Shumilino

Shumilino is an urban settlement, which is the administrative center of the Shumilinsky district of the Vitebsk region. It is located just 40 km from Vitebsk and is the youngest regional center of the region.

Shumilinsky district appeared on the map of Belarus in 1924. It was immediately called Sirotinsky, and the center was located in Sirotino, where the station of the same name was located. After 3 years, the village council settled in Shumilino, but the district ceased to be called Sirotinsky, having received its modern name, only in 1961.

The first people appeared on these lands several thousand years before our era. So, near the village of Krasomai, the remains of a settlement of the Mesolithic period were found. Some villages and settlements of Shumilinshchyna are mentioned in the documents of the 16th century: Cherchitsa, Obol, Kozyany, Mosar..

With the collapse of the Commonwealth in 1772, the Shumilino lands were included in the Vitebsk province. In 1886 a railroad ran through the region.

Between 1941 and 1944 the area was under German occupation, which caused serious damage to the region. 133 villages were wiped off the face of the earth, thousands of people died. Monuments to the victims and heroes of the Great Patriotic War stand in many places in the region.