BEREZINA

berezina, a river of russia, in the government of minsk, forming a tributary of the dnieper. it rises in the marshes of borizov and flows south, inclining to east, for 350 m. (250 m. navigable), for the most part through low-lying but well-wooded country. as a navigable river, and forming a portion of the canal system which unites the black sea with the baltic, it is of importance for commerce, but is subject to severe floods. it was just above borizov that napoleon's army forced the passage of the berezina, with enormous losses, on the 26th-28th of november 1812, during the retreat from moscow. berezov. a town of asiatic russia, in the government of tobolsk, 700 m. n. of the city of that name, situated on three hills on the left bank of the sosva, 26 m. above its mouth in the ob, in 63 deg. 55' n. lat. and 65 deg. 7' e. long. it has more than once suffered from conflagrations--for example, in 1710 and 1808. prince menshikov, the favourite of peter the great and catherine i., died here an exile, in 1729. in 1730 his enemy and rival, prince dolgoruki, was interned here with his family; and in 1742 general ostermann was sent to berezov with his wife and died there in 1747. the yearly mean temperature is 25 deg. fahr., the maximum cold being 4.7 deg. it has a cathedral, near which lie buried mary menshikov, once betrothed to the tsar peter ii., and some of the dolgorukis. there is some trade in furs, mammoth bones, dried and salted fish. pop. (1897) 1073.