ABSTRACT
This chapter explores what the borderland position of Ašmjany means, what shuttle trade in the town looks like and the periods of history when cross-border trade in this region took place. There are several types of cross-border economic activities in the town which are differentiated along gender lines. Ašmjany is a small Belarusian town of 15,000 inhabitants located 20 km away from the contemporary border between the Republic of Belarus and the Lithuanian Republic, 50 km away from Vilnius, 120 km from Minsk and 220 km from Hrodna, the administrative centre of voblast to which Ašmjany belongs. The borderland history of Ašmjany becomes evident immediately after one reaches the town centre. Until the start of the twentieth century Ašmjany as well as most of contemporary Belarus remained in the Russian Empire. Female shuttle trade in Ašmjany has appeared to be a more heterogeneous activity than one might expect.
