A ( or (, ) was a historical type of urban settlement similar to a

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rura ...

in the former

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...

. After the partitions of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth at the end of the 18th century, these settlements became widespread in the Austrian,

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

and

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

empires. The vast majority of miasteczki had significant or even predominant Jewish populations; these are known in English under the

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

term ''

shtetl or ( ; , ; Grammatical number#Overview, pl. ''shtetelekh'') is a Yiddish term for small towns with predominantly Ashkenazi Jews, Ashkenazi Jewish populations which Eastern European Jewry, existed in Eastern Europe before the Holocaust. The t ...

''. Miasteczki had a special administrative status other than that of

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

. The meaning "small town" is somewhat misleading since some 19th-century shtetls, such as

Berdychiv Berdychiv (, ) is a historic city in Zhytomyr Oblast, northern Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Berdychiv Raion within the oblast. It is south of the administrative center of the oblast, Zhytomyr. Its population is approximat ...

Bohuslav Bohuslav (, ; ) is a List of cities in Ukraine, city on the Ros (river), Ros River in Obukhiv Raion, Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Bohuslav urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Population: 17,135 (2001). It is ...

, counted over 15,000 people. Therefore, after Russian authorities annexed parts of Poland-Lithuania (which included parts of modern

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

, and

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

), they had difficulties in formally defining what a miasteczko is. Typically, miasteczki grew out of or remained

private town Private towns in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth were privately owned towns within the lands owned by magnates, bishops, knights and princes, among others. Amongst the most well-known former private magnate towns are Białystok, Zamość, R ...

s belonging to Polish-Lithuanian landlords, usually

magnates The term magnate, from the late Latin ''magnas'', a great man, itself from Latin ''magnus'', "great", means a man from the higher nobility, a man who belongs to the high office-holders or a man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or ot ...

, who sought to obtain royal privileges to establish markets and fairs and do business in liquor. Town owners favored the

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

to bring in trade, particularly liquor. After incorporating Polish lands into the Empire, Russian authorities converted private towns into state-owned towns (Russian ''kazyonny gorod'' "treasury-owned town"). This process intensified after the Polish

November Uprising The November Uprising (1830–31) (), also known as the Polish–Russian War 1830–31 or the Cadet Revolution, was an armed rebellion in Russian Partition, the heartland of Partitions of Poland, partitioned Poland against the Russian Empire. ...

(1830–31). The Russian borrowed term ''mestechko'' continued to apply to privately- and Imperially-owned towns. In Poland now, the miasteczko does not have a special administrative status and the term is informally used for small towns as well as for settlements which lost

town privileges Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the traditio ...

(see List of former cities of Poland). In Lithuania ''miestelis'' does have a special administrative status and the term is used for ''small towns'', usually smaller than a ''town'' (named ''miestas'') or a city (usually named both ''miestas'' – or ''didmiestis'' - ), but larger than a ''kaimas'' (). The majority of inhabitants of ''miestelis'' should work in

manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of the secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer ...

retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is the sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholes ...

service industries Service industries are those not directly concerned with the production of physical goods (such as agriculture and manufacturing). Some service industries, including transportation, wholesale trade and retail trade are part of the supply chai ...

as opposed to a village type of settlement (''kaimas''), where the majority of inhabitants are employed in

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

(there are some villages with more inhabitants than ''miestelis'' in Lithuania). ''Miestelis'' status is also applied for settlements which historically were more prominent than today, once had, but lost its

. Usually a ''miestelis'' is inhabited between 500 and 3000 people. In 2021 there are 247 ''miestelis'' type settlements in Lithuania (235 in 1986).Algimantas Miškinis. Miestelis. Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija, T. XV (Mezas-Nagurskiai). – Vilnius: Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos institutas, 2009. 57 psl. In modern Russia the borrowed term does not have universal official meaning, however some administrative divisions officially define the category of ''mestechko'' of rural settlements.

References

{{reflist Market towns Types of towns Subdivisions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth