Chachersk is a city in the Gomel region of Belarus, the administrative center of the Chachersk region. The city is located in an area that has been heavily contaminated with radioactive fallout associated with the Chernobyl accident. Population - 8445 people (as of January 1, 2018).
The city's name comes from the Chechora river. The city was
located on the ancient route from Smolensk to Kiev through the
Radimichi.
Chachersk is known from chronicles from the 12th
century. The city was apparently based on an ancient settlement,
from which a settlement with a planning structure typical of cities
of the XII-XIII centuries grew. According to folk legends, four
lakes near Chachersk are the traces of the hooves of Ilya Muromets'
horse in the direction of Kiev. The first trace is the round lake
Svyatoe, here Ilya put the god of his name (Ilyinskaya).
Until the middle of the XIV century (when it was annexed to
Lithuania) it was part of the Chernigov principality.
Until
1772, the town of Chachersk was the center of the Chachersk headman
of the Rechitsa district of the Minsk voivodeship of the Grand Duchy
of the Lithuanian province of the Commonwealth.
After the 1st
partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1772 - as part of
the Russian Empire (Rogachevsky district of the Mogilev province).
Catherine II presented the city to the famous Russian commander,
governor-general of the region Z. G. Chernyshev, after which the
city began to develop rapidly. Chernyshev and his successors built a
stone town hall, three churches and a church, founded a serf
theater, a glass factory, a distillery; the city was rebuilt in a
classical style.
On September 27, 1938 Chachersk received the
status of an urban-type settlement.
In 1939, 3730 Belarusians (72.6%), 977 Jews (19%), 233 Russians
(4.5%), 96 Ukrainians, 102 representatives of other nationalities
lived in Chachersk.
In 2017, 119 people were born in
Chachersk and 92 people died. The birth rate is 14.2 per 1000 people
(the average for the district is 13.5, for the Gomel region - 11.3,
for the Republic of Belarus - 10.8), the death rate is 11 per 1000
people (the average for the district is 15 , 8, in the Gomel region
- 13, in the Republic of Belarus - 12.6).
Industry
In
Chachersk there is a branch of the OJSC "Gomel Wine-making Plant", a
special forestry enterprise, two woodworking enterprises, and two
workshops for sewing work clothes.