Drahichyn

Drahichyn stands in the Polesian lands. The settlement was first recorded in 1452 under the name Dowieczorowicze. In the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth it belonged to Pinsk County in the Brześć Litewski Voivodeship, placing its administration within the network of Polesian towns. The landscape of the region gave this network its character: wetlands, rivers and forests shaped communication and made local centres important points for organizing people and goods.

A 1518 treaty between Riga and the Commonwealth was signed in Drohiczyn, showing that the town could play a role in wider commercial diplomacy. The Third Partition of Poland brought it under the Russian Empire in 1795. The town was also called Drohiczyn Poleski, a regional designation that distinguished it from the better-known Drohiczyn in Podlachia. Its changing names and administrations preserve the history of a Polesian district centre.