Bryansk was first mentioned in the Ipatiev Chronicle. The name was similar to the modern one, only with the prefix "de" - Debryansk. The name of the city comes from the ancient Russian word "dybr" or "wilds" (this word is known to us today as wilds), which means a mountainside, a gorge overgrown with trees, dense impassable thickets.
The exact date of the appearance of the settlement was tried by archaeologists who investigated the settlement on the Chashin Kurgan. They indicated the date - the tenth century AD. During the reign of the Kiev prince Vladimir Monomakh, a road was built through the Bryansk thickets, which marked the beginning of the colonization of these places by the Slavs.
In the thirteenth century, the city was moved from the mound to Mount Pokrovskaya. Apparently, the new location was considered safer. In the middle of the thirteenth century, the city of Bryansk became the center of the principality of the same name.
Power and war
The very first Bryansk prince was Roman Mikhailovich, his son Oleg was supposed to be his heir, but he was tonsured a monk, and the place of the prince remained unoccupied. The Smolensk princes took power over Bryansk. Further, the capture of the city was carried out:
- the prince of Lithuania Olgerd (mid-fourteenth century), the city became part of the principality of Lithuania;
- the army of Ivan III (at the beginning of the sixteenth century), after which Bryansk entered the Russian state;
- False Dmitry II (he twice attacked the city at the beginning of the 17th century).
Further development
In the 17th century, important trade routes passed through Bryansk, for example, with Little Russia and Moscow. Also in the 18th century an arsenal was organized here, weapons and military artillery were produced. At the end of the 19th century, a large railway junction was formed in the city.
In 1930, Bryansk became a city of regional subordination, part of the Western Region. During the Great Patriotic War, the regional center was occupied by fascist troops, a significant part of the city's civilians was destroyed by the Germans. A powerful partisan movement was organized in the Bryansk forests, the number of partisans was about 60 thousand people. The city was liberated on September 17, 1943, this date is now celebrated as City Day.
On July 5, 1944, by the decree of the Soviet government, the Bryansk region was formed, and Bryansk became its administrative and economic center.
