Nikopol ( uk, Ні́кополь ; from grc, Νικόπολις, lit=City of Victory) is a
city
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
and
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
(
hromada)
in
Nikopol District in the south of
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
, on the right bank of the
Dnipro River, about 63 km south-east of
Kryvyi Rih
Kryvyi Rih ( uk, Криви́й Ріг , lit. "Curved Bend" or "Crooked Horn"), also known as Krivoy Rog (Russian: Кривой Рог) is the largest city in central Ukraine, the 7th most populous city in Ukraine and the 2nd largest by area. K ...
and 48 km south-west of
Zaporizhzhia
Zaporizhzhia ( uk, Запоріжжя) or Zaporozhye (russian: Запорожье) is a city in southeast Ukraine, situated on the banks of the Dnieper River. It is the administrative centre of Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Zaporizhzhia has a populat ...
. Population:
In terms of population, Nikopol is the fourth biggest city in the
Dniopropetrovsk Oblast as well as among the top 50 nationwide. Located on a cape by the
Kakhovka reservoir
The Kakhovka Reservoir (, ''Kakhovs′ke vodoskhovyshche'') is a water reservoir on the Dnieper River in Ukraine. It was created in 1956, when the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant was built. It is one of several reservoirs in the Dnieper reserv ...
, Nikopol is a powerful industrial city which has several pipe producing factories (known for the
Interpipe
Interpipe Group, or simply Interpipe, is a Ukrainian industrial company, a global producer of steel pipes and railway wheels. Interpipe headquarters and production facilities are located in Nikopol, Ukraine. The network of sales offices covers th ...
corporation), steel rolling mills (such as the factory of
ferroalloys) and others.
Renamed by the Russian Empire into Slaviansk and later Nikopol, the city has a rich preceding history being in 1638–1652 the settlement of Mykytyn Rih ( en, "Nikita Bend"), the capital of
Zaporizhian Sich
The Zaporozhian Sich ( ua, Запорозька Січ, ; also uk, Вольностi Вiйська Запорозького Низового, ; Free lands of the Zaporozhian Host the Lower) was a semi-autonomous polity and proto-state of C ...
. It was one of the main crossings over the
Dnipro river.
Encyclopedia Britannica description
The 1911 edition of
Encyclopedia Britannica
An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articl ...
gave the following description of Nikopol:
"It was formerly called Mykytyn Rih, and occupies an elongated peninsula between two arms of the Dnipro at a point where its banks are low and marshy, and has been for centuries one of the places where the middle Dnipro can most conveniently be crossed."
In 1900, its 21,282 inhabitants were
Ukrainians
Ukrainians ( uk, Українці, Ukraintsi, ) are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. They are the seventh-largest nation in Europe. The native language of the Ukrainians is Ukrainian. The majority of Ukrainians are Eastern Ort ...
,
Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
and
Mennonites
Mennonites are groups of Anabaptist Christian church communities of denominations. The name is derived from the founder of the movement, Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings about Reformed Christianity during the Radic ...
, who carry on agriculture and shipbuilding. The old
Sich
A sich ( uk, січ), or sech, was an administrative and military centre of the Zaporozhian Cossacks. The word ''sich'' derives from the Ukrainian verb сікти ''siktý'', "to chop" – with the implication of clearing a forest for an encampm ...
, or fortified camp of the
Zaporozhian Cossacks
The Zaporozhian Cossacks, Zaporozhian Cossack Army, Zaporozhian Host, (, or uk, Військо Запорізьке, translit=Viisko Zaporizke, translit-std=ungegn, label=none) or simply Zaporozhians ( uk, Запорожці, translit=Zaporoz ...
, brilliantly described in
N. V. Gogol's novel
Taras Bulba
''Taras Bulba'' (russian: «Тарас Бульба»; ) is a romanticized historical novella set in the first half of the 17th century, written by Nikolai Gogol (1809-1852). It features elderly Zaporozhian Cossack Taras Bulba and his sons And ...
(1834), was situated a little higher up the river. A number of graves in the vicinity recall the battles which were fought for the possession of this important strategic point. One of the graves, close to the town, contained, along with other
Scythia
Scythia (Scythian: ; Old Persian: ; Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ) or Scythica (Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ), also known as Pontic Scythia, was a kingdom created by the Scythians during the 6th to 3rd centuries BC in the Pontic–Caspian steppe.
Hi ...
n antiquities, a well-known precious vase representing the capture of wild horses. Even now Nikopol, which is situated on the highway from Dnipro to
Kherson, is the point where the "salt-highway" of the
Chumaks
Chumak ( uk , чумак) was a historical and traditional wagon-based trading occupation in the territory of modern Ukraine in the late Medieval and early Modern periods of history.Proskurova, S. Chumak-occupation (ЧУМАЦТВО)'. Encyc ...
(Ukrainian salt-carriers) to the
Crimea
Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...
crossed the Dnipro. Nikopol is, further, one of the chief places on the lower Dnipro for the export of corn, linseed, hemp and wool.
History
Archaeological excavations
According to archaeological excavations, the city's area was populated as early as the
Neolithic epoch
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...
in the 4th millennium BCE
[Nikopol (Нікополь)]
The History of Cities and Villages of the Ukrainian SSR
''The History of Cities and Villages of the Ukrainian SSR'' ( uk, Історія міст і сіл Української РСР) is a Ukrainian encyclopedia, published in 26 volumes. It provides knowledge about the history of all populated places ...
. as evidenced by remnants of a settlement discovered on banks of
Mala Kamianka River.
[ In burial mounds of copper-bronze epoch in the 3rd-1st millenniums ]BCE
Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the or ...
were found stone and bronze tools, clay sharp-bottomed ornamental dishes.[ Here also were researched burials of Scythian-Sarmatian period in the 2nd century BCE – the 2nd century CE.][
]
Mykytyn Rih / Mykytyn Sich
In the beginning of 16th century in place of Nikopol appeared a river crossing over Dnieper
}
The Dnieper () or Dnipro (); , ; . is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. It is the longest river of Ukraine and ...
controlled by Cossacks, Mykytyn Rih.[ According to a folk legend, it was established by a Cossack Mykyta Tsyhan.][ Under the same name the crossing is mentioned in diary of the ]Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars.
From the accession of Otto I in 962 ...
envoy Erich Lassota von Steblau who visited Zaporizhian Sich
The Zaporozhian Sich ( ua, Запорозька Січ, ; also uk, Вольностi Вiйська Запорозького Низового, ; Free lands of the Zaporozhian Host the Lower) was a semi-autonomous polity and proto-state of C ...
in 1594.[
In 1638-1639 Cossacks led by F.Linchai built here a fort which is conditionally named as Mykytyn Sich ( uk, Микитинська Січ).][Shcherbak, V. ]
Mykytyn Sich (МИКИТИНСЬКА СІЧ)
'. Encyclopedia of History of Ukraine. 2009 Soon due to conflict with Hetman of Zaporizhian Host, in 1652 Kosh Otaman
Kish otaman ( uk, Кошовий отаман, ; russian: Кошевой атаман, ; pl, Ataman koszowy; also known as of the Zaporizhian Host) was a chief officer of the ''Kish'' (central body of government) of the Zaporozhian Host in the 1 ...
Fedir Liutay moved the administrative seat to Chortomlyk.[
By 1648, in the close proximity of today's Nikopol, Mykytyn Sich was built, renowned for the fact that it was here that Bohdan Khmelnytsky was elected as the Hetman of Ukraine, and it was here that the rebellion against the ]Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and, after 1791, as the Commonwealth of Poland, was a bi- confederal state, sometimes called a federation, of Poland and Lithuania ru ...
started. Until 1775, the time of the Sich sacking, it was called "Mykytyn Rih", "Mykytyn Pereviz", or simply "Mykytyne". The name ''rih'' (Ukrainian for horn) was given because the locality rose at a place reminiscing a peninsula, as it was almost surrounded by the Dnieper river
}
The Dnieper () or Dnipro (); , ; . is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. It is the longest river of Ukraine an ...
(see Kryvyi Rih
Kryvyi Rih ( uk, Криви́й Ріг , lit. "Curved Bend" or "Crooked Horn"), also known as Krivoy Rog (Russian: Кривой Рог) is the largest city in central Ukraine, the 7th most populous city in Ukraine and the 2nd largest by area. K ...
). Mykytyne was a town of the Kodak Palanka, an administrative division of the Zaporizhian Sich
The Zaporozhian Sich ( ua, Запорозька Січ, ; also uk, Вольностi Вiйська Запорозького Низового, ; Free lands of the Zaporozhian Host the Lower) was a semi-autonomous polity and proto-state of C ...
. Later it was renamed into Slovianske and then Nikopol.
Sloviansk / Nikopol
In the 18th century Grigoriy Potyomkin ordered to build an Imperial Russian fortress Slaviansk, but eventually the project was scratched and soon after the liquidation of the Zaporozhian Sich The liquidation of the Zaporozhian Sich in 1775 was the forcible destruction by Russian troops of the Cossack formation, the Nova (Pidpilnenska) Sich, and the final liquidation of the Zaporozhian Sich as a semi-autonomous Cossack polity. As a resul ...
in 1782 the settlement was renamed as Nikopol.
During World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, Nikopol was occupied by the German Army until 18 February 1944. Albert Speer referred to it as the "center of manganese
Manganese is a chemical element with the symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese is a transition metal with a multifaceted array of industrial alloy use ...
mining", and therefore of vital importance to the German war effort.
In 1956 the Soviet policy of industrialization created the Kakhovka Reservoir
The Kakhovka Reservoir (, ''Kakhovs′ke vodoskhovyshche'') is a water reservoir on the Dnieper River in Ukraine. It was created in 1956, when the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant was built. It is one of several reservoirs in the Dnieper reserv ...
, submerging what could be now the most sacred place of an early distinctly Ukrainian statehood: the lands of the former Zaporizhian Host
Zaporozhian Host (or Zaporizhian Sich) is a term for a military force inhabiting or originating from Zaporizhzhia, the territory beyond the rapids of the Dnieper River in what is Central Ukraine today, from the 15th to the 18th centuries.
These i ...
, with their burial sites.
Until 18 July 2020, Nikopol was incorporated as a city of oblast significance and served as the administrative center of Nikopol Raion though it did not belong to the raion. In July 2020, as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast to seven, the city of Nikopol was merged into Nikopol Raion.
Just a few kilometres west of the city, the Kosh otaman
Kish otaman ( uk, Кошовий отаман, ; russian: Кошевой атаман, ; pl, Ataman koszowy; also known as of the Zaporizhian Host) was a chief officer of the ''Kish'' (central body of government) of the Zaporozhian Host in the 1 ...
Ivan Sirko
Ivan Sirko ( uk, Іван Дмитрович Сірко, tr. , ; pl, Iwan Sierko, ; russian: Иван Дмитриевич Серко, translit=Ivan Dmitrievich Serko, ; c. 1610–1680) was a Ukrainian Cossack military leader, Koshovyi Otaman o ...
is buried.
Nowadays Nikopol is one of the largest towns in the region, with a population of 120,774 (2013). The largest manufacturers are the former Nikopol Tube Plant, established in 1931, which is now divided into smaller plants (e.g. Centravis, Interpipe Niko Tube), and Nikopol Ferroalloy Plant, which is the largest in Europe and second in the world in producing Ferromanganese (FeMn) and Ferrosilicomanganese (FeSiMn). There is bus station, railway station and river port, which connect the town with other cities.
Climate
Industry
Nikopol River Port facilitates transportation for the metallurgical industry and travel.
Culture
Sports
*FC Nikopol
FC Nikopol is a professional Ukrainian football club from the city of Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk oblast and Makiivka, Donetsk Oblast before 2015. Another FC Nikopol has existed in Nikopol prior to relocation of FC Makiivvuhillya.
History Makiyivvuh ...
*FC Metalurh Nikopol
FC Elektrometalurh-NZF Nikopol (also referred as ''FC Elektrometalurg-NZF Nikopol '') is an amateur Ukrainian football club. The club is based in Nikopol, Ukraine and sponsored by the Nikopol Ferroalloy Plant (NZF).
Brief history Metalurh→Trubn ...
Gallery
File:Nikopol'_K.Libknehta 113a_Spasopreobrazhens'ka Tserkva 03 (YDS_7544).jpg, Transfiguration church
File:Nikopol' Shevchenka 6 Staroobryadova Tserkva 02 (YDS 4914).jpg, Old Old Believers' Church
File:Церква Різдва Богородиці в Сулицькому (мур.) 2.JPG, Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary
File:Набережная Никополя.jpg, Nikopol quay
File:Монумент в честь богини Ники.jpg, Monument to goddess Nike
Nike often refers to:
* Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory
* Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment
Nike may also refer to:
People
* Nike (name), a surname and feminine give ...
File:Ул.Первомайская, г.Никополь.jpg, A street in Nikopol
File:Центральный универмаг Никополя.jpg, Nikopol central department store
File:Nikopol Elektrometalurh Stadium 4.jpg, Elektrometalurh Stadium
International relations
Twin towns — Sister cities
Nikopol is twinned with:
* Lloydminster, Canada
References
*
External links
Official city website
{{authority control
Zaporozhian Sich historic sites
Cities in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast
Yekaterinoslav Governorate
Populated places established in 1639
Cities of regional significance in Ukraine
Populated places established in the Russian Empire
Populated places of Kakhovka Reservoir
Khmelnytsky Uprising
Populated places on the Dnieper in Ukraine