Chernobyl
Chernobyl, also known as Chornobyl, is a partially abandoned city in Vyshhorod Raion, Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine. It is located within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, to the north of Kyiv and to the southwest of Gomel in neighbouring Belarus. Prior to being evacuated in the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, it was home to approximately 14,000 residents—considerably less than adjacent Pripyat, which was completely abandoned following the incident. Since then, although living anywhere within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone is technically illegal, Ukrainian authorities have tolerated those who have taken up living in some of the city's less irradiated areas; Chernobyl's 2020 population estimate was 150 people.
First mentioned as a ducal hunting lodge in Kievan Rus' in 1193, the city has changed hands multiple times over the course of its history. In the 16th century, Jews began moving into Chernobyl, and at the end of the 18th century, it had become a major centre of Hasidic Judaism under the Twersky dynasty. During the early 20th century, pogroms and associated emigration caused the local Jewish community to dwindle significantly. By World War II, all remaining Jews in the city were murdered by Nazi Germany as part of the Holocaust.
In 1972, Chernobyl rose to prominence in the Soviet Union when it was selected as the site of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant; Pripyat was constructed nearby to house the facility's workers. Located to the north of Chernobyl proper, it opened in 1977. On 5 May 1986, nine days after Reactor No. 4 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded, the Soviet government began evacuating the residents of both Chernobyl and Pripyat in preparation for the liquidators' management of the disaster. Following their subsequent settlement in the newly purpose-built city of Slavutych, most of the evacuees never returned. From 1923 onwards, Chernobyl had been the administrative centre of Chernobyl Raion, which was dissolved and merged with Ivankiv Raion in 1988, owing to widespread radioactive contamination in the region. Ivankiv Raion, in turn, was dissolved and merged with Vyshhorod Raion during Ukraine's 2020 administrative reform.
Workers on watch and administrative personnel of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone are stationed in the city, which has two general stores and a hotel. Though the city's atmosphere remained calm after the disaster was contained, the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine sparked international concern about the stability of Ukrainian nuclear facilities, especially pursuant to reports that Russia's occupation of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone until April 2022 had caused a spike in radiation levels.
Etymology
The names Chernobyl and Chornobyl are identical in form to the Russian and Ukrainian words for mugwort, which literally mean "black stem". However, it can also be translated as "dark past", with the word "cherno-" meaning "black / dark", and "byl" meaning "past" in Old East Slavic. However, the city of Chernobyl was named that before the disaster, therefore it is unlikely that the city was named because of its dark past. It is likely, however, that the city's name in fact derives from the Old East Slavic personal name Чьрнобыль, combined with the possessive suffix -jь.The name in languages used nearby is:
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History
The Polish Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland of 1880–1902 states that the time the city was founded is not known.Identity of Ptolemy's "Azagarium"
Some older geographical dictionaries and descriptions of modern Eastern Europe mention "Czernobol" with reference to Ptolemy's world map. Czernobol is identified as "oppidium Sarmatiae", by the 1605 Lexicon geographicum of Filippo Ferrari and the 1677 Lexicon Universale of Johann Jakob Hofmann. According to the Dictionary of Ancient Geography of Alexander Macbean, Azagarium is "a town of Sarmatia Europaea, on the Borysthenes", 36° East longitude and 50°40' latitude. The city is "now supposed to be Czernobol, a town of Poland, in Red Russia , in the Palatinate of Kiow , not far from the Borysthenes."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", where he claimed Azagarium to be the hill of Zaguryna, which he found on an old Russian map "Bolzoj czertez" near the city of Pereiaslav, now in central Ukraine.
In 2019, Ukrainian architect Boris Yerofalov-Pylypchak published a book, Roman Kyiv or Castrum Azagarium at Kyiv-Podil.
Kievan Rus' and post-medieval era (880–1793)
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.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. In 1362 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. The Chernobyl castle was rebuilt in the first quarter of the 16th century being located nearby the settlement in a hard to reach area. With revival of the castle, Chernobyl became a county seat. In 1552 it accounted for 196 buildings with 1,372 residents, out of which over 1,160 were considered city dwellers. In the city were developing various crafts professions such as blacksmith, cooper among others. Near Chernobyl has been excavated bog iron, out of which was produced iron. 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. Under the Polish Crown, Chernobyl became a seat of eldership. During that period Chernobyl was inhabited by Ukrainian peasants, some Polish people and a relatively large number of Jews. 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. In 1600 the first Roman Catholic church was built in the town. Local population was persecuted for holding Eastern Orthodox rite services. The traditionally Eastern Orthodox Ukrainian peasantry around the town were forcibly converted, by Poland, to the Ruthenian Uniate Church. 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.
With the signing of the Truce of Andrusovo in 1667, Chernobyl was secured after the Sapieha family. Sometime in the 18th century, the place was passed on to the Chodkiewicz family. 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. The 8th Lithuanian Infantry Regiment was stationed in the town in 1791. By the end of the 18th century, the town accounted for 2,865 residents and had 642 buildings.
Imperial Russian era (1793–1917)
Following the Second Partition of Poland, in 1793 Chernobyl was annexed by the Russian Empire and became part of Radomyshl county as a supernumerary town. Many of the Uniate Church converts returned to Eastern Orthodoxy.In 1832, following the failed Polish November Uprising, the Dominican monastery was sequestrated. The church of the Old Catholics was disbanded in 1852.
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.
Hasidic Jewish dynasty of Chernobyl
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 Chernobyl was occupied in World War I by German forces in accordance with the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk