For many countries of the world this is just a small town, but it is of great importance for the Belarusian economy. Here is one of the country's two oil refineries. In terms of population, Mozyr is 12th in Belarus.
General information
Located in the Gomel region, the city of regional subordination is the administrative center of the homonymous district. To the east, 133 km, is the regional center, north-west, 220 km, is Minsk. Mozyr's population in 2018 was approximately 111, 800. The city covers an area of 36.74 km 2. It was built on a hilly terrain within the Mozyr ridge.
Through the city there are roads connecting it with other cities of the region and the Ukrainian city of Ovruch. Nearby is the Druzhba oil pipeline. The largest Belarusian river port Pkhov runs on the river Pripyat flowing through the village.
Many industrial enterprises are developing in the city, the key industries are oil refining, petrochemical and woodworking. The largest city enterprises: oil refining, cable and distillery. It also houses the largest salt production in the country, an enterprise called Mozyrsol.
Base
It is believed that the first settlement, from which the construction of the modern city began, arose in the tract Kimborovka (in the VIII century). Here, where traces of a fortified ancient settlement were found. In subsequent centuries (XI-XII centuries), city fortifications were built on Castle Hill.
The first written mention dates back to 1155, when the Kiev prince Yuri Dolgoruky (future founder of Moscow) transferred it to another Russian prince - Novgorod-Seversky Svyatoslav Olgovich. How many people lived in Mozyr in those days is not reliably established.
There is no universally recognized etymology of the name of the city. Some experts explain the origin from the ethnonym "Mazury" (a group of Polish migrants - Mazovshans), but the toponym appeared much earlier than this ethnonym. There is also a version linking the name of the city with Iranian-Turkic words:
- mazar - hill, grave;
- Mozhary - rugged terrain with hills and hills, which exactly matches the terrain;
- brain - a farm, towns, settlements.
The most popular version: the name comes from the Finno-Ugric word "mosar", which translates as a swamp, moist wetland, lowland overgrown with bushes and grass.
History
Mozyr is one of the oldest cities in Belarus, already in 1577 received the Magdeburg Law, when it was part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The settlement received the status of a city in 1756, when it was part of the Commonwealth. The population of Mozyr sided with the uprising of Khmelnytsky, for which the Polish-Lithuanian troops organized a massacre here. Several churches have been preserved in the city since then, including the church of St. Michael (at the Bernardine monastery).
In 1793, as a result of the second division of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the city passed to the Russian Empire. During the years of the Civil War, it was first captured by German and then Polish troops, who staged mass Jewish pogroms in the city. During the Great Patriotic War for a long time was under German occupation. The Jewish population of Mozyr was driven into the ghetto, and then completely destroyed.
