 60 miles off) is due to the navigable river Pina, which connects it with the fertile regions on the Dnieper, and, by means of the Dnieper-and-Bug Canal, with Poland and Prussia, while the canal of Oginsky connects it with the basin of the Niemen. The merchandise brought from the Dnieper is unshipped at Pinsk, and sent west or north-west on smaller vessels....
Pinsk (Pinesk) is first mentioned in Russian annals in 1097 as a town belonging to Sviatopolk, prince of Kieff. In 1132 it formed part of the Minsk principality, and it often changed its rulers subsequently. After the Mongol invasion it became the chief town of a separate principality, and continued to be so until the end of the 13th century. In 1320 it was annexed to Lithuania; and in 1569, after the union of Lithuania with Poland, it was recognized as chief town of the province of Brest. During the rebellion of Bogdan Khmelnitzky (1640), as it had fallen into the hands of the Cossacks, the Poles took it by assault, destroying 14,000 persons and burning 5000 houses. Eight years later the town was burned again by the Russians. Charles XII. took it in 1706, and when compelled to quit, burned the palace of Prince Wisznewecki, and the town with its suburbs. Pinsk was annexed to Russia in 1795.
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