The first settlements on the territory of the Ivatsevichi region appeared in the X-VI millennia BC. (Mesolithic era). The archaeological sites discovered off the shores of Lake Bobrovichskoe and the village of Lyubishtsy also date back to this period. Near the villages of Belavichi, Goshchevo, Senkovichi, Svyatoy Volya, Khodaki, Korochin there are burial mounds from the Iron Age.
In the 10th-11th centuries, the lands were part of the principalities of Kievan Rus, and from the 16th century - part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and from 1795, after the third partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, - part of Russia.
Ivatsevichi was first mentioned in written sources in 1519 as the Yundilov estate. The name (in the ancient pronunciation - “Ivachevichi”) comes from the name of the founder of the settlement - Ivach. In the Lithuanian metric for 1519 there is an act on the transfer of the Ivatsevichi estate to the Goroden merchants for debts. In the first half of the 16th century. The Ivatsevichs were part of the Slonim Grand Duke's estate. At the end of the 16th century. (1594) the magnate Sapieha became the owner of Ivatsevichi.
The Oginski family also left its mark on the Ivatsevichi land. Magnate, statesman of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, composer, poet, philanthropist Mikhail Oginsky initiated and invested in the construction of a canal (1767-1783), which connected the basins of the Black and Baltic seas. In addition, in 1788, Mikhail Oginsky founded the first industrial enterprise in Telekhany - a faience manufactory. Their products were distributed throughout the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
The War of 1812 caused enormous damage to many manufactories; the latest information about the earthenware factory dates back to 1814. But in 1895, a new glass factory was founded in its place, which used the latest achievements of science and technology. The plant soon gained enormous fame thanks to the production of crystal and colored glass products of the highest artistic level and quality. Surprisingly, they have mastered the production of “Bohemian” glass from local sand. True, saltpeter was purchased in Chile, paints arrived from Germany, Austria and England. The amazing skill of local residents allowed the plant owners to sell products in the main cities of Russia, Siberia, Crimea, the Caucasus, Poland, and the Baltic states. Unfortunately, the plant ceased to exist with the outbreak of the First World War. And the Oginsky Canal in 1915 became the dividing line between Russian and German troops; along it there are still remains of German reinforced concrete pillboxes.
In the first half of the 19th century, several industrial enterprises operated in the area. Among them are cloth production in the city of Kossovo and a manufactory in the town of Byten.
In 1854, a tar factory and brewery began operating in Ivatsevichi. After the construction of the Moscow-Brest railway in 1871, a village appeared near the Ivatsevichi estate, which quickly grew with the development of logging. In addition to laying the railway track in two lines, telegraph wires were laid, sidings, bridges, and railway stations were built. An example of typical stations built in the 70s of the XIX century is the Kossovo-Polesskoye railway station in the village of Nekhachevo.
At the end of the 19th century. In Ivatsevichi there was a distillery, a brick factory, a fulling mill, and a water mill. The brick factory was the largest in terms of employment. In 1900 there were 200 workers here.
In the Ivatsevichi district there is a unique architectural monument - the Puslovsky Palace, or Kossovo Castle, built in 1838 in the English Neo-Gothic style by Vandalin Puslovsky. Construction of the palace was finally completed by 1850. Then it was inherited by Vandalin’s youngest son, Leon Puslovsky.
The First World War caused serious damage to the Puslovsky residence. At this time, the headquarters of General Woyrsch was located there.
During World War II, 4 ghettos were created on the territory of the Kossovo Castle and in the city of Kossovo, in which almost the entire Jewish population was destroyed.
In 1944, during the offensive Operation Bagration, the Puslovsky Palace was burned.
Not far from Kossovo, in the Merechevshchina tract, Andrei Tadeusz Bonaventura Kosciuszko was born on February 4, 1746.
From September 1915 to November 1918, almost the entire territory of the region was occupied by the Germans. German cemeteries also remind us of that war. Since March 1921, the territory of the district was part of the Polish state. In 1939, after the reunification of the regions of Western Belarus with the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic, three districts were formed on the territory: Bytensky, Telekhansky and Kossovsky. Ivatsevichi became part of the former Kossovo district. In the first days of the Great Patriotic War, the area was occupied by fascist invaders. During the years of occupation, more than 8 thousand civilians were killed, the villages of Vyado, Bobrovichi, Zybaily, Krasnitsa, Tupichitsy, Zatishye were burned along with their people.
In 1941, on the one hundred and twentieth day of the war in the Zhitlin region, under the leadership of A.P. Chertkov, a partisan detachment was organized, which was assigned number 112. Detachments named after them operated in the area. G. Dimitrova, named after. Voroshilov, them. Stalin, named after Shchorsa, named after Chapaev, as well as partisan brigades: 8th and 99th, named after. Dzerzhinsky, named after. Ponomarenko, “Soviet Belarus”.
During the Great Patriotic War, the village of Telekhany suffered a huge tragedy. Almost half of its inhabitants were Jews. Almost immediately after the occupation by German troops, a ghetto was created in Telekhany, which was mostly destroyed in August 1941. Two monuments at the site of the execution of 1,400 and 500 Jews of the town remind of the tragedy.
Many famous personalities are associated with the small urban village. Here in 1939-1940. lived and worked the future Hero of the Soviet Union, famous underground fighter and partisan Vera Zakharovna Khoruzhaya, for whom two memorial plaques were erected.
The name of the famous Marshal Konstantin Konstantinovich Rokossovsky is also associated with the Telekhans. His mother, Antonina Rokossovskaya (Ovsyannikova), is buried at the local cemetery. Twice Hero of the Soviet Union, one of the few holders of the Order of Victory, the only marshal of two countries in the history of the USSR: the USSR (1944) and Poland (1949), one of the most outstanding military leaders of the Great Patriotic War had an amazing fate. Before the war he was repressed, but returned to duty. In his questionnaires, he always indicated the city of Velikiye Luki as his place of birth, December 9 (21). ).09.1889 son Konstantin was born. Thus, the real birthplace of the famous commander became known for certain.
The Brest Regional Party Committee, which settled on the territory of the district in the Khovanshchina tract, played a huge role in the development of the partisan movement.
“Khovanshchina” is the heart of the partisan and underground movement of the Brest region. The memory of the partisan movement in 1941-44 is sacredly preserved here. The complex consists of two dugouts and four houses. There was the headquarters of the Brest partisan unit (April 1943 - July 1944) (commander - Sergei Sikorsky, chief of staff - Pavel Pronyagin), the regional committee of the Komsomol, a medical unit, a “forest school”, and the editorial office of the newspaper “Zarya”. By the time it joined the Red Army, the center united 11 brigades, 13 separately operating detachments, and more than 13 thousand partisans. Currently, the memorial complex of partisan glory “Khovanshchina” is a branch of the state cultural institution “Ivatsevichi Museum of History and Local Lore”. The complex includes a large boulder with a commemorative inscription at the beginning of the exhibition; log bridge; 2 dugouts; 4 wooden huts; "Forest School"
On July 8, 1944, units of the 146th Guards Rifle Regiment liberated the village of Selets and launched a further offensive in the morning. But of all the dates in the five-century history of the area, July 12, 1944 is undoubtedly important. It was on this day that the liberation of the Ivatsevichi region was completed as part of Operation Bagration.
Over 7 thousand residents of the area joined the ranks of the Red Army and continued their offensive to the West. More than 2 thousand of them did not return home.
On September 20, 1947, the working village of Ivatsevichi received the status of an urban village. Then the regional center was moved here.
Since 1962, the Ivatsevichi district ceased to be an independent administrative unit and joined Berezovsky.
Since 1965, the area has been restored with its center in the urban village of Ivatsevichi, which became a city on May 28, 1966.