VYAZMA, a district town of Russia, in the government of Smolensk, and 109 miles by rail to the north-east of that town, was a populous place as early as the 11th century, and carried on a lively trade with Narva on the Gulf of Finland. In the 15th century it fell under the dominion of the Lithuanian princes, but was too close to Moscow to remain in their hands, and was retaken by the Russians by the end of the century. The Poles took it again, however, during the outbreak of 1611, and kept it till the peace of 1634. At present it is an important centre for the trade of Smolensk; corn, hemp, linseed and hemp seed, tallow, and hides are exported to St Petersburg and Riga, while fish, metals, and manufactured goods are supplied to the neighbouring region chiefly by the Vyazma merchants. The population was 13,000 in 1882.