Sosnytsia

Sosnytsia ( _uk. Сocниця) is a townlet and administrative center of the Sosnytsky Raion (district) of the Chernihiv Oblast (province) in north-central Ukraine. The townlet is located on the west bank of the Ubid' river, a tributary of the Desna river, some 90 kilometres from Chernihiv, the province center.

Sosnytsia was the birthplace of Alexander Dovzhenko, a prominent Ukrainian filmmaker; his original house has been preserved as a museum in Sosnytsia dedicated to his life and work.

History

The name Sosnytsia derives from the same slavic root as that of the Pine tree (in _uk. "Сocнa"), and the area was most likely named as such because the plentiful pine forests which have populated the area for ages. The name was first recorded in the Hypatian Codex, where a chronicle from the year 1234 mentions that Danylo of Halych, while assisting the Kievan Grand Princes in their battle with Michael of Chernigov, had liberated several towns, including Sosnytsia.

The area had clearly been settled much earlier, as archeological remains from neolithic, bronze age, and Scythian settlements have been found in the area, as well as Roman coinage. Settlements from the age of Kievan Rus' in the area have yielded impressive examples of skilled metalwork, in addition to evidence of a developed agricultural society, capable of producing its own livestock. These settlements were sacked along with Chernihiv in 1239 by the hordes of Batu Khan.

The area was resettled in 1370 during the reign of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and after a military conflict, it was ceded to Muscovite Russia in 1503. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth reclaimed the area in 1618, and in 1634 built a fortress and established the city of Boplana in the area. Karpo Skydan raised a peasant rebellion against the Polish nobles in 1637, and by 1648 the area was taken by the Cossacks in there rebellion for self-rule. It transferred again to Polish rule after the Battle of Berestechko in 1651 as part of the Treaty of Bila Tserkva. This was shortly reversed in the aftermath of the Treaty of Pereyaslav, when Russia grew to encompass its eventual empire.

References

*uk icon (1972) "Icтopia мicт i ciл Укpaїнcькoї CCP - Чернiгiвськa область (History of Towns and Villages of the Ukrainian SSR - Chernihiv Oblast)", Kyiv.
*en icon [http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/pages/S/O/Sosnytsia.htm Sosnytsia] in the [http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com Encyclopedia of Ukraine]