Mogilev

Coordinates: 53°55′N 30°21′E / 53.917°N 30.350°E / 53.917; 30.350

Mogilev (or Mogilyov; Russian: Могилёв, pronounced [məɡʲɪˈlʲof]; Łacinka: Mahilioŭ; Belarusian: Магілёў, pronounced [maɣʲiˈlʲou̯]) is a city in eastern Belarus, about 76 kilometres (47 miles) from the border with Russia's Smolensk Oblast and 105 km (65 miles) from the border with Russia's Bryansk Oblast. As of 2011, its population was 360,918, up from an estimated 106,000 in 1956. It is the administrative centre of Mogilev Region and the third largest city in Belarus.

History

The city is mentioned in historical sources since 1267. From the 14th century it was part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and, since the Union of Lublin (1569), part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, where it became known as Mohylew or Mogilew. In 16th-17th century the city flourished as one of the main nodes of the east-west and north-south trading routes.

In 1577 Polish King Stefan Batory granted it city rights under Magdeburg law. In 1654, the townsmen negotiated a treaty of surrender to the Russians peacefully, if the Jews were to be expelled and their property divided up among Mogilev's inhabitants. Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovitch agreed. However, instead of expelling the Jews, the Russian troops massacred them after they had led them to the outskirts of the town. After the First Partition of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1772) Mogilev became part of the Russian Empire and became the centre of the Mogilev Governorate.