The voivodeship was stretched along the Berezina and Dneper rivers, with the earlier river having both its source and its estuary within the limits of the voivodeship, as well as most of its basin. To the north east it bordered Polotsk, Vitebsk and Mscislaw voivodeships. To the east it bordered with the lands of Chernigov, while to the south-east it was delimited by the riverSnov. Further southwards the voivodeship was bordering the land of Kiev. Across the basin of the Pripyat river the land of Minsk was bordering the Brześć Voivodeship and Nowogródek Voivodeship. Further northwards it was bordering the capital of the Grand Duchy, the Vilnius Voivodeship.
History
Minsk had been a capital of a semi-independent duchy at least since 1067. Raided on a yearly basis by Lithuanian tribes, by the 12th century it was made a fief and in the 14th century it was directly incorporated into the Grand Duchy. In 1441 the city of Minsk was granted with a city charter, by the kingCasimir IV Jagiellon. His son, Alexander Jagiellon extended the privilege in 1496 and granted the town with Magdeburg Laws. Since then, the entire region shared the fate of its capital city. In 1773 a post-Jesuit academy had been founded in Minsk by the Commission of National Education.
Politics
All voivodeships played an important role within the Polish political system, extended to Lithuania by the Polish-Lithuanian unions. Following the final Union of Lublin of 1569, the Minsk Voivodeship received two seats within the Senate. The seats were held ex officio by the voivod and the castellan of Minsk. Each of the three powiats organized its own Sejmik, which had a right to elect two members of Sejm each, and two deputies to the Lithuanian Tribunal. The three cities were also entitled to house local courts. Since 1599, the Tribunal of Lithuania did also held sessions in Minsk. The court held there served the role of the highest juridical authority for all of Ruthenian voivodeships, that is Minsk, Nowogródek, Vitebsk, Mstislav and Kiev. Following the first partition of Poland in 1775, the tribunal abandoned Minsk and held its sessions in Hrodna. Notable voivodes of Minsk include Balcer Strawiński, Aleksander Suszka and Mikołaj Sapieha.
Much like other Ruthenian lands, the Minsk voivodeship signed its documents with the Pogońcoat of arms. The flag was Or, in field Gules a chase Carnation. The official uniform was a crimson kontusz and żupan, with a navy blue collar. The powiat of Rechytsa adopted a white żupan with white collar.