At the top level of administration,

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 ...

is divided into six regions and one capital city. The six regions are

oblast An oblast ( or ) is a type of administrative division in Bulgaria and several post-Soviet states, including Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. Historically, it was used in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. The term ''oblast'' is often translated i ...

s (also known as ''voblastsi''), while the city of

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

has a special status as the capital of Belarus. Minsk also serves as the administrative center of Minsk Region. At the second level, the regions are divided into districts (

raion A raion (also spelt rayon) is a type of administrative unit of several post-Soviet states. The term is used for both a type of subnational entity and a division of a city. The word is from the French (meaning 'honeycomb, department'), and is c ...

s). The layout and extent of the regions were set in 1960 when Belarus (then the

Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR, Byelorussian SSR or Byelorussia; ; ), also known as Soviet Belarus or simply Belarus, was a Republics of the Soviet Union, republic of the Soviet Union (USSR). It existed between 1920 and 19 ...

) was a

constituent republic Administrative divisions (also administrative units, administrative regions, subnational entities, or constituent states, as well as many similar generic terms) are geographical areas into which a particular independent sovereign state is divi ...

of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

History

At the start of the 20th century, the boundaries of the Belarusian lands within the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

were still being defined. In 1900 it was contained within all of the

and

Mogilev Mogilev (; , ), also transliterated as Mahilyow (, ), is a city in eastern Belarus. It is located on the Dnieper, Dnieper River, about from the Belarus–Russia border, border with Russia's Smolensk Oblast and from Bryansk Oblast. As of 2024, ...

governorates, most of

Grodno Governorate Grodno Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Northwestern Krai of the Russian Empire, with its capital in Grodno. It encompassed in area and consisted of a population of 1,603,409 inhabitants by 1897. Gro ...

, parts of Vitebsk Governorate, and parts of Vilna Governorate. World War I, the independence of Poland, as well as the 1920–1921

Polish–Soviet War The Polish–Soviet War (14 February 1919 – 18 March 1921) was fought primarily between the Second Polish Republic and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, following World War I and the Russian Revolution. After the collapse ...

affected the boundaries. In 1921, Belarus had what is now all of Minsk Governorate except for the western fringe, the western part of Gomel Region, a western slice of Mogilev, and a small part of Vitebsk Region. In 1926, the eastern part of Gomel region was added. In the Byelorussian SSR, new administrative units, called ''oblasts'' or ''voblastsi'' (cognate of Russian word ''

'' with prothetic v-) were introduced in 1938. During World War II, Belarus gained territory to the west, with the Baranavichy, Belastok (Białystok), Brest, Pinsk, and Vileyka oblasts. In 1944, Belastok was eliminated and the new oblasts of Babruysk, Grodno, and Polotsk were created. At that same time, Vileika oblast was renamed Molodechno Oblast. At different times between 1938 and 1960, the following ''oblasts'' existed: * Babruysk Oblast, created 1944, eliminated 1954 * Baranavichy Oblast, created 1939, eliminated 1954 * Belastok Oblast, created 1939, eliminated 1944 (now Białystok in Poland) * Brest Region, created 1939 * Gomel Oblast, created 1938 * Grodno Oblast, created 1944 * Maladzyechna Oblast renamed from Vileyka Oblast 1944, eliminated 1960 * Mogilev Oblast, created 1938 * Minsk Oblast, created 1938 * Navahrudak Oblast, created 1939, renamed Baranavichy Oblast December 1939 * Pinsk Oblast, created 1939, eliminated 1954 * Polatsk Oblast, created 1944, eliminated 1954 * Polesia Oblast, created 1938, eliminated 1954 * Vitebsk Oblast, created 1938 * Vileyka Oblast, created 1939, renamed to Maladzyechna Oblast 1944

Regions

Historical division

References

External links

Interactive map of Belarus

Regions (oblasts) of Belarus, The official President's website

Geography of Belarus, The official website of Belarus

Belarusian regions, towns and villages

{{Articles on first-level administrative divisions of European countries

Regions, Belarus Belarus geography-related lists

History

Regions

Historical division

See also

References

External links