Country UkraineZakarpattia Oblast Population 114,863 (2011) Area 31.56 km2 | Founded 9th century Mayor Viktor Pohorielov | |
Colleges and Universities Uzhhorod National University, Transcarpathian State University | ||
Uzhhorod (Ukrainian: , ) is a city located in western Ukraine, at the border with Slovakia and near the border with Hungary. It is the administrative center of Zakarpattia Oblast (region), as well as the administrative center of the surrounding Uzhhorod Raion (district) within the oblast. The city itself is also designated as city of oblast significance, a status equivalent to that of a raion, and does not belong to Uzhhorod Raion. Population: 116,349?(2013 est.).
Contents
Map of Uzhhorod
Name
The city gets its name from the Uzh River, which divides the city into two parts (the old and new sections), while horod (?????) is Rusyn for city, coming from Old Slavonic grad (?????). However, this name is a recent construct, and has been used only since the beginning of the 20th century. Before then, the city was known as Ungvar, also spelled Ongvar, Hungvar, and Unguyvar, a name derived from Ung, the Hungarian name for the Uzh (as well as the surrounding county) and var, meaning castle, fort.
It is also known by several alternative names: Czech: ; Slovak: ; German: ; Polish: ; Romanian: .
History
The best known of the first city founders are early Slavs. One of their tribes – White Croats – settled the area of the modern Uzhhorod in the second half of the first millennium AD. During the 9th century a fortified castle changed into a fortified early feudal town-settlement, which became the centre of a new Slavonic principality, at the head of which was a legendary prince Laborets, who was vassal of Great Moravia.
In 895 AD Hungarian tribes, headed by their leader Arpad, stormed the Hungvar fortress. The forces were not equal and Laborets was defeated and beheaded on the banks of the river that still carries his name.
After the arrival of the Hungarians, the small town began to extend its borders. In 1241–1242 the Mongols of Batu Khan burnt the settlement. In the early 14th century Uzhhorod showed strong resistance to the new Hungarian rulers of the Anjou dynasty. From 1318 for 360 years, the Drugeths (Italian counts) owned the town. During that period Philip Drugeth built Uzhhorod Castle. Together with the castle the city began to grow. By 1430, Uzhhorod acquired some privileges from the king and was officially called "The Privileged City of Ungvar" and became capital of Ung County.
During the 16–17th centuries there were many handicraft corporations in Uzhhorod. In this period the city was engaged in the religious fight between primarily Protestant Transylvania and Catholic Austria. In 1646 the Uzhhorod Union was proclaimed and the Greek-Catholic church was established in Subcarpathia, in a ceremony held in the Uzhhorod castle by the Vatican Aegis. In 1707 Uzhhorod was the residence of Ferenc II Rakoczi, leader of the national-liberation war of Hungarians against Vienna.
The beginning of the 19th century was characterized by economic changes, including the first factories in the city. The greatest influence on Uzhhorod among the political events of the 19th century was made by the Hungarian Revolution of 1848-1849, during which the native Hungarian nobility sought both get free of the Austrian Empire and to assert their right to dominate all other peoples of Hungary. 27 March 1848 was officially celebrated in the city as the overthrow of the monarchy in Hungary.
In 1872 the first railway line opened, linking the city to the important railway junction of Chop.