City in Ukraine
About Kharkiv
Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest city in Ukraine. Located in the northeast of the country, it is the largest city of the historic region of Sloboda Ukraine. Kharkiv is the administrative center of Kharkiv Oblast and Kharkiv Raion. Prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, it had an estimated population of 1,421,125.
Etymology
English: KAR-kiv; UK: KAR-kov; US: KAR-kawf; Ukrainian: Харків, pronounced [ˈxɑrkiu̯] Russian: Харьков, pronounced [ˈxarʲkəf] The city's name can be originated from its namesake river, Kharkiv. There is a folk etymology that connects the name of both the settlement and the river to a legendary Cossack founder named Kharko (a diminutive form of the Greek name Chariton, Ukrainian: Харитон, romanized: Kharyton, or Zechariah, Ukrainian: Захарій, romanized: Zakharii). But the river's name is attested earlier than the foundation of the fortress. Kharkov, the transliteration of the name from Russian, was the traditional standard English spelling of the city's name favored prior to Ukraine's independence in 1991 (similar to the spelling of Kiev versus Kyiv). …
History
The earliest historical references to the region are to Scythian and Sarmatian settlement in the 2nd century BC. Between the 2nd to the 6th centuries AD there is evidence of Chernyakhov culture, a multiethnic mix of the Geto-Dacian, Sarmatian, and Gothic populations. In the 8th to 10th centuries the Khazar fortress of Verkhneye Saltovo stood about 25 miles (40 km) east of the modern city, near Staryi Saltiv. During the 12th century, the area was part of the territory of the Cumans, and then from the mid 13th century of the Mongol/Tartar Golden Horde. By the early 17th century the area was a contested frontier region with renegade populations that had begun to organize in Cossack formations and communities defined by a common determination to resist both Tatar slavery and Polish, Lithuanian and Russian serfdom. …
Geography
Kharkiv is located at the banks of the Kharkiv, Lopan, and Udy rivers, where they flow into the Siverskyi Donets watershed in the north-eastern region of Ukraine. Historically, Kharkiv lies in the Sloboda Ukraine region (Slobozhanshchyna also known as Slobidshchyna) in Ukraine, in which it is considered to be the main city. The approximate dimensions of city of Kharkiv are: from the North to the South — 24.3 km; from the West to the East — 25.2 km. Based on Kharkiv's topography, the city can be conditionally divided into four lower districts and four higher districts. The highest point above sea level, in Piatykhatky, is 202m, and the lowest is Novoselivka in Kharkiv is 94m. Kharkiv lies in the large valley of rivers of Kharkiv, Lopan, Udy, and Nemyshlia. This valley lies from the North West to the South East between the Mid Russian highland and Donets lowland. …
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