Minsk, Belarus Minsk is the capital and largest city in Belarus. Located on the south-eastern slope of the Minsk Hills, Minsk was initially founded on the hills. However, in the twentieth century, it grew to include the relatively flat plains in the southeast. Minsk must have something going for it, because it has a long history of being ruled by different states. I think that it is this long history of destruction and rebuilding that arouses my curiosity about the place. First settled by the Slavs in the ninth century, it was incorporated into the early medieval Principality of Polatsk, one of the earliest East Slav states in 980. 1067 is now accepted as the founding year of Minsk, though the town (by then fortified by wooden walls) had certainly existed for some time by then. In the early twelfth century, the Principality of Minsk was established although this was annexed by Kiev, the dominant principality of Kievan Rus. However in 1146 the Polatsk dynasty again regained control. Mi...