Verkhnedzvinsk district is the northernmost in Belarus. The extreme northern point of Verkhnedzvinsk district and the entire country – 56° 10' N latitude – is located near the Kurgan Druzhby memorial. The extreme southern point – 55° 33' N latitude – is situated on the banks of the Daugava River near the former estate of Barzdzilava, close to the border with Polotsk district, 3 km south of the village of Zamoshsha. On the banks of the Daugava near the village of Novaye Syalo, on the very border with Latvia, lies the westernmost point of the district; the easternmost point is located near the confluence of the Holavach stream with the Nischytsa River on the border with Rossony district. The geographical center of the district, equidistant from its extreme points, among all modern settlements, is the village of Kahanavichy.
If we were to characterize the location of our district on the world map with just two coordinates, it would be sufficient to use approximate and easily memorable indicators: 56° North latitude, 28° East longitude. As we can see, the numerical value of latitude is twice the value of longitude. These distinctive lines, forming a cross, intersect in the small village of Mukvyatsitsa in the Asveya region. They serve as an important landmark for laying aviation routes.
The latitude of our locality is known and popular among enthusiasts of curiosities due to its certain peculiarities. On the same parallel as our corner are Edinburgh, Scotland, and Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan and all the million-plus cities of the Urals and Siberia, except for Perm. Among people obsessed with finding lines and centers of harmony on Earth and in Space, there are many who consider the 56th parallel to be the Golden Section of the Earth, the most harmonious latitude, where nature endows humans with only moderate benefits, leaving them ample room for work to multiply them.
The outline of our district is easily memorable. For a significant part, its contour is determined by the line of rivers. Natural borders in our region are formed by individual sections of the riverbeds of more than 20 rivers. The longest "river" borders run along the Daugava and Svolna.
Another peculiarity of the geographical position of Verkhnedzvinsk region is that our district is the only one in the country that, until 1939, bordered three (!) states at once: the RSFSR, Latvia, and Poland. Now the Daugava, which once served as the border of Poland, separates Mory district from us. The borders with Russia and Latvia meet at the "North Pole" of Belarus – near the Kurgan Druzhby.
Our neighbors from the east are the Polotsk and Rossony districts. The borders of the three districts meet at the confluence of the Nichsha and Drissa rivers. To the north, our neighbor is the Sebezhsky district of the Pskov region (Russia), to the west – the Kraslava, Daugavpils and Zilupe regions of Latvia.
Until 1920, the state border (the border of the Dricsensk district) with Latvia ran along the Daugava tributary – the Indritsa River, 15 km west of the current one. Along this rapid river, in Soviet times, tourists from the Verkhnedvinsk district tourist club "Shukalnik" organized kayak trips. An interesting object on the Indritsa was a diversion hydroelectric power station. The river also "participated" in new political disputes on the issue of the state border – it was remembered during the collapse of the USSR. Certain territorial claims were made from the Latvian side, though not at the state level. At the turn of the 1990s, a rally was held on
The Riga highway at the site of the current Grigorovshchina checkpoint. Delegations of neighboring countries confirmed the inviolability of the modern border between Belarus and Latvia, cooling the ardor and frenzy of claimants who, in their fervor about the injustice of Soviet borders, confused the names of the Indritsa and Rositsa rivers and lamented the need to move the Belarusian-Latvian border to the one established by the 1920 treaty, which meant, in their opinion, further... To the east (!).
Meanwhile, claims could have been made not by Latvians, but by Belarusians, because the border of the Dricsensk district with Latvia until 1920 ran along the Indritsa, not the Rositsa, and Pridruisk (Piedruja) and Pustynya (Robezhnieki) were its towns.
The geographical position of Verkhnedvinsk region at the junction of different states and ethnic groups has influenced its history and economic development. Numerous "settlements" in defining state borders between the Grand Duchy of Moscow and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, conflicts between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with the Livonian Order have repeatedly devastated our region and delayed its progress.
The geographical location of our region has determined the history of its settlement, which directly depended on the changes in the natural environment during the last post-glacial period. It has been studied during numerous archaeological expeditions and scientific historical research, leaving many material evidence in the Dvina region and in the Asveya region. Among them are tools, weapons, household items, and jewelry, which can be seen in our museum. Immovable objects also belong to the material evidence of antiquity: hillforts, settlements, and kurgans. The most common and studied are hillforts and burial mounds. On the territory of the Verkhnedvinsk district, there are over 30 archaeological sites studied by scientists, described in literature, and embodied in scientific collections. They are identified in the relief by characteristic kurgans and a cultural layer in the soil profile.
A late Mesolithic site has been discovered and studied in the forest near the village of Zamoshshye, Borkovichi village council. This is the oldest archaeological site in the district and a rare monument of this type in the northern Dvina region. People settled at the Zamoshshye site "very recently" – shortly after the retreat of the last glacier, 7 thousand years BC, 17 millennia later than humans created the settlement of Yuravichi on the Pripyat River in southern Belarus.
The location of the northernmost region of Belarus also influences its modern natural features. Winters here are much colder than in the Brest region, but, thanks to the relative proximity to the Baltic Sea, slightly milder than in the eastern Vitebsk region. The average January temperature in Verkhnedvinsk is minus 7.2 degrees Celsius. In some years, this indicator can significantly differ from the average. Summers are cool compared to other places, and the soils are not distinguished by high natural fertility. Nevertheless, the workers of the northernmost region have proven in practice that diligent and competent management, relying on modern technologies, can truly make the coldest parallel "golden."
Remember the following branded attractions as well.
Verkhnedvinsk is the northernmost city in Belarus, and Asveya is the northernmost urban settlement (urban-type settlement).
People with little geographical knowledge often call Horadok the northernmost city of Belarus, and Yezershcha or Rasony the northernmost urban settlement.
However, by examining the map of the Vitebsk region and using a regular ruler and calculator, it is not difficult to calculate that Horadok is 33 kilometers closer to the equator than Verkhnedvinsk, Rasony is "further south" by 12 kilometers compared to Osvyeya, and Yezeryshcha is 20 kilometers further south. Thus, on the "globe of Belarus," the residents of Verkhnedvinsk are true "polar explorers"!
The following comparisons are also interesting. The area of the Verkhnedvinsk district is 2140 square kilometers. It could accommodate 5 countries like Andorra, 7 countries like Malta with its 31 cities, more than 13 countries like the principality of Liechtenstein, 35 countries like San Marino, and more than a thousand countries like Monaco. Even the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, a NATO member and one of the richest countries in the world, only has an area twice as large as the Verkhnedvinsk district.
A. Bubalo
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