 The settlement shared the history of the Smolensk lands—it paid duty to the Golden Horde, then was captured by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.It was returned to Russia with the rest of the Smolensk Voivodeship at the close of the Russo-Polish War of 1654–1667.In 1776, it was granted town status and became the seat of an uyezd.