VITEBSK, a town of the White Russian S.S.R., situated on both banks of the western Dwina (Daugava), and on the railway, in 55° 1o' N., 3o° It' E. Pop.(1933), 127,30o. Its indus tries include the manufacture of glass, agricultural machinery, boots and shoes, sewn goods, sewing needles, spectacles and bristles. There is a large Jewish element in the town.
Vitebsk (Dbesk, Vitbesk and Vitepesk) is mentioned for the first time in 1021, when it belonged to the Polotsk principality.
Eighty years later it became the chief town of a separate princi pality, and so continued until 1320, when it came under the dominion of the Lithuanians. In the 16th century it fell to Poland. Under the privileges granted to the city by the Polish sovereigns it flourished, but it soon began to suffer from the wars between Russia and Poland, during which it was thrice taken by the Russians and burned. Russia annexed it finally in 1772.