MOGHILEFF, a north-western government or province of the Russian empire, situated on the upper Dnieper, between the provinces of Vitebsk and Smolensk on the north and east, Tchernigoff and Minsk on the south and west. In the north it is occupied by the watershed which separates the basins of the Dwina and the Dnieper, an undulating tract from 650 to 900 feet above the sea-level, and covered nearly everywhere with forests. This watershed slopes gently to the south, that is, to the valley of the Dnieper, which enters the province from the northeast and flows west and afterwards due south. The southern part of the province is flat and has much in common with the Polyesie of the province of Minsk; it is, however, more habitable, the marshes being less extensive....
The province is covered by the Tertiary formation; Devonian sandstone appears in the north, and Carboniferous limestones in the east. The soil is mostly sand, clay (brick-clay and potter’s-clay are not uncommon), and peat-bogs, with a few patches of “blackearth.” The climate is rude and wet, the average yearly temperature at the Gorki meteorological observatory being 40 o- 4 Fahr. (14 o- 2 in January, and 63°'8 in July); cold nights in summer are often the cause of bad crops. The province has about 1,140,000 inhabitants (947,625 in 1870), mostly White-Russians (78 per cent.), belonging to the Greek Church; Jews are numerous (16 per cent.); Poles, belonging mostly to the nobility, make only 3 per cent, of the population. Agriculture is the chief occupation; nearly one half (46 per cent.) of the surface of the province is under crop; but, except after unusually good harvests, corn is imported, chiefly by the navigable channels of the Dnieper and Sozh. There are many distilleries on the estates of landowners, and wine-spirit is exported. The hemp culture is important; hemp and hempseed oil are exported to Riga. The province has one large papermill, a few iron and copper works, and minor manufactures.
The province of Moghileff is divided into eleven districts, with the chief towns: Moghileff (40,500 inhabitants), Chausy (4200), Tcherikoff (3900), Gomel (13,030), Gorki, formerly the seat of an agricultural institute (5050), Klimovichi (4000), Mstislavl (6700), Orsha (5350), Rogacheff (7750), Staryi Bykhoff (5200), and Syenno (2550). Of about 80 other municipal towns, we name Shkloff (13,000 inhabitants), Dubrovka (7000), Krieheff (4000).
This province was inhabited in the 10th century by the Krivichi and Radimichi. In the 14th century it became part of Lithuania and afterwards of Poland. Russia annexed it in 1772.
Moghileff on the Dnieper, a town of Russia, capital of the province of same name. It is situated on both banks of the Dnieper, 40 miles south of the Orsha station of the railway between Moscow and Μ arsaw. A railway along the Dnieper will soon bring Moghileff into railway communication with these capitals.
Moghileff is mentioned for the first time in the 14th century as a dependency of the Vitebsk, or of the Mstislavl principality. At the beginning of the 15th century it became the personal property of the Polish kings. But it was continually plundered —either by Russians, who attacked it six times during the 16th century, or by Cossacks, who plundered it three times. In the 17th century its inhabitants who belonged to the Greek Church suffered much from the persecutions of the Union. In 1654 it surrendered to Russia, but in 1661 the Russian garrison was massacred by the inhabitants. In the 18th century it was taken several times by Russians and by Swedes, and in 1708 Peter I. ordered it to be destroyed by fire. It was annexed to Russia in 1772. Of 40,500 inhabitants two-thirds are Jews and the remainder White-Russians, with a few Poles (2500). Its manufactures are without importance; but one branch of trade, namely, the preparation of skins, has maintained itself for many centuries. The commerce is mostly in the hands of Jews: corn, salt, sugar, and fish are brought from the south, whilst skins and manufactured ware imported from Germany (partly by smugglers) are sent to the southern provinces.
MOGHILEFF on the Dniester ( Mohilov), a district town of Russia, situated in the province of Podolia, on the left bank of the Dniester, 87 miles east-south-east of Kamenets-Podolsk, and 43 miles from the Zhmerinka railway junction. It has 18,200 inhabitants, nearly one-half of whom are Jews; the remainder are Little Russians, Poles (1500), and a few Armenians. The Little-Russian inhabitants of Moghileff carry on agriculture, gardening, wine, and mulberry culture. The Jews and Armenians are engaged in a brisk trade with Odessa, to which they send corn, wine, spirits, and timber, floated down from Galicia, as well as with the interior, to which they send manufactured wares imported from Austria.
Moghileff, named in honour of the Moldavian hospodar Mohila, was founded by Count Potocki about the end of the 16th century. Owing to its situation on the highway from Moldavia to the Ukraine, at the passage across the Dnieper, it developed rapidly. For more than 150 years it was disputed by the Cossacks, the Poles, and the Turks. It remained in the hands of the Poles, and was annexed to Russia in 1795. The Crown purchased it from Count Potocki in 1806.
[697 words — estimated reading time: 4 minutes]