Navahrudak, Belarus

Navahradak (Нава́градак in Belarusian; Polish: Nowogródek; Russian: Novogrudok, Lithuanian: Naugardukas) is a Belarusian city with an old history, the first capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

It came under the control of the Kyivan Rus at end of the 10th century. In the 13th century, the fragile unity of Rus' disintegrated due to nomadic incursions from Asia, which reached a climax with the Mongol Horde's sacking of Kyiv (1240), leaving a geopolitical vacuum in the region. The Early East Slavs splintered along preexisting tribal lines into a number of independent and competing principalities. Due to military alliances, dynastic marriages and previous assimilation, the Belarusian principalities gravitated toward the expanding Lithuanians. Because Lithuanians were pagan, they were generally tolerant towards other religions, including Eastern Orthodox, unlike European Catholic powers of the time. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was estabilished beginning with the rule of Prince Mindaugas/Mindowh (1240 - 1263). From the 13th century to 15th century, Baltic, Belarusian and Ukrainian lands were consolidated into the multi-ethnic Grand Duchy of Lithuania (the duchy at it's heydey included lands of modern-day Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine and parts of Poland and Russia) with its capital in Navahradak (in western Belarus) and later in Vilnius (in southeast Lithuania). The Lithuanians' lack of written language (which was due to the fact that they were a pagan nation) in this medieval state gave the Eastern slavs an important role in the life of the Lithuanian Grand Duchy, and further assimilation between the Slavs and Balts occurred. Owing to the predominance of East Slavs among the state's population and ties with greater Europe that literacy, Christianity and culture facilitated, Old Belarusian became the official language of the Grand Duchy used for its official chancery, legal and judicial needs until 1696, when it was eventually replaced by Polish. As for diplomatic means, Old Belarusian was used for contacting eastern powers, and Latin was used for contact with the west.

Navahradak become part of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth following the Union of Lublin in 1569 and later become part of imperial Russia due to the partitions of Poland in 1795. In the First World War, it was occupied by Germany from 1915 to 1918. After the end of the war it belonged to the Belarus National Republic but the Second Polish Republic occupied it in 1919. Later on the Red Army occupied it during the Polish-bolshevik war, but their dominion was very short, because Poland took it back and due to the treaty of Riga, Navahradak became part of Poland and capital of the Nowogródek voivodship. Soviet troops invaded and then occupied it again in September 1939 and it became part of the Byelorussian SSR until 1941. When Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941 it became part of the Ostland. German occupation ended with the Soviet invasion in July 1944. Following the Yalta Conference and Potsdam Agreement Navahradak again became part of Byelarussian SSR and belonged to USSR. Soviet rule didn't end until the falling apart of the USSR in 1991. Afterwards it belonged to Belarus and became capital of her rajon (Belarusian district administration unit) in the Hrodna voblasc (Belarusian province administration unit).

Famous people from Navahradak

Adam Mickiewicz - romantic poet