The Yelsk region is situated in the south of Belarus, on the border with Ukraine.

In the 7th-9th centuries the territory of the region was inhabited by the Dregovichi tribes. The Polesie often changed hands in terms of its ruler. In the 10th century the region was a part of the Kievan Rus, from the middle of the 14th century – Mozyr uyezd of the Great Principality of Lithuania.

Yelsk has been known from the 16th century as one of the properties of the famous French family Spadys who had to emigrate from France for religious reasons.

After the Lublin Union (1569) the region was a part of the Rzecz Pospolita, after the second partition of the Rzecz Pospolita (1793) Yelsk was the place in the Mikhalkovskaya volost of the Mozyr uyezd, Minsk province of the Russian Empire.

Yelsk has had different names. For a while it was known as Karelii, than Nikolayev. However, from September 26, 1917 the place had its original name back as the residents could not get used to the names as Nikolayev and Karelii.

The railway Zhlobin-Ovruch went through Yelsk in 1873.

In 1886 there were 44 houses, a distillery, 3 shops, a school, a post office on the road Mozyr-Ovruch, a church. In accordance with the 1897 census the population of the town was 600 people.

The region was founded on July 17, 1924 and was part of the Mozyr okrug as Karelii which was renamed into Yelsk on February 5, 1931.

In line with the resolution of the Central Executive Committee and Council of People’s Commissars of the BSSR of July 15, 1935 Yelsk was named a borough and from September 27, 1938 – a town of the Polesie oblast. In 1938 there were 3,878 residents in the town.

In August 1941 Yelsk was occupied by the Nazis. During the occupation more than 5,000 people were killed, 1,570 were taken to Germany for slave labour. The villages of Zabolotie, Kopanka, Krugloye were burnt down together with their residents. The memory about these villages is perpetuated in the cemetery of the burnt villages in the memorial Khatyn.

On January 11, 1944 the region was liberated by the 61st Army of the Belarusian Front together with the 37th Yelsk partisan brigade during the Kalinkovichi-Mozyr offensive operation.

From January 1954 the Yelsk region was included in Gomel oblast, in 1954 the population was 4,8 thousand, in 1970 – 6,5 thousand people.

On July 5, 1971 Yelsk was awarded the status of a town. There is St. Trinity Church - a monument of architecture which was built in 1780.