VELIZH, or Weliz, a district-town of Russia, in the government of Vitebsk, on the Dwina, 53 miles north-east of the city of Vitebsk. It has an active trade in corn and linseed, grown in the neighbouring provinces, and sent by river to Riga in exchange for fish, salt, tobacco, and groceries. The population (16,370 in 1885) has doubled since about 1860.

Velizh is supposed to have been originally founded by the Lithuanians, but it was deserted in the 16th century. In 1536 the Russians erected here a wooden fort, which, however, was soon taken by the Poles (1580), and it remained in their possession until 1772.