A ( or (), () was a historical type of

urban settlement An Urban settlement is a concentrated settlement that is part of an urban area. It is an area with high density of human-created structures. *Municipal urban settlement, a type of subdivision such as Cape town in Western Cape *Urban settlement, ...

similar to a

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...

in the former

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and, after 1791, as the Commonwealth of Poland, was a bi- confederal state, sometimes called a federation, of Poland and Lithuania ru ...

. After the partitions of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth at the end of the 18th-century, these settlements became widespread in the

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

and

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

Empires. The vast majority of ''miasteczkos'' had significant or even predominant

Jewish population As of 2020, the world's "core" Jewish population (those identifying as Jews above all else) was estimated at 15 million, 0.2% of the 8 billion worldwide population. This number rises to 18 million with the addition of the "connected" Jewish pop ...

s; these are known in English under the

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ve ...

term ''

shtetl A shtetl or shtetel (; yi, שטעטל, translit=shtetl (singular); שטעטלעך, romanized: ''shtetlekh'' (plural)) is a Yiddish term for the small towns with predominantly Ashkenazi Jewish populations which existed in Eastern Europe before ...

''. ''Miasteczkos'' had a special administrative status other than that of

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

. The meaning "small town" is somewhat misleading, since some 19th-century shtetls, such as

Berdichev Berdychiv ( uk, Берди́чів, ; pl, Berdyczów; yi, באַרדיטשעװ, Barditshev; russian: Берди́чев, Berdichev) is a historic city in the Zhytomyr Oblast (province) of northern Ukraine. Serving as the administrative center ...

Bohuslav Bohuslav ( uk, Богуслав, yi, באָסלעוו or ''Boslov'') is a city on the Ros River in Obukhiv Raion, Kyiv Oblast (province) of Ukraine. Population: . It hosts the administration of Bohuslav urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Uk ...

counted over 15,000 people. Therefore, after Russian authorities annexed parts of Poland-Lithuania (which included parts of modern Poland, Belarus, Ukraine and Lithuania), they had difficulties in formally defining what a ''miasteczko'' is. Typically ''miasteczkos'' grew out of or still remained

private town A private town is a town owned by a private person or a family. History of Private Towns in Poland In the history of Poland, private towns (''miasta prywatne'') were towns within the lands owned by magnates, bishops, knights, princes, etc. ...

s belonging to Polish-Lithuanian landlords (usually magnates), who sought to obtain royal privileges to establish markets and fairs, and to do business in liquor. The town owners favored the Jews in order for them to bring in trade, including trade in liquor. After the incorporation of Polish lands into the Russian Empire, the authorities started converting private towns into state-owned towns (Russian term: ''kazyonny gorod'', literally "treasury-owned town"). This process intensified after the Polish November Uprising (1830–31). However the term ''mestechko'' continued to be applied to both private and state-seized towns. In modern times in Poland ''miasteczko'' does not have a special administrative status, and the term is informally used for small towns, as well as for settlements which lost

town privileges Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the traditio ...

(see List of former cities of Poland). In Lithuania ''miestelis'' does have a special administrative status and the term is used for ''small towns'', usually smaller than a ''town'' (named ''miestas'') or a city (usually named both ''miestas'' – or ''didmiestis'' - ), but larger than a ''kaimas'' (). The majority of inhabitants of ''miestelis'' should work in

manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to ...

retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and ...

service industries Service industries are those not directly concerned with the production of physical goods (such as agriculture and manufacturing). Some service industries, including transportation, wholesale trade and retail trade are part of the supply chain de ...

as opposed to a village type of settlement (''kaimas''), where the majority of inhabitants are employed in

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...

(there are some villages with more inhabitants than ''miestelis'' in Lithuania). ''Miestelis'' status is also applied for settlements which historically were more prominent than today, once had, but lost its

. Usually a ''miestelis'' is inhabited between 500 and 3000 people. In 2021 there are 247 ''miestelis'' type settlements in Lithuania (235 in 1986).Algimantas Miškinis. Miestelis. Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija, T. XV (Mezas-Nagurskiai). – Vilnius: Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos institutas, 2009. 57 psl. In modern Russia the borrowed term does not have universal official meaning, however some administrative divisions officially define the category of ''mestechko'' of rural settlements.

References

{{reflist Market towns Types of towns Subdivisions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth