Vinnytsia

Vinnytsia stands on the Southern Bug in Podolia. A fortress built in the fourteenth century guarded the river settlement against Tatar raids, while the town developed into a centre of trade and administration. Its position made it one of the principal towns of the contested Bratslav region.

Under Lithuanian rule Vinnytsia received Magdeburg rights; in 1566 it became part of Bracław Voivodeship, which passed to the Polish Crown after the Union of Lublin. The voivodeship's courts moved here from Bratslav in 1598. During Bohdan Khmelnytsky's uprising the town became a Cossack stronghold. In 1651 Ivan Bohun's men defended it against a Polish army, and Vinnytsia served as a regimental centre of the Hetmanate. Ottoman occupation followed between 1672 and 1699, before the town returned to Polish rule. In 1783 Antoni Protazy Potocki established the Polish Trade Company here. A decade later, the second partition of Poland placed Vinnytsia under Russian rule.