How the Brest land took shape

The borders of today's Brest Region took shape only in 1954. Before that its lands passed several times from one state to another and from one administrative unit to another, and the names of towns on maps were written now in Russian, now in Polish. The maps on this site cover the last century and a half of that history - from a Russian map of 1866 to the maps of 1940.

Periods in brief

Before 1795 - the Grand Duchy of Lithuania within the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. From 1566 most of these lands formed the Brest Voivodeship with the Brest and Pinsk counties.
1795-1915 - the Russian Empire, after the Third Partition of the Commonwealth. The west belonged to the Grodno Governorate (the Brest, Kobrin, Pruzhany and Slonim uyezds), the east to the Minsk Governorate. More
1915-1920 - the First World War: German occupation, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk of 1918, the Polish-Soviet War.
1921-1939 - Poland, under the Peace of Riga. Most of the lands formed the Polesie Voivodeship with its centre in Brest; Baranovichi belonged to the Nowogródek Voivodeship. More
1939-1954 - the Byelorussian SSR: five new regions in the west, including Brest, Pinsk and Baranovichi. More
Since 1954 - the Brest Region within its present borders; inside it the districts were still redrawn until 1966. More

The same place in different periods is best seen on the maps of David-Gorodok: 1866, 1923, 1932 and a modern topographic map.