Chernobyl (as transliterated from the , ), or Chornobyl (as transliterated from , IPA2: tʃɔrˈnɔbɪlʲ), was a city in northern Ukraine, in the Kyiv Oblast (province) near the border with Belarus.

The city was evacuated in 1986 due to the Chernobyl disaster at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, which is located 14.5 kilometers (9 miles) north-northwest. The power plant was named after the city, and located within Chornobyl Raion (district), but the city was not the residence of the power plant workers. Together with the power plant construction, Pripyat, a city, which was larger and closer to the power plant, was built to be home for the power plant workers.

Though the city is today mostly uninhabited, a small number of inhabitants reside in houses marked with signs stating that the "Owner of this house lives here". Workers on watch and administrative personnel of the Zone of Alienation are stationed in the city on a long term basis. Prior to its evacuation, the city was inhabited by about 15,000 residents.

Name origin

The city name comes from a combination of chornyi (чoрний, black) and byllia (билля, grass blades or stalks); hence it literally means black grass or black stalks. It may be named after the Ukrainian word for the plant mugwort.Norman Davies, Europe: A History, Oxford University Press, 1996, ISBN 0198201710 The reason for this name is not known. Different explanations have appeared after the 1986 nuclear incident. In particular, there were attempts to link the accident to prophecies in the Book of Revelation in the Christian New Testament. For these, see Chernobyl in the popular consciousness.

History

Chernobyl first appeared in a charter of 1193 described as a hunting-lodge of knyaz Rostislavich. It was a crown village of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 13th century. The village was granted as a fiefdom to Filon Kmita, a captain of the royal cavalry, in 1566. The province containing Chornobyl was transferred to the Kingdom of Poland in 1569, and then annexed by the Russian Empire in 1793.Davies, Norman (1995) "Chernobyl", The Sarmatian Review, vol. 15, No. 1. Prior to the 20th century Chornobyl was inhabited by Ukrainian and some Polish peasants, and a relatively large number of Jews.

Chernobyl had a rich religious history. The Jews were brought by Filon Kmita during the Polish campaign of colonization. The traditionally Christian Eastern Orthodox Ukrainian peasantry of the district was largely forced by Poland to convert to the Greek Catholic Uniate religion after 1596, and returned to Eastern Orthodox only after Ukraine was annexed by Muscovy.