Rahachow is a city in the Gomel region of the Republic of
Belarus. The administrative center of the Rogachevsky district. Rahachow
gas a railway station on the Mogilev-Zhlobin line. Highways to
Bobruisk, Mogilev, Slavgorod, Zhlobin. It has a pier on the Dnieper
river. The city is located at the confluence of the Dnieper and Drut
'rivers. Population 34809 people (2018).
There are several
versions of the origin of the name. One of them is the theory about
the origin of the name from the ancient Lithuanian word "Rogas" - an
altar, a sanctuary, a holy place. In those days, not far from
Rogachev, there was also a pagan temple near the Good (Holy) Lake.
There is a legend that Rogachev long resisted the introduction of
Christianity. A similar theory says that the name comes from the
ancient Slavic word "Horn", which meant forest tracts, elevations
where temples were located. Another theory is that the name comes
from the term horn - "cape", "spit", "place of confluence of
rivers", "arrow", "corner", which is associated with the location of
the city on the arrow between the Dnieper and Drut. It is possible
that the name came from the name Rogach, which is often found in the
Old Slavic languages.
There are several versions of the origin of the name. One of them is the theory about the origin of the name from the ancient Lithuanian word "Rogas" - an altar, a sanctuary, a holy place. In those days, not far from Rahachow, there was also a pagan temple near the Good (Holy) Lake. There is a legend that Rogachev long resisted the introduction of Christianity. A similar theory says that the name comes from the Old Slavic word "Horn", which meant forest tracts, elevations where temples were located. Another theory is that the name comes from the term horn - "cape", "spit", "place of confluence of rivers", "arrow", "corner", which is associated with the location of the city on the arrow between the Dnieper and Drut. It is possible that the name came from the name Rogach, which is often found in the Old Slavic languages.
Prehistoric period
The first people appeared on the territory
occupied by the Rahachow district 14 thousand years ago. These are
the tribes of the archaeological culture of Lingbi. In the
Mesolithic and Neolithic epochs, people develop most of the
territory of the region: more than 25 settlements of this period
have been found, including 5 in the city. In the Bronze Age in the
Dnieper region of the Rogachev region, according to all data, there
was an administrative or cult center of some large tribe of the
Middle Dnieper archaeological culture - nowhere in Belarus is there
such a large abundance of objects of the Bronze Age as in the
Rogachev region. These objects are from 3.5 to 4 thousand years old,
and since 1993 they have been intensively excavated by Belarusian
archeology; there is an intention to create an area of the
Archaeological National Park.
Antiquity
The fortified
center of ancient Rogachev - Zamkovaya Gora - is located on the site
of a settlement of Milograd and hatched ceramics of cultures. These
cultures are usually associated with the Baltic population of the
then Belarus. In the VI-VIII centuries AD the Slavs gradually
begin to penetrate the lands of the Rahachow district - Radimichi
and Krivichi come from the west, Dregovichi settle from the Pripyat
basin. The settlement occupied the edge of the cape near the
confluence of the Drut with the Dnieper. The site is close to
triangular, separated from the root bank by a meadow-like ditch. On
three sides it was guarded by high steep slopes, and on the side of
the field - a moat. Artificial fortifications have not survived, the
entrance was located on the south side. Found tools (knives,
sickles, chisels, axes, etc.), household items (fragments of locks
and keys, awls, flint, stylos, etc.), Weapons and equipment of the
rider (arrowheads, fragments of spurs, bits of products (hairpins,
rings, belt buckles), bone products (ornamented onlays, a fragment
of a chess piece), as well as fish hooks, fragments of pottery. The
ancient population of Rogachev was engaged in agriculture, cattle
breeding, fishing, hunting, processing of iron, non-ferrous metals,
bone, wood and other crafts were developed. There were trade
relations with Kiev and Volhynia. According to P.F.Lysenko, the
settlement on Zamkovaya Gora arose in the 11th century. It is most
likely that the city grew out of a feudal castle.
Period of
Kievan Rus
Rahachow was first mentioned in the Ipatiev Chronicle
under 1142 when describing the distribution of the cities of Turov
and Vladimir lands by the Kiev prince Vsevolod Olgovich to his
brothers. It was part of the Chernigov, then - Turov principality.
The second time is mentioned in the chronicle under 1188 when
describing the siege of Drutsk by Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich. The city
was constantly the subject of princely strife and the goal of many
conquerors, since the village of Zvonets near Rogachevo was the
junction of the borders of 4 principalities: Turov, Smolensk,
Polotsk and Chernigov. In the Dolbtsy tract near Gadilovichi, a
congress of Russian princes took place to delimit territorial issues
along the Dnieper. At the end of the 12th century, the city belonged
to the Pinsk princes.
As part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
In the XIII century.
Rahachow part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and passes into the
possession of Prince Dovmont. In the same century, almost all the
feudal castles of the Rogachev region were destroyed, some scholars
believe that they were Mongol warriors. In the XIV - XVIII
centuries. the center of the Rogachevskaya volost, ruled by the
headman. In the 15th century, the Moscow troops of Ivan III took
Rogachev, but then they were forced to leave. Negotiations were
under way to join Rogachev to Muscovy, but they were unsuccessful.
In 1509, the Pinsk prince Fyodor Ivanovich and his wife Elena
bequeathed Rogachev (among other cities) to the King of Poland and
the Grand Duke of Lithuania Sigismund I the Old, who in 1522-1523,
together with the entire Pinsk principality, presented it to his
Italian bride, Princess Bone Sforza. For over 30 years she ruled
Bona over her domain. In 1548 there was a church of St. Kuzma and
Demyan. The new Grand Duchess and Queen is improving the economy of
the united country, introducing new methods of management, taking
the royal lands seized by them from the magnates and thoroughly
replenishing the empty royal treasury. In the XVI century. on the
site of the ancient settlement, the Rahachow castle with the
Rahachow Palace was built, which was of strategic importance and in
the 17th century was part of the system of border protection on the
Dnieper (burned in 1654, was partially destroyed in 1780, and the
last stone building during the Great Patriotic War In 1566 the
church of Saints Cosmas and Damian is mentioned. Endless wars
between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Muscovite state
in subsequent years undermined Rahachow's economy. More than once it
was burned and devastated, and the inhabitants were taken captive.
Rahachow suffered especially in 1535, 1654, 1662. Lawlessness
reigned among the pans of the Rogachevshchina: almost each of them
had his own army and went to war against a neighbor, troops of
Cossacks and Tatars raided and robbed. The state gradually fell into
decay. Later, the Rogachevskoe starostvo was formed. After the
conclusion of the Union of Lublin, Rogachev from 1569 and until the
1st partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was the center
of the administrative unit that was part of the Rahachow eldership
of the Rechitsa Povet, Minsk Voivodeship of the Polish-Lithuanian
Commonwealth. At the end of the XVI century. Cossack-peasant
detachments of S. Nalivaiko and Dubina operated in the vicinity of
Rogachev.
As part of the Russian Empire
After the 1st
partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1772 as part of
the Russian Empire, Catherine II made Rahachow the center of the
Rahachow province, and in 1777 - the center of the district. The
district included the current Rogachevsky, Zhlobinsky, Chechersky,
Kormiansky, Buda-Koshelevsky and half of the Kirovsky districts. It
was decided to build a fortress in the city, half of the castle was
demolished, but the fortress was never built. After the second
partition of the Rzecz Pospolita, Rahachow ceased to be a border
town, the border moved to the west and there was no need to build a
fortress. In 1781 Rahachowwas complained of the coat of arms: a
black ram's horn on a golden yellow field. The yellow field is due
to the great development of beekeeping in the district: honey from
Rogachev region was famous and was exported both to Russia and the
West. At the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century,
Russian troops alternately lodged in Rahachow: 1772 - the Smolensk
infantry regiment, the Murom infantry regiment; 1789-1791 - the Azov
infantry regiment and the Izyum light-horse regiment. In 1778,
Catherine approved the geometric plan for the city's development.
During the war with Napoleon in 1812, Rogachev was temporarily
captured by the Polish units of General Dombrowski, but quickly left
the city. There were several skirmishes with separate French
detachments of the barrage units of the Russian army of General
Ertel. During the January Uprising of 1863, a local landowner Tomash
Grinevich created a detachment in the district and tried to fight
with the tsarist troops. The detachment was scattered, Grinevich was
arrested and shot in Rogachev on July 16, 1863. A memorial cross and
a stone are erected in his honor near the old cemetery. In 1882-1884
an illegal revolutionary circle of A.O. Margolin operated in
Rahachow, which had a library. The circle was destroyed by the
police. In 1880 - 560 houses, 2 brick factories, a cable car, a
brewery, a soap factory and 2 tanneries. In 1897, 9038 people lived
in the city, including Jews - 5040, Belarusians - 1868, Russians -
1380. In 1900, 36 worked, in 1913 - 50 factories and plants. In
1902, the Mogilev-Zhlobin railway was laid through Rahachow. During
the revolution of 1905-1907, workers' strikes took place in the
city. In 1906, the Rahachow Real School was opened, later - the
Rogachev Teacher's Seminary.
The period of the revolution and the Civil War
After the
February Revolution of 1917, the Soviet of Workers 'and Soldiers'
Deputies was created. On May 31, 1917, a Bolshevik organization took
shape in the city, in November 1917 a Red Guard detachment and a
Military Revolutionary Committee were created. From 13 to 30 January
1918 the city was occupied by the 1st Polish corps headed by
I.R.Dovbor-Musnitsky. From February to November 22, 1918, the city
was occupied by the troops of imperial Germany. Rahachow communist
underground was active.
As part of the Soviet state
On
January 1, 1919, according to the decree of the I Congress of the CP
(b) of Belarus, it became part of the Byelorussian SSR, but already
on January 16 Rahachow was transferred to the RSFSR. Since May 1919,
the city has been a part of the Gomel province, in 1924-1930 - the
center of the Bobruisk district, since January 15, 1938 - in the
Gomel region. During the years of the first five-year plans, the
following were built in the city: a milk cannery, a bakery, a
machine-tractor workshop; reconstructed: sawmill, cardboard factory.
With the growth of industry, the population of the city grew.
Rahachow became an industrial center. There were 7 factories, 1
factory, 13 industrial artels, 4 middle schools, one seven-year and
one elementary school, 8 clubs, 2 libraries, a cinema. The
population increased to 15.2 thousand people (1939). In 1936-1941
and since 1944 there was a teacher's institute. On July 2, 1941,
occupied by German troops, on July 13, 1941, liberated by the Red
Army during the Rahachow-Zhlobin operation in 1941. From August 14,
1941 to February 24, 1944 it was occupied again. During the entire
period of the occupation, 6.3 thousand people were killed in the
city and region. The Rogachev patriotic underground was active.
Released during the Rogachev-Zhlobin operation of 1944 by the troops
of the 1st and 50th armies of the 1st Belorussian Front. 13 military
units and formations are endowed with the honorary name
"Rogachevsky". In 1962, the Rahachow Museum of National Glory
appeared in the city. In 1971, the Rahachow coin treasure was found
(1 thousand ancient coins). Since February 27, 1978 it has been a
city of regional subordination.
Modernity
On April 19,
2010, the city was awarded the pennant "For Courage and Resilience
during the Great Patriotic War." Since 2014, after a ten-year
hiatus, the Dnipro Rahachow football team has revived in the city,
which played until 2016 in the Second League of the Belarusian
Football Championship. In 2020, it was again declared in the Second
League of the Belarusian Football Championship under the name of the
football club Dnipro. The games are planned to be held at one of the
largest stadiums in the Gomel region, the city sports school-1, with
a capacity of 7000 spectators.