Alytus

Alytus stands on the Nemunas in southern Lithuania. A wooden fortress guarding the frontier against the Teutonic Order was recorded here in 1377, and a settlement grew around it despite repeated raids. In 1581 Stephen Báthory granted Alytus Magdeburg rights. The river made the town a trading centre on a principal route for Lithuanian exports, and a royal economic office was established here. The Third Partition of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795 divided Alytus between Prussian and Russian territory along the Nemunas.