Ukrainian city of Dnipro rejects Russian imperial version of its founding
Dnipro, major city in central Ukraine, may change its official founding date (photo: Getty Images)
The city of Dnipro has officially launched a process to review its historical founding date. According to the Dnipro City Council, the traditional version — that the city of Katerynoslav was founded in 1776 by order of Russian Empress Catherine II — is a product of colonial propaganda.
Essence of the initiative
The city held the first meeting of a special working group composed of leading historians, scholars, and researchers, whose goal is to determine an objective founding date of Dnipro based on reliable Ukrainian historical sources.
According to Deputy Mayor Andrii Denysenko, a Cossack agglomeration had existed on the territory of modern-day Dnipro since the 16th century, which included Stara Samar, Novyi Kodak, Kamianka, Polovytsia, Diiivka, Ohryn, and other settlements.
"1776 is a stamp of imperial propaganda. It was used back in tsarist times and is now part of the rhetoric of modern Russia to diminish the Ukrainian historical presence on these lands," Denysenko stated.
What's next
The working group is tasked with developing a scientifically grounded concept of Dnipro's chronology that will reflect the true history of Ukrainian Cossacks, rather than imposed imperial narratives.
This concept will be submitted for public discussion, after which it is expected to be legally formalized through an administrative decision by the city council to revise the city's official founding date.
Dnipro was known as Katerynoslav in the 18th–19th centuries. However, Ukrainian historians have long pointed out that life was thriving here long before the appearance of imperial names, and the city has much deeper Ukrainian historical roots.
