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Kolomyia

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Kolomyia

Kolomyia (Ukrainian: Коломия, IPA: [koloˈmɪjɐ] ), formerly known as Kolomea, is a city located on the Prut River in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast in the west of Ukraine. It serves as the administrative centre of Kolomyia Raion, hosting the administration of Kolomyia urban hromada. The population is 60,821 (2022 estimate).

The city rests approximately halfway between Ivano-Frankivsk and Chernivtsi, in the centre of the historical region of Pokuttia, with which it shares much of its history. Kolomyia is a notable railroad hub, as well as an industrial centre (textiles, shoes, metallurgical plant, machine works, wood and paper industry). It is a centre of Hutsul culture. Until 1925 the town was the most populous town in the region. Before the Holocaust about half the town’s population was Jewish.

The city has alternative names for it in other languages:

According to Ukrainian etymological dictionaries, the name Kolomyia is a compound word formed from the roots of the noun kolo 'wheel, circle' and the verb myti 'to wash'. It comes from the Proto-Slavic word kołomyja 'hole filled with water' (literally, 'that which the wheel washes').

The settlement of Kolomyia was first mentioned by the Hypatian Chronicle in 1240 and the Galician–Volhynian Chronicle in 1241 a time of the Mongol invasion of Rus'. Initially part of Kievan Rus', it later belonged to one of its successor states, the principality of Halych-Volhynia. On the order of Boroldai, the town fortress was burnt down in 1259. Since the mid-13th century it was known for its salt mining industry.

In 1340 it was annexed to Poland by King Casimir III following the Galicia–Volhynia Wars, along with the rest of the Kingdom of Rus'. Sometime in the 1340s, another fortress was erected there. In a short time the settlement became one of the most notable centres of commerce in the area. Because of that, the population rose rapidly.

Prior to 1353 there were two parishes in the settlement, one for Catholics and the other for Orthodox. In 1388 the king Władysław Jagiełło was forced by the war with the Teutonic Order to pawn the area of Pokuttia to the hospodar of Moldavia, Petru II. Although the town remained under Polish sovereignty, the income of the customs offices in the area was given to the Moldavians, after which time the debt was repaid. In 1412 the king erected a Dominican order monastery and a stone-built church there.

In 1405 the town's town rights were confirmed and it was granted with the Magdeburg Law, which allowed the burghers limited self-governance. This move made the development of the area faster and Kołomyja, as it was called then, attracted many settlers from many parts of Europe. Apart from the local Ukrainians and Poles, many Armenians, Jews, and Hungarians settled there. In 1411 the fortress-town was given away for 25 years to the Vlach Hospodar Olexander as a gift for his support in the war against Hungary. In 1443, a year before his death, King Wladislaus II of Poland granted the town yet another privilege which allowed the burghers to trade salt, one of the most precious minerals of the Middle Ages.

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