Chernobyl

Some older geographical dictionaries and descriptions of modern Eastern Europe mention "Czernobol" (Chernobyl) with reference to Ptolemy's world map (2nd century AD). Czernobol is identified as Azagarium [uk], "oppidium Sarmatiae" (Lat., "a city in Sarmatia"), by the 1605 Lexicon geographicum of Filippo Ferrari[9] and the 1677 Lexicon Universale of Johann Jakob Hofmann.[10] According to the Dictionary of Ancient Geography of Alexander Macbean (London, 1773), Azagarium is "a town of Sarmatia Europaea, on the Borysthenes" (Dnieper), 36° East longitude and 50°40' latitude. The city is "now supposed to be Czernobol, a town of Poland, in Red Russia [Red Ruthenia], in the Palatinate of Kiow [see Kiev Voivodeship], not far from the Borysthenes."[11]

Whether Azagarium is indeed Czernobol is debatable. The question of Azagarium's correct location was raised in 1842 by Habsburg-Slovak historian, Pavel Jozef Šafárik, who published a book titled "Slavic Ancient History" ("Sławiańskie starożytności"), where he claimed Azagarium to be the hill of Zaguryna, which he found on an old Russian map "Bolzoj czertez" (Big drawing) near the city of Pereiaslav, now in central Ukraine.[12]

In 2019, Ukrainian architect Boris Yerofalov-Pylypchak published a book, Roman Kyiv or Castrum Azagarium at Kyiv-Podil.[13]

The archaeological excavations that were conducted in 2005–2008 found a cultural layer from the 10–12th centuries AD, which predates the first documentary mention of Chernobyl.[14]

Around the 12th century Chernobyl was part of the land of Kievan Rus′. The first known mention of the settlement as Chernobyl is from an 1193 charter, which describes it as a hunting lodge of Knyaz Rurik Rostislavich.[15][16] In 1362[17] it was a crown village of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Around that time the town had own castle which was ruined at least on two occasions in 1473 and 1482.[17] The Chernobyl castle was rebuilt in the first quarter of the 16th century being located nearby the settlement in a hard to reach area.[17] With revival of the castle, Chernobyl became a county seat.[17] In 1552 it accounted for 196 buildings with 1,372 residents, out of which over 1,160 were considered city dwellers.[17] In the city were developing various crafts professions such as blacksmith, cooper among others.[17] Near Chernobyl has been excavated bog iron, out of which was produced iron.[17] The village was granted to Filon Kmita, a captain of the royal cavalry, as a fiefdom in 1566. Following the Union of Lublin, the province where Chernobyl is located was transferred to the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland in 1569.[17] Under the Polish Crown, Chernobyl became a seat of eldership (starostwo).[17] During that period Chernobyl was inhabited by Ukrainian peasants, some Polish people and a relatively large number of Jews.[18] Jews were brought to Chernobyl by Filon Kmita, during the Polish campaign of colonization. The first mentioning of Jewish community in Chernobyl is in the 17th century.[19] In 1600 in the city was built the first kosciol (Polish word for the Roman Catholic church).[17] Local population was persecuted for holding Eastern Orthodox rite services.[17] The traditionally Eastern Orthodox Ukrainian peasantry around the town were forcibly converted, by Poland, to the Ruthenian Uniate Church.[20] In 1626, during the Counter-reformation, a Dominican church and monastery were founded by Lukasz Sapieha. A group of Old Catholics opposed the decrees of the Council of Trent. The Chernobyl residents actively supported the Khmelnytsky Uprising (1648–1657).[17]

With the signing of the Truce of Andrusovo in 1667, Chernobyl was secured after the Sapieha family.[17] Sometime in the 18th century, the place was passed on to the Chodkiewicz family.[17] In the mid-18th century the area around Chernobyl was engulfed in a number of peasant riots, which caused Prince Riepnin to write from Warsaw to Major General Krechetnikov, requesting hussars to be sent from Kharkiv to deal with the uprising near Chernobyl in 1768.[17] By the end of the 18th century, the town accounted for 2,865 residents and had 642 buildings.[17]

Following the Second Partition of Poland, in 1793 Chernobyl was annexed by the Russian Empire[21] and became part of Radomyshl county (uezd) as a supernumerary town ("zashtatny gorod").[17] Many of the Uniate Church converts returned to Eastern Orthodoxy.[22]

In 1832, following the failed Polish November Uprising, the Dominican monastery was sequestrated. The church of the Old Catholics was disbanded in 1852.[15]

Until the end of the 19th century, Chernobyl was a privately owned city that belonged to the Chodkiewicz family. In 1896 they sold the city to the state, but until 1910 they owned a castle and a house in the city.

In the second half of the 18th century, Chernobyl became a major centre of Hasidic Judaism. The Chernobyl Hasidic dynasty had been founded by Rabbi Menachem Nachum Twersky. The Jewish population suffered greatly from pogroms in October 1905 and in March–April 1919; many Jews were killed or robbed at the instigation of the Russian nationalist Black Hundreds. When the Twersky Dynasty left Chernobyl in 1920, it ceased to exist as a center of Hasidism.

Chernobyl had a population of 10,800 in 1898, including 7,200 Jews. In the beginning of March 1918[17] Chernobyl was occupied in World War I by German forces[15] (see Treaty of Brest-Litovsk).

Ukrainians and Bolsheviks fought over the city in the ensuing Civil War. In the Polish–Soviet War of 1919–20, Chernobyl was taken first by the Polish Army and then by the cavalry of the Red Army. From 1921 onwards, it was officially incorporated into the Ukrainian SSR.[15]

Between 1929 and 1933, Chernobyl suffered from killings during Stalin's collectivization campaign. It was also affected by the famine that resulted from Stalin's policies.[23] The Polish and German community of Chernobyl was deported to Kazakhstan in 1936, during the Frontier Clearances.[24]

During World War II, Chernobyl was occupied by the German Army from 25 August 1941 to 17 November 1943. The Jewish community was murdered during the Holocaust.[15]

In 1972, the Duga-1 radio receiver, part of the larger Duga over-the-horizon radar array, began construction 11 km (6.8 mi) west-northwest of Chernobyl. It was the origin of the Russian Woodpecker and was designed as part of an anti-ballistic missile early warning radar network.[25]

On 15 August 1972, the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (officially the Vladimir Ilyich Lenin Nuclear Power Plant) began construction about 15 km (9.3 mi)[26][27] northwest of Chernobyl. The plant was built alongside Pripyat, an "atomograd" city founded on 4 February 1970 that was intended to serve the nuclear power plant. The decision to build the power plant was adopted by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union on recommendations of the State Planning Committee that the Ukrainian SSR be its location. It was the first nuclear power plant to be built in Ukraine.[28]

With the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Chernobyl remained part of Ukraine within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone which Ukraine inherited from the Soviet Union.

During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Chernobyl became the site of the Battle of Chernobyl and Russian forces captured the city on 24 February.[29] After its capture, Ukrainian officials reported that the radiation levels started to rise due to recent military activity causing radioactive dust to ascend into the air.[30] Hundreds of Russian soldiers were suffering from radiation poisoning after digging trenches in a contaminated area, and one died.[31] On 31 March it was reported that Russian forces had left the exclusion zone.[32] Ukrainian authorities reasserted control over the area on 2 April.[33]