Minsk was first mentioned in the name form Měneskъ (Мѣнескъ) in the Primary Chronicle for the year 1067 in association with the Battle on the River Nemiga.

[13] Russians governed the city until 1660 when it was regained by John II Casimir, Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland.

[citation needed] The last decades of the Polish rule involved decline or very slow development, since Minsk had become a small provincial town of little economic or military significance.

The city also boasted theatres, cinemas, newspapers, schools and colleges, as well as numerous monasteries, churches, synagogues, and a mosque.

The 1st Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, the forerunner to the Bolsheviks and eventually the CPSU, was held there in 1898.

Throughout the 1920s and the 1930s, Minsk saw rapid development with dozens of new factories being built and new schools, colleges, higher education establishments, hospitals, theatres and cinemas being opened.

[23] The historical centre was replaced in the 1940s and 1950s by Stalinist architecture, which favoured grand buildings, broad avenues and wide squares.

During the early and mid-1990s, Minsk was hit by an economic crisis and many development projects were halted, resulting in high unemployment and underemployment.

In 5 km (3.1 mi) from the northwestern edge of city lies large Zaslawskaye reservoir, often called the Minsk sea.

[32] Belarusian traffic police DAI every year hold operation "Clean Air" to prevent the use of cars with extremely polluting engines.

[32] Zavodski, Partyzanski and Leninski districts, which are located in the southeastern part of Minsk, are the most polluted areas in the city.

[34] During its first centuries, Minsk was a city with a predominantly Early East Slavic population (the forefathers of modern-day Belarusians).

During the last centuries of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, many Minsk residents became polonised, adopting the language of the dominant Poles and assimilating to its culture.

[citation needed] At the time of the 1897 census under the Russian Empire, Jews were the largest ethnic group in Minsk, at 52% of the population, with 47,500 of the 91,000 residents.

Working through local populations, Germans instituted deportation of Jewish citizens to concentration camps, murdering most of them there.

[39] In the first three decades of the post-war years, the most numerous new residents in Minsk were rural migrants from other parts of Belarus; the proportion of ethnic Belarusians increased markedly.

Numerous skilled Russians and other migrants from other parts of the Soviet Union migrated for jobs in the growing manufacturing sector.

Another factor in the shifting demographics of the city was the changing self-identification of Minsk residents of mixed ancestry – in independent Belarus they identify as Belarusians.

A small but prominent Arab community has developed in Minsk, primarily represented by recent economic immigrants from Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Algeria, etc.

Substantial numbers of recent migrants from the rural areas use Trasyanka (a Russo-Belarusian mixed language) in their everyday lives.

[51] The SIZO-1 detention center, IK-1 general prison, and the KGB special jail called "Amerikanka" are all located in Minsk.

Alexander Lukashenko's rivals in the 2010 presidential election were imprisoned in the KGB jail[53] along with other prominent politicians and civil activists.

[59] In 2012, Gross Regional Product of Minsk was formed mainly by industry (26.4%), wholesale (19.9%), transportation and communications (12.3%), retail (8.6%) and construction (5.8%).

According to 2012 statistics, Minsk-based companies produced 21.5% of electricity, 76% of trucks, 15.9% of footwear, 89.3% of television sets, 99.3% of washing machines, 30% of chocolate, 27.7% of distilled alcoholic beverages and 19.7% of tobacco goods in Belarus.

[76] The Minsk city government in 2003 decreed that local transport provision should be set at a minimum level of 1 vehicle (bus, trolleybus or tram) per 1,500 residents.

Its construction was delayed due to financial difficulties; now, however, Minsk boasts one of the most modern and up-to-date railway stations in the CIS.

There were plans to move all suburban rail traffic from Minsk-Pasažyrski to the smaller stations, Minsk-Uschodni (East), Minsk-Paŭdniovy (South) and Minsk-Paŭnočny (North), by 2020.

However, those plans were scrapped in favour of developing a more integrated system of suburban rail (branded as City Lines, operated by Belarusian Railways state enterprise).

[citation needed] There is an intercity bus station that links Minsk with the nearby airport, with the suburbs and other cities in Belarus and the neighboring countries.

[citation needed] A minor planet 3012 Minsk discovered by Soviet astronomer Nikolai Chernykh in 1979 is named after the city.