It is possible that Mir got its name from the word "emir" (referring to the rank of the head of the detachment of Tatar warriors stationed here), or from the direct meaning of the word "mir" (peace), due to the nearby border between Rus and Lithuania; however, there is no reliable evidence of any peace treaty being concluded here. In Belarusian historiography, it was commonly believed that Mir was first mentioned in the so-called "Lindenblatt Chronicle" in 1395, in connection with an attack by the Teutonic Order's troops. However, historians have recently established a new date for the first mention of Mir. This date is May 28, 1434, when the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Sigismund Kęstutaitis, granted the Mir estate and surrounding lands to his ally, the Vilnius castellan Senka Hedyholdovich. In 1486, it became the property of the Ilyinich family. In 1569, Mir passed to the Radziwiłł family. At the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th centuries, the Mir estate was surrounded by earthen ramparts and turned into a fortress, which could only be entered through gates named after the main roads leading from them (Castle Gate, Vilnius Gate, Minsk Gate, Slonim Gate). The multinational composition of the town is well reflected by the various religious buildings surrounding the Market Square — a Tatar mosque, built before 1795, burned down in 1939, now replaced by a shed; a synagogue courtyard; a yeshiva; the Trinity Church; and the Church of St. Nicholas. Since the 18th century, Mir has been an important spiritual center of Polish-Lithuanian Jewry.

Jermaine