Rural settlement
The definition of a rural settlement depends on the country, in some countries, a rural settlement is any settlement in the areas defined as rural by a governmental office, e.g., by the national census bureau. This may include even rural towns. ...
in
Shepetivka Raion
Shepetivka Raion () is a raion in Khmelnytskyi Oblast in Ukraine. Its administrative center is Shepetivka. Its population is
On 18 July 2020, as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, the number of raions of Khmelnytskyi Oblast was reduce ...
,
Khmelnytskyi Oblast
Khmelnytskyi Oblast (), also known as Khmelnychchyna (), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) in western Ukraine covering portions of the historical regions of western Podolia and southern Volhynia. The Capital (political) ...
, western
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
. It hosts the administration of
Bilohiria settlement hromada
Bilohiria (); formerly known as Liakhivtsi) is a Rural settlement in Shepetivka Raion, Khmelnytskyi Oblast, western Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Bilohiria settlement hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. The settlement's populatio ...
, one of the
hromada
In Ukraine, a hromada () is the main type of municipality and the third level Administrative divisions of Ukraine, local self-government in Ukraine. The current hromadas were established by the Cabinet of ministers of Ukraine, Government of Uk ...
s of Ukraine. The settlement's population was 5,592 as of the
2001 Ukrainian Census
The 2001 Ukrainian census is to date the only census of the population of independent Ukraine. It was conducted by the State Statistics Committee of Ukraine on 5 December 2001, twelve years after the last Soviet Union census in 1989.Yampil (formerly Yampol or Iampol),
Kremenets
Kremenets (, ; ; ) is a city in Ternopil Oblast, western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Kremenets Raion, and lies north-east of the Pochaiv Lavra. The city is situated in the historic region of Volhynia and features the 12th-c ...
, and Kornytsya.
The town is located on the banks of the
Horyn River
The Horyn or Haryn (, ; , ; ; ) is a tributary of the Pripyat, which flows through Ukraine and Belarus. The Horyn is long, and has a drainage basin of .Pripyat
Pripyat, also known as Prypiat, is an abandoned industrial city in Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine, located near the border with Belarus. Named after the nearby river, Pripyat (river), Pripyat, it was founded on 4 February 1970 as the ninth ''atomgrad'' ...
. The town of Bilohiria also administers the Bilohiria Settlement Council (), whose jurisdiction also covers the villages of Karasykha and Trostianka.
History
The region surrounding Liakhivtsi was known to be settled by at least the 12th century, when residents of the Kyiv area migrated west to Volhynia and beyond. The Mongol invasion of 1260 subjected the area to rule of the Mongol khan. Lithuanian control over the region took place in the 14th century. The settlement of Liakhivtsi (; ) was founded in 1441 on Bilohiria's modern-day territory. Jews were expelled from the region in 1495, but were allowed to return a few years later. The settlement received the
Magdeburg rights
Magdeburg rights (, , ; also called Magdeburg Law) were a set of town privileges first developed by Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (936–973) and based on the Flemish Law, which regulated the degree of internal autonomy within cities and villages gr ...
in 1583.
Polish influence increased over the 15th and 16th centuries, with Poland taking official control in 1569 with the Treaty of Lublin. Cultural life in Volhynia flourished under Polish rule, interrupted by the 1648 Chmielnicki
Khmelnytsky Uprising
The Khmelnytsky Uprising, also known as the Cossack–Polish War, Khmelnytsky insurrection, or the National Liberation War, was a Cossack uprisings, Cossack rebellion that took place between 1648 and 1657 in the eastern territories of the Poli ...
massacres, which killed many Jewish residents. Additional settlements formed in the 1660s. Volhynia was transferred to Polish control in 1793, where it remained until the interwar period.
In 1885, Liakhivtsi was the administrative center of the Liakhivtsi
volost
Volost (; ; ) was a traditional administrative subdivision in Kievan Rus', the Grand Duchy of Moscow, and the Russian Empire.
History
The '' Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary'' (1890–1907) states that the origins of the concept is unc ...
of the
Ostroh
Ostroh ( , ) is a city in Rivne Oblast, western Ukraine. It is situated on the Horyn River. Ostroh was the administrative center of Ostroh Raion until 2020, but as a city of oblast significance did not belong to the raion. Currently the city is ...
povit
A povit (), also known as a county, was a type of historical territorial-administrative and judicial unit in Ukraine, administered by a starosta. Under the Russian Empire, the Russian administration introduced the system of uezds which locally ...
. During that time, the settlement's population consisted of 2,368.
The Russian Empire Census of 1897 reported the town's population as 5,401. At that time, 3,890 of the inhabitants belonged to the
Eastern Orthodox
Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...
faith, while 1,384 were of the
Jew
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...
ish faith.
In the 20th century, the region was populated by both ethnic Ukrainians and Poles, whose populations struggled against each other. At the same time, Germany and the Soviet Union that were struggling for influence in the greater region. World War II brought these conflicts to the forefront. Nazi Germany occupied the region in June 1941. World War II ended in tragedy for the Jews of Lechowitz. German forces invaded Russia in June 1941, and within a year, murdered virtually the entire Jewish population of Lechowitz. A memorial exists today in the forests outside of town, where 2,300 Jews from Lechowitz and nearby towns were murdered by German forces. A small number of Jews from Lechowitz survived World War II.
The entire region fell under Soviet rule following the end of World War II. In August 1991, Ukraine became an independent state, and Lechowitz (Bilohiria) is part of that state.
The town was known by the name of Liakhivtsi (Lechowitz, Lyakhovtsy, Lechevitz, Lakhovce, Liakhovitz, etc.) until it was changed in 1949 when its status was upgraded to that of a rural settlement. In 1960, Bilohiria received the status of an urban-type settlement. The Yiddish version of the town name was לעחיוויץ. After World War II, the Russian government renamed the town to Belogor'ye or Belogoria. The Ukrainian version of the name is Bilohir'ya or Bilohiria.
There are other towns named Liakhivtsi(or phonetically similar), including one called
Lyakhavichy
Lyakhavichy or Lyakhovichi is a town in Brest Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Lyakhavichy District. As of 2025, it has a population of 10,537.
History
Known since the 15th century in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania as t ...
in Belarus, a town called Lachowice in Poland, and one called Lechotice in the Czech Republic.
Until 18 July 2020, Bilohiria was the administrative center of
Bilohiria Raion
Bilohiria Raion () was a raion in Khmelnytskyi Oblast in Ukraine. Its capital (political), administrative center was the urban-type settlement of Bilohiria. It was established in 1923. 2 urban-type settlements and 72 villages were located in Biloh ...
. The raion was abolished in July 2020 as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Khmelnytskyi Oblast to three. The area of Bilohiria Raion was merged into Shepetivka Raion.
Until 26 January 2024, Bilohiria was designated
urban-type settlement
Urban-type settlement, abbreviated: ; , abbreviated: ; ; ; ; . is an official designation for lesser urbanized settlements, used in several Central and Eastern Europe, Central and Eastern European countries. The term was primarily used in the So ...
. On this day, a new law entered into force which abolished this status, and Bilohiria became a rural settlement.
See also
* Yampil, the other urban-type settlement in the Bilohiria Raion