Pinsk, a town of Belarus, formerly of Russia, in the province of Polesie, travesed by the river Pripet, at the confluence of the Strumen and Pina rivers. The region is known as the Marsh of Pinsk. It is a fertile agricultural center. It lies 196 miles S.W. by rail of Minsk. Population 128,300. In the early 1900's two-thirds of the population were Jews. The town carries on considerable trade, due to the navigable river Pina, which connects it with the fertile regions in the basin of the Dnieper, and, by means of the Dnieper-and-Bug canal, with Poland and Prussia, while the Oginsky canal connects it with the basin of the Niemen. Pottery, leather, oil, soap and beer are the chief products of the local industries. The draining of the marshes around Pinsk was begun by the government in 1872, and by 1897 8,000,000 acres had been drained. Pinsk (Pinesk) is first mentioned in 1097 as a town belonging to Sviatopolk, prince of Kiev. In 1132 it formed part of the Minsk principality. After the Mongol invasion of 1239 it became the chief town of a separate principality, and continued to be so until the end of the 13th century. In 1320 it was annexed to Lithuania; and in 1569, after the union of Lithuania with Poland, it was chief town of the province of Brest. During the rebellion of the Cossack chief, Bogdan Chmielnicki (1640), the Poles took it by assault, killing 24,000 persons and burning 5000 houses. Eight years later the town was burned by the Russians. Charles XII took it in 1706, and burned the town with its suburbs. Pinsk was annexed to Russia in 1795.
