[2] The first written mention of Berezhany dates from 1374, when the village was granted by the Governor of Galicia and Lodomeria Vladislaus II to Ruthenian boyar Vas'ko Teptukhovych.

Shortly afterwards, in the 14th century it became a part of Poland and became the property of a noble family from Buchach — members House of Buczacki, later Sieniawa.

As Mikołaj Sieniawski, a notable Polish military commander and politician envisioned a seat of his family there, on March 19, 1530, King Sigismund I of Poland granted the village a city charter modelled on the Magdeburg Law.

In 1534 Mikołaj Sieniawski also started to construct a large fortress at a steep hill on a small island at the Złota Lipa river (see Berezhany Castle).

[3] In the town, Rákóczi and Bercsényi signed a proclamation, which called on Hungarians to fight for independence, and then they both joined the uprising in Hungary.

Czartoryski, a notable magnate, created a large artificial lake in the town's proximity in the early 18th century.

After 1867 the town became part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and continued to flourish as it was outside of the region of fortifications, inside which construction of new houses was severely limited.

Among them were Włodzimierz Bednarski, Franz Kokovsky, Bohdan Lepkyi, Rudolf Moch, Kornel Ujejski, Ruslan Shashkevych, and the future Marshal of Poland Edward Rydz-Śmigły.

The castle was partially pillaged by Austro-Hungarian soldiers who were stationed there during the war while some of the works of art were evacuated from the palaces of Puławy, Łańcut and Wilanów.

[4] After the Invasion of Poland of 1939 and the outbreak of World War II the town was briefly occupied by Nazi Germany, after which it was transferred to the Soviet Union.

After the Soviets left in July 1941, enraged by the discovery of the bodies from the prison massacre, local Ukrainians launched a pogrom, resulting in the murder of dozens of the town's Jews, as well as looting and injuries inflicted upon them.

[7] On 12 June 1943 the Nazis murdered almost all the Jews from the Brzezany ghetto and work camp at the local cemetery; only a few escaped.