The medieval name of Minsk is "Mensk". It exist at least since 1067 and was part of the [[Kievan Rus]]. Since 1101 it was the capital of the Principality Minsk. At the beginning of the 14th century it was part of the [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania]]. Later Minsk became more and more polnish influence. After the seizure of power by the [[Communism|communists]] they renamed Mensk to Minsk. For its location Minsk was very affected duuring the [[Second World War]].<ref>http://minsk.gov.by/ru/tempage/history/</ref> After the decay of the Soviet Union in 1991, many residents wanted to rename Minsk to Mensk, but the pro-russian politics of [[Alexander Lukashenko]] stopped this. | The medieval name of Minsk is "Mensk". It exist at least since 1067 and was part of the [[Kievan Rus]]. Since 1101 it was the capital of the Principality Minsk. At the beginning of the 14th century it was part of the [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania]]. Later Minsk became more and more polnish influence. After the seizure of power by the [[Communism|communists]] they renamed Mensk to Minsk. For its location Minsk was very affected duuring the [[Second World War]].<ref>http://minsk.gov.by/ru/tempage/history/</ref> After the decay of the Soviet Union in 1991, many residents wanted to rename Minsk to Mensk, but the pro-russian politics of [[Alexander Lukashenko]] stopped this. |