Cherkasy

About Cherkasy

Cherkasy is a city in central Ukraine. Cherkasy serves as the administrative centre of Cherkasy Oblast as well as Cherkasy Raion within the oblast. The city has a population of 269,836 (2022 estimate).

Cherkasy is the cultural, educational and industrial centre of Cherkasy Oblast and Ukraine's Central Economic Region. Known since the 13th century, Cherkasy has played a great role in the history of Ukraine. The city was the centre of the land of the Cossacks; its citizens took part in the Khmelnychchyna and Koliivshchyna Cossack and peasant rebellions.

The city is located on the right bank of Dnieper River, about 200 km (124 mi) south of the nation's capital, Kyiv. In June 2011, the city celebrated its 725th anniversary.

According to V. N. Tatishchev and A. I. Rigelman, the city's name comes from the Circassians. According to Tatishchev, Circassians formed the "Pyatigorsk Banners" of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, received lands, and merged into the Polish nobility. The peasants who imitated their masters, nobles of Circassian origin, and wore Caucasian clothing (cherkeskas), came to be called Cherkasy. Subsequently,...

Overview adapted from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA. Photography via Wikimedia Commons.