Bratslav (Брацлав; Polish: Bracław; Yiddish: Breslov) is a town in the Nemyriv raion of the Vinnytsya oblast of Ukraine, on the river Southern Bug (Boh). As of 1988, Bratslav had a population of 6,100.
The first written mention of Bratslav dates back to 1362. The city was granted Magdeburg Rights in 1564. Bratslav belonged to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania until the Lublin Union of 1569, when it became a voivodship center in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In 1648, during the Bohdan Khmelnytsky rebellion, Bratslav became a Cossack regimental town part of the Hetman state, which was later assimilated by Russia. In 1667, under the Treaty of Andrusiv, Russia returned the city to Poland. The city again became part of Russia after the Second Partition of Poland in 1793, along with the rest of the Right-bank Ukraine. Under Russia, Bratslav was a county center in the Podolia guberniya. As the city had no access to a railroad, its importance and population gradually declined.
Bratslav is famous in Judaism as the place where Rabbi Nachman of Breslov taught. Rabbi Nachman was the founder of one of the major branches of Hasidism, Breslover Hasidism.
Bratslav should not be confused with Breslau (Wrocław), Břeclav or Bratislava.
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