Chernihiv oblast - a historical region in the north-east of Ukraine,
includes most of the Sumy region north of Sumy, the entire Chernihiv
region and the city of Slavutych in the Kyiv region.
Chernihiv
region borders in the west along the Dnieper with Kiev region and
Ukrainian Polissya, in the north-west - with Belarus, in the north -
with the Bryansk region, in the south-east - with Slobozhanshchina, and
in the south - with Poltava region. The main river of Chernihiv region
is the Desna.
Chernihiv is one of the most
ancient cities of Kievan Rus
Novgorod-Seversky - the historical
center of Novgorod-Seversky Principality
Borzna
Pryluky is an
industrial city in the south of the Chernihiv region
Glukhov
Konotop
Putivl
Baturin
Nizhyn is a major transport hub with
historical monuments and modern industry
Korop - the ruins of the defensive church of the 18th century have
been preserved
Koryukovka is a small town, all the inhabitants of
which were killed by German troops during a punitive operation during
the Great Patriotic War. A memorial is dedicated to this tragic event.
Kozelets
Oster
Trostyanets Landscape Park
Sednev
Manor
Galaganov in the village. Sokirintsy, Srebnyansky district
Manor
Kachanovka
By train
Through the Chernihiv region pass the railway lines Kyiv
- Nezhin - Bakhmach - (Russia), Kyiv - Nezhin - Chernigov - (Gomel). The
main transport hubs are Bakhmach, Nizhyn, Priluki.
By car
Main
highways: M-01/E95 Kyiv - St. Petersburg, M-02/E101 Kyiv - Moscow.
From Russia
There are 6 road border crossings in Chernihiv
region:
Tetkino - Ryzhevka (only for citizens of Russia and Ukraine)
Krupets — Yekaterinovka Intl.
Troebortnoe — Bachevsk (MAPP
Troebortnoe), international
Pogar — Gremyach (IAPP Pogar),
international
Lomakovka - Nikolaevka (only for citizens of Russia and
Ukraine)
Novye Yurkovychi — Senkovka Intl.
Relief
The region is entirely located on the territory of the East
European Plain. This explains the flat character of the relief with
insignificant absolute heights (mostly 50-150 meters above sea level).
Hydrology
1,200 rivers with a total length of about 8.5 thousand
km flow through the territory of the Chernihiv region. The largest
rivers: Dnieper, Desna, Seim, Oster, Snov, Convince, Uday, Daughter,
Strizhen.
Protected objects
There are 610 natural protected
objects in the region. On the territory of the Chernihiv region there
are two national natural parks - Ichnyansky and Mezinsky; and one
regional landscape park - Mezhrechensky. Animals listed in the Red Book
of Ukraine live on the territory of the region: bison, large jerboa,
small and large bats, steppe ferret; steppe crane, owl, bustard and
others.
The sites of Chulatovo 3 (Zarovska Krucha), Yazvi, Arapovichi,
Orekhovy Log, Mosolov Rov belong to the Middle Paleolithic in the
Chernihiv region.
More than 20 settlements of the late
Paleolithic era (35-10 thousand years ago) were discovered by
archaeologists in the region (Pushkari I, Pushkari IX, Mezinskaya site,
Novgorod-Severskaya site), Buzhanka, Chulatovo, Zhuravskaya site, etc.).
Based on the materials from the Kudlaevka site in the Middle
Podesene (Novgorod-Seversky), the Mesolithic Kudlaev culture (8th-6th
millennium BC) was identified.
The Dnieper-Donets Neolithic
culture (4th millennium BC) includes the Kamenskoye settlement. The
settlements discovered in the tracts of Yalovshchina and Tatarskaya
Gorka belong to the Bronze Age (2nd millennium BC). Sosnitsa culture of
the 2nd millennium BC. e. named after the place of the first finds in
the area of the village of Sosnitsa.
By the 1st millennium A.D.
e. include settlements of northerners located on the banks of the Desna
and Strizhnya. Perhaps, before the founding of Chernigov, the oldest
city of the northerners was Sednev.
The Semya region was
conquered by Russia at the end of the 10th century - the beginning of
the 11th century, most likely in the 990s, during the eastern campaigns
of the Grand Duke of Kyiv Vladimir Svyatoslavich. All Roman settlements
Posemya perished in fires.
In the 10th century, the
Chernigov-Seversk land became part of Kievan Rus, and Chernigov was
second only to Kyiv in development. Agriculture played a major role in
the economy. Crafts have reached a high level of development. The silver
fittings of the horns are decorated with a chased floral ornament, a man
and a “woman” with bows are depicted on the large horn, shooting at a
“prophetic” bird, fantastic animals. The silver fittings of the tury
horns from the Black Grave and the fittings of the sword hilt from the
retinue grave near the Golden Gate in Kiev have the same ornamental
motifs as on “some belt plaques and tips from Mikulchitsy, Pogansko,
Stary Mesto, Zhelenki, and especially on typical Great Moravian
spherical decorations - buttons - gombiks, the finds of which are
concentrated in the region of three large South Moravian centers and
further in Central Bohemia and South-Western Slovakia. Borzhivoy Dostal,
noting the similarity of inventory, wrote about the complete identity of
the retinue graves in Kyiv and Chernigov with burials in Great Moravia.
The largest settlement and "burial ground of the Varangians" in Kievan
Rus of the 9th-12th centuries, apparently, is the Shestovitsky
archaeological complex near Chernigov.
Near the village of
Vypolzov is the ancient Russian Vypolzov archaeological complex.
On October 3, 1078, in the vicinity of Chernigov, an internecine battle
took place on Nezhatina Niva, in which the troops of Izyaslav and
Vsevolod Yaroslavich and their sons Yaropolk and Vladimir defeated Boris
Vyacheslavich and Oleg Svyatoslavich.
Under the year 1151, the
city of Blestovit is mentioned in the Ipatiev Chronicle.
In
Novgorod-Seversky, archaeologists discovered glass bracelets from the
period of Ancient Rus' and writing from the 12th century, with which
letters were scratched out on birch bark or waxed boards.
From
1156 to 1239 the city of Berezy was part of the Vshchizh principality.
In the middle of the XIV century, Chernihiv region, weakened by the
Mongol devastation and found itself under the rule of the Bryansk
princes, was captured by the Lithuanian princes.
In 1500, as a
result of the Battle of Vedrosh, it became part of the Russian state for
more than 100 years. During the 16th century, Lithuanians and Poles
repeatedly tried to return Chernihiv, devastating its surroundings.
At the beginning of the 17th century, Chernihiv region actively
participated in the events of the Time of Troubles, supporting
impostors. In 1611, Chernihiv was subjected to a Polish pogrom and
abandoned for more than a decade. The authorities of the Commonwealth,
to which Chernihiv region passed through the Deulino truce, encouraged
the resettlement of Zaporizhzhya Cossacks here in order to restore its
defensive potential, which significantly changed the ethnic character of
Chernihiv region. In 1648 it became part of the Hetmanate and in this
state returned to Russia in 1654.
In 1796, the Little Russian
province of the Russian Empire was formed, which in 1802 was divided
into Chernigov and Poltava provinces.
After a series of
administrative reforms of 1919-1932, on October 15, 1932, the Chernihiv
region was formed as part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. On
January 10, 1939, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet
of the USSR, Burynsky, Glinsky, Glukhovsky, Dubovyazovsky, Konotopsky,
Krolevetsky, Nedrigailovsky, Putivlsky, Romensky, Seredino-Budsky,
Smelyansky, Talalaevsky, Khilchitsky, Chervonny, Shalyginsky were
withdrawn from the region and transferred to the newly formed Sumy
region , Shostkinsky and Yampolsky districts.
Since 1991, the
region has been part of Ukraine.
Between February 24 and early
April 2022, most of the territory of the Chernihiv region was under the
occupation of Russian troops during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. For
the regional center there were fierce battles.
The actual population of the region as of January 1, 2020 is 991,294
people, including the urban population of 649,063 people, or 65.5%, the
rural population - 326,817 people, or 34.5%.
The actual
population of the region as of February 1, 2015 amounted to 1,054,626
people, including the urban population - 678,603 people (64.35%), the
rural population - 376,023 people (35.65%). The permanent population is
1,046,084 people, including the urban population - 668,369 people
(63.89%), the rural population - 377,715 people (36.11%). The population
of the regional center was 294,614 people (27.94% of the population of
the region).
The level of urbanization (for 2007): urban
population - 690.5 thousand - 60.4%, rural population - 452.9 thousand -
39.6%.
Level of urbanization (for 2001): urban population - 727.2
thousand people. - 58.4%, rural population - 518.1 thousand people. -
41.6%.
The national composition according to official data (for
2001): Ukrainians 93.5%, Russians 5.0%, Belarusians 0.6%, others 0.9%.
Population according to censuses, in modern borders, in thousands of
people:
1 275 (1897)
1734 (1914)
1915 (1926)
1622 (1939)
1573 (1959)
1560 (1970)
1506 (1979)
1416 (1989)
1245 (2001)
1110 (2010)
1067 (2014)
991 (2019)