In the 1506 Battle of Kleck, the Polish-Lithuanian forces under Michał Gliński defeated the Tartar armies and saved the town from being pillaged.

The earliest known mention of the local Jewish community is a document dated 5 September 1522, issued by King Sigismund I the Old of Poland.

In it, the monarch awarded for three years to Isaac Jesofovitch, a Jew of Brest, for the sum of 300 times sixty grosz a lease of the inns and other sources of revenue in Klyetsk.

The next mention of the Kletzk community, as it was known in Yiddish, is found in a document dated 21 January 1529, which imposes military duties on its inhabitants, as well as on those of other towns.

A census taken in 1552-55 shows that the Jewish householders lived chiefly on Wilna street, on the Sloboda, and owned gardens in the suburbs.

By the end of the following century the number of Jews grew significantly; the town was also one of the notable centre of Calvinism, sponsored by the Radziwiłł family.

According to tradition, the town originally was located on the opposite bank of the river, on the road leading to Lyakhovichy; but after the destructive fire of 1705 it was rebuilt, at the instance of the governor, on its present site.

From 26 June 1941 until 4 July 1944, Klyetsk was occupied by Nazi Germany and administered as a part of the Generalbezirk Weißruthenien of Reichskommissariat Ostland.