Kropyvnytskyi
Kropyvnytskyi is a city in central Ukraine, situated on the Inhul River. It serves as the administrative center of Kirovohrad Oblast. Population:
Over its history, Kropyvnytskyi has changed its name several times. The settlement was known as Yelysavethrad after Empress Elizabeth of Russia from 1752 to 1924, or simply Elysavet. In 1924, as part of the Soviet Union, it became known as Zinovievsk after the revolutionary Grigory Zinoviev, who was born there. Following the assassination of Sergei Kirov in 1934, the town was renamed Kirovo.
Concurrently with the formation of Kirovohrad Oblast on 10 January 1939, and to distinguish it from Kirov Oblast in central Russia, Kirovo was renamed Kirovohrad. As part of independent Ukraine, the name of the city was then changed to Kropyvnytskyi in 2016 due to decommunization laws, in honour of Marko Kropyvnytskyi, who was born near the city. However, Kirovohrad Oblast was not renamed because it is mentioned in the Constitution of Ukraine – only a constitutional amendment could change the name of the oblast.
Names
Yelisavetgrad
The name "Yelisavetgrad" is believed to have evolved as the amalgamation of the fortress name and the common Eastern Slavonic element "-grad". Its first documented usage dates back to 1764, when Yelisavetgrad Province was organized together with the Yelisavetgrad Lancer Regiment.Presenting a letter of grant on 11 January 1752, to Major-General Jovan Horvat, the organizer of New Serbia settlements, Empress Elizabeth of Russia ordered "to found an earthen fortress and name it Fort St. Elizabeth". Thus simultaneously the future city was named in honour of its formal founder, the Russian empress, and also in honor of her heavenly patroness, St. Elizabeth.
Zinovievsk
Following the Russian Revolution and founding of the Soviet Union, in 1924 the city was renamed Zinovievsk, after Grigory Zinoviev, a Soviet statesman and one of the leaders of the Russian Communist Party. He was born in Yelisavetgrad on 20 September, 1883. At the time he was honored by the name, he was a member of the Politburo and the Chairman of the Comintern's Executive Committee.Kirovo and Kirovograd
On 27 December 1934, after the assassination of Sergei Kirov, Zinovievsk and other Soviet cities was renamed again - this time as Kirovo, and then as Kirovohrad. The latter name appeared simultaneously with the creation of Kirovograd Oblast, on 10 January 1939 and was aimed at differentiating the region from Kirov Oblast in present-day Russia.After Ukraine regained independence, the name of the city started to be spelled according to Ukrainian pronunciation as Kirovohrad. The previous Russified orthography remains widely used on account of the widespread use of the Russian language in the region.
Kropyvnytskyi
Since 1991 numerous discussions had been held on the city's name. A number of activists supported returning the city to its original name, Yelisavetgrad. Other suggestions for contemporary Ukraine included Tobilevychi ; Zlatopil, and Stepohrad, Ukrainian for "city of steppes" ; Ukrainsk or Ukrainoslav, i.e. "the glorifying Ukraine one;" and Novokozachyn.The President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, signed the bill on decommunization in Ukraine on 15 May 2015, which required places associated with the communist past to be renamed within a six-month period. On 25 October 2015 76.6% of the Kirovohrad voters voted for renaming the city to Yelysavethrad. A draft law at the time before the Ukrainian parliament would prohibit any names associated with Russian history since the 14th century, which would make the name Yelysavethrad inadmissible as well. A committee of the Verkhovna Rada chose the name Inhulsk on 23 December 2015. This name is a reference to the nearby Inhul river. On 31 March 2016 the Verkhovna Rada Committee for Nation Building, Regional Politics and Local Self-Government recommended to parliament to rename Kirovohrad to Kropyvnytskyi. This name is a reference to writer, actor and playwright Marko Kropyvnytskyi, who was born near the city. On 14 July 2016, the name of the city was finally changed to Kropyvnytskyi.
Administrative status
Kropyvnytskyi serves as administrative center of Kropyvnytskyi Raion and hosts the administration of Kropyvnytskyi urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine.Until 18 July 2020, Kropyvnytskyi was designated as a city of oblast significance and belonged to Kropyvnytskyi Municipality but not to Kropyvnytskyi Raion even though it was the center of the raion. It is divided into two districts — Fortechnyi and Podilskyi. The urban-type settlement of Nove is part of the Fortechnyi District. As part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Kirovohrad Oblast to four, Kropyvnytskyi Municipality was merged into Kropyvnytskyi Raion.
History
Before the foundation
In the 16th and the first half of the 18th centuries, the lands of modern Kropyvnytskyi and its adjacent districts belonged to Zaporozhian Sich. On the territory of modern Kropyvnytskyi were located the settlements of Ukrainian Cossacs, which gradually turned into districts of the city, including Kuschivka, Zavadivka and Velyka Balka.18th and 19th century: from military settlement to trade centre
The history of the city beginnings dates back to the year 1754 when Fort St. Elizabeth was built on the lands of former Zaporozhian Sich in the upper course of the Inhul, Suhokleya and Biyanka Rivers.On 9 January 1752, the Senate, based on the petition of the Serbian colonel Jovan Horvat, issues a decree on the creation of New Serbia and the construction of the
fortress of St. Elizabeth for its protection. In January 1752, the decree was signed by Elizabeth of Russia, on the basis of which a thanks letter was issued to Ivan Horvath and instructions to Ivan Glebov. The mentioned documents didn't indicate the place of construction of the fortress, so it was chosen by order of Ivan Glebov. The Hadiach-Myrhorod regiment of Ukrainian Cossacks arrived to build the fortress, which completed the main works in four months: from June to October 1754. During the work, 72 Zaporozhians died, 233 fell ill, and 855 ran away to Sich. This fort played a pivotal role in the new lands added to Russia by the Belgrad Peace Treaty of 1739. In 1764 the settlement received status of the center of the Elizabeth province. Also, it was from this fortress at the end of May 1775 that a 100,000-strong army led by the general Peter Tekeli set out, which on 15 June destroyed Zaporozhian Sich. In 1784 the status of chief town of a district, when it was renamed after the fort as city of Yelyzavethrad.
The Fort of St. Elizabeth was on a crossroads of trade routes, and it eventually became a major trade center. The city has held regular fairs four times a year. Merchants from all over the Russian Empire have visited these fairs. Also, there were numerous foreign merchants, especially from Greece. The main architect of the city in the middle of the 19th century was Dostoevsky’s brother, Andrey. Also here born writers minodav Shpolyansky, Yuri Daragan and Arseny Tarkovsky. Developed around the military settlement, the city rose to prominence in the 19th century when it became an important trade centre, as well as a Ukrainian cultural leader with the first professional theatrical company in either Central or Eastern Ukraine being established here in 1882, founded by Mark Kropyvnytsky, Tobilevych brothers and Maria Zankovetska.
Early 20th century: famine and pogroms
Elizabethgrad was ravaged by famine in 1901 and its residents suffered more due to poor government response.The region is extremely fertile. However, a drought in 1892 and poor farming methods which never allowed the soil to recover, prompted a large famine that plagued the region. According to a 1901 New York Times article, the Ministry of the Interior denied the persistence of famine in the region and blocked non-State charities from bringing aid to the area. The reporter wrote, "The existence of famine was inconvenient at a time when negotiations were pending for foreign loans." The governor of the Kherson region, Prince Oblonsky, refused to acknowledge this famine. One non-resident and non-State worker entered Elizabethgrad and provided The New York Times with an eyewitness account. He observed: general and acute destitution; deaths from starvation; widespread typhus, and little to no work to be found in the region.
Elizabethgrad was located in the Pale of Settlement and, during the 19th century, had a substantial Jewish population.
Elizabethgrad was subjected to several violent pogroms in the late 19th and early 20th century. In 1905 another riot flared, with Christians killing Jews and plundering the Jewish quarter. A contemporary account was reported in The New York Times on 13 December 1905.
Ukrainian War of Independence and Ukrainian–Soviet War
During the Ukrainian revolution, the government in the city changed several times. The City Council recognized the authority of the Central Rada on 19 December 1917. in January–February 1918, street battles took place here between supporters of the Ukrainian People's Republic on one side and the Bolsheviks and their allies - anarchists led by Maria Nikiforova, on the other.On 7 May 1919, paramilitary leader, and former divisional general in the Red Army, Nykyfor Hryhoriv, launched an anti-Bolshevik uprising. On 8 May 1919, he issued a proclamation "To the Ukrainian People", in which he called upon the Ukrainian people to rise against the "Communist imposters", singling out the "Jewish commissars" and the Cheka. In only a few weeks, Hryhoriv's troops perpetrated 148 pogroms, the deadliest of which resulted in the massacre of upwards of 1,000 Jewish people in Yelisavetgrad, from 15 to 17 May 1919. In total, about 3,000 Jews died in the city.
The Soviet Red Army eventually reconquered the city in 1920.