Dokshytsy

Dokshytsy lies in the north of the Belarusian lands, close to the source of the Berezina River. Only about one kilometre separates the town from that source, giving it a position between forested flatland and the upper course of a river that later becomes a major regional waterway. Its earliest written record is indirect but clear: a document of Grand Duke Vytautas dated 1407 names related tributaries. The settlement then belonged to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and later formed part of Minsk Voivodeship.

The landscape did not protect the town from shifting state frontiers. In 1793 the Second Partition of Poland transferred it to the Russian Empire and the Minsk Governorate. Two years later it was briefly raised to city status, only to lose part of its territory and return to village rank. In 1812 French forces, passing through during the campaign across the region, overran and destroyed the town.