Name
The name Mogilev may be derived from Russian mogila (lit. 'grave') and lev (lit. 'lion'); according to folk legend, the city was named after the grave of a young peasant, which was known as the "Tomb of the Lion", and it was around this burial mound that a fortress was built. Its founding has also been linked to Galician prince Leo I.
History
The city was first mentioned in historical records in 1267. From the 14th century, it was part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and since the Union of Lublin (1569), it has been part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, where it became known as Mohylew. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the city flourished as one of the main nodes of the east–west and north–south trading routes.
In 1577, Grand Duke Stephen Báthory granted it city rights under Magdeburg law. In 1654, during the Russo-Polish War (1654–1667), the townsmen negotiated a treaty of surrender to the Russians peacefully, if the Jews were to be expelled and their property divided up among Mogilev's inhabitants. Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovitch agreed to their proposal. However, instead of expelling the Jews, the Russian troops massacred them after they had led them to the outskirts of the town. …
Geography
Mogilev has a warm-summer humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfb) with warm summers and cold winters.
Religion
Mohilev was the episcopal see of the Latin Catholic Archdiocese of Mohilev until its 1991 merger into the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Minsk-Mohilev.
It remains the see of the Eparchy (Eastern diocese) of Mogilev and Mstsislaw in the Belarusian Exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Economy
After World War II, a huge metallurgy centre with several major steel mills was built. Also, several major factories of cranes, cars, tractors and a chemical plant were established. By the 1950s, tanning was Mogilev's principal industry, and it was a major trading centre for cereal, leather, salt, sugar, fish, timber and flint: the city has been home to a major inland port on the Dnieper river since and an airport since. Since the fall of the Soviet Union and the establishment of Belarus as an independent country, Mogilev has become one of that country's main economic and industrial centres.
