Kamianets-Podilskyi
Kamenets Podolskiy (Ukrainian Кам'янець-Подільський, Polish Kamieniec Podolski, Latin Camenecium) is a town in south-western Ukraine, the traditional capital of the historical region of Podolia. It has 93 300 inhabitants. It is famous for its ancient fortress.
History
The town was first mentioned in 1062 as one of the towns of the Kievan Ruthenia. In 1241 it was sacked and destroyed by the Tatars. In 1352 it was annexed by the Polish king Casimir the Great and became the capital of the Podole Voivodship, the seat of local civil and military administration. The ancient castle was reconstructed and significantly expanded by the Polish kings to defend Poland from the south-east against the Ottoman and Tatar invasions. After the Treaty of Buczacz of 1672 it was briefly a part of Turkey and a capital of a local eyalet. To counter the threat, king Jan III Sobieski built a nearby fortress of Okopy Świętej Trójcy. In 1699 it was again recaptured by Poland. The fortress was constantly expanded and was considered to be the strongest in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
After the Partitions of Poland, in 1793, the town was annexed by Russia and became the capital of gubernya. During the Polish-Bolshevik War the town was recaptured by the Polish Army, but it was ceded to Bolshevik Russia in the Treaty of Riga. The multi-ethnic town was subject to severe persecutions and eventually most of the Poles living there were forcibly expulsed to Siberia. Initially the town was the capital of the Podolian oblast, but soon the administration centre was moved to Ploskirov (currently Khmelnytskyi).
Since 1991 it is a part of Ukraine.