Vileika was first mentioned in chronicles in 1460.
In 1793, after the second partition of Rzecz Pospolita, the territory of the region was annexed to the Russian Empire. On May 14, 1795, Vileika received the town status and became the centre of the Vileika uyezd of the Minsk guberniya. On February 2, 1796, the official emblem of the town of Vileika was established. From 1842 to 1917, Vileika uyezd was a part of the Vileika guberniya.
A glasswork in the settlement of Il’ya, one of the biggest in Belarus, opened in the 18th century. In 1823-1867 a cloth factory was operating near Dolginovo.
During World War I, on September 22-23, 1915, the Russian troops launched the Vileika offensive following the Sventsansky breakthrough operation. In December 1917, the Soviet power was proclaimed in the Vileika region. The region was occupied by the German troops in February-December 1918, and by the Polish troops from July 1919 to September 1920. From 1921 to 1939, the region was a part of Poland.
In 1939, the Vileika region became a part of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR). From December 4, 1939 to September 1944, Vileika was the centre of the Vileika oblast. Later it joined the Molodechno oblast, and in January 1960 the Minsk oblast.
During the Great Patriotic War, from June 25, 1941 to July 2, 1944 the Vileika region was occupied by the Nazi troops. They killed more than 15,000 people and burnt down five villages with their inhabitants. The villages of Lubcha and Borki were never restored after the war.
The anti-fascist underground movement was set up in Vileika in July 1941. Several underground newspapers including Partizanskaya Pravda, Syalyanskaya Gazeta, Narodny Mstitel, Molodezhnaya Gazeta covered the situation on the front and in the enemy’s rear.
On July 5, 1946, the Kurenets region was renamed into the Vileika region. On July 20, 1957, the Il’ya region was abolished. On December 25, 1962, the Krivichi region joined the Vileika region.
