1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Mtsensk

MTSENSK (popularly Amchensk), a town of Russia, in the government of Orel, on the navigable Zusha River, 17 m. from its confluence with the Oka, and on the Moscow & Kursk railway, 32 m. N.E. of the city of Orel. Pop. (1900), 9390. It is mentioned in the Russian chronicles as early as 1147. From 1320 to 1530 it was under the rule of Lithuania; in the latter year it was taken by Russia, and became one of her chief strongholds against the raids of the Tatars. It is now an important centre for trade in grain, hemp, hemp-seed oil, tobacco and spirits.