miasteczko

A ' ( or ' (, ) was a historical type of urban settlement similar to a market town in the former Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. After the partitions of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth at the end of the 18th century, these settlements became widespread in the Austrian, German and Russian empires. The vast majority of miasteczkos had significant or even predominant Jewish populations; these are known in English under the Yiddish term shtetl. Miasteczkos had a special administrative status other than that of town or city.

==History== Typically, miasteczkos grew out of or remained private towns belonging to Polish-Lithuanian landlords, usually magnates or nobles, who sought to obtain royal privileges to establish markets and fairs and do business in liquor. Town owners favoured the Jews to bring in trade, particularly liquor.