Bar, Ukraine

Bar ( _uk. Бар, Polish: Bar) is a city located on the Rov river in the Vinnytsia Oblast (province) of western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Barsky Raion (district), and is part of the historic region of Podolia ( _uk. Поділля, translit. "Podillya").

The current estimated population is 17,200 (as of 2005).

History

The city was a small trade outpost named Row. In 16th century Polish queen Bona Sforza founded a fortress at the rock over the river and named it Bar, after her home town of Bari in Italy. In 1540 Polish king Sigismund I the Old granted the nearby town with city rights. The fortress was besieged several times in its history and was considered unbreakable. However, during the Chmielnicki Uprising in 1648 it was captured by the cossacks under Bohdan Chmielnicki and severely damaged. The town was depopulated soon afterwards.

In 1672 it was captured by the Ottoman Empire and became a seat of local administration. On November 12, 1674 the town and the fortress were recaptured by the forces of John III of Poland after four days of siege. On February 29, 1768 the Confederation of Bar was started in the fortress. After the Second Partition of Poland the town fell under Russian rule and was part of Podillia gubernia. A famous 19th century mathematician, Viktor Bunyakovsky was born in the city in 1804. After 1922 the city was in the Ukrainian SSR, and since 1991 in Ukraine.