Vileyka

Vileyka stands on the Viliya northwest of Minsk, in a district that formed part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Known as a settlement by the end of the sixteenth century, it lay within the Ashmyany area of Vilnius Voivodeship. The partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth brought it under Russian rule, and Vileyka received town rights in 1795. Its river links the surrounding country with the Neris and the larger Nemunas basin to the west.