Khmilnyk

Khmilnyk stands on the upper Southern Bug, close to the Black Way used by Tatar raiding parties. Its name is associated with the hops that grew on an island in the river. A town of the Podolian frontier, it gained Magdeburg rights in 1448 and became a place of crafts and trade.

To strengthen this exposed outpost, the Polish king had stone walls, towers and a castle built in 1534. Cossack forces took the town in the uprisings of 1594 and 1637, and Maksym Kryvonis captured its castle during the rising led by Bohdan Khmelnytsky. Repeated fighting brought devastation. The Ottomans held Khmilnyk from 1672 to 1699 and strengthened the castle before the town returned to Poland. Warfare damaged its commerce and reduced its population. It passed to Russia in 1793.