On the southwestern and southern border of the Dnieper Plateau, which is really part of the country drained by the Boh, there lie several smaller towns, e.g., Lipovetz, Haisin, Novomirhorod, with some grain and cattle trade. In this respect, Zvenihorodka (17,000 pop.) is of greater importance. Nearby lies Katerinopol, with its lignite mines. Uman (42,000 pop.) is known because of its associations with the Haydamak times, its great park, and its considerable grain trade. The largest city of this strip of borderland, Yelisavet (76,000 pop.), at the source of the Inhul, carries on a considerable trade in grain and wool, and possesses an important factory industry.
The Dnieper Plain, in its northern part, reveals quite a Polissian character. But in the north we note the first differences too—the highly developed home industry and agriculture much more highly developed than in the Polissye region. On the left Desna bank, lumbering declines gradually, and the villages of the Polissian type give way to the typical Ukrainian villages, consisting of neatly whitewashed, straw-covered huts, which lie picturesquely among fruit-gardens. The towns and suburbs here, as in fact everywhere in the left half of the Ukraine, have an entirely rural appearance. The cities have very wide streets and squares. There are very few connected rows [[327]]of houses, and the single houses are surrounded by gardens and large yards. The Dnieper Plain embraces the greatest part of the Governments of Chernihiv and Poltava, and the northern edge of Katerinoslav.
The chief city of the northern half of the section is Chernihiv (33,000 pop.), an old city, perhaps as ancient as Kiev. It lies at the crossing of the main road leading to Muscovy, across the navigable Desna. In the city and its vicinity we find many historical monuments, churches, walls and barrows; but the present commercial importance of the city is very slight. Konotop (20,000 pop.), surrounded by swamps, and at one time a strong fortress, famous for the victory of the Cossack hetman, Vihovsky, over the Russians (1659), now carries on a considerable commerce, thanks to its railroad junction, and has large peat deposits. Bakhmatch, which lies nearby, is an important railroad junction. On the Sem lies the commercial town of Baturin, the former hetman residence, whose population was completely slaughtered by Menshikov in 1709. Sosnitza, Borsna (12,000 pop.) and Berezna (10,000 pop.) carry on an insignificant grain and cattle trade. On the navigable Oster lies Nizin (52,000 pop.), an old city of the time of the Ukrainian princes, in the 17th Century a Greek colony carrying on a lively trade, later famous for its great annual fairs. Just now the tobacco and grain trade of the city is increasing considerably. There is also a philological academy here. Further downstream, on the Oster, we find two old towns, Koseletz and Oster, with a river harbor and a considerable net industry. On the Trubaylo and on the Alta lies the ancient city of Pereyaslav (15,000 pop.), founded by Volodimir the Great, noteworthy for the victory of the Cossack hetman, Taras Triasilo, over the Poles (1630). Here the unfortunate treaty of 1654 was enacted, joining the Ukraine, which had just been freed from Polish rule, to Russia, as an autonomous vassal state. The once navigable [[328]]Trubaylo has become shallow, the railroad line has left the city lying to one side and Pereyaslav has lost all significance. Equally insignificant is the adjacent town of Zolotonosha.
In the Sula region, on the verge of the Dnieper Plain, lies Romen (Romni, 33,000 pop.), with annual fairs that are important even today, the center of the judicial district of Romni-Libau, which transports the products of the Ukraine to the distant Baltic ports. Romen has a soap industry and tobacco factories, and here and in the adjacent town of Lokhvitzia, fruit and tobacco culture flourish. The center of Ukrainian tobacco-culture is Priluky (31,000 pop.), on the Udai, which carries on the greatest tobacco trade in all Russia, exporting half a million puds of it annually. On the Udai also lies the old Cossack city of Piriatin, now an important railroad center. Below the outlet of the Udai into the Sula, lies ancient Lubni (10,000 pop.), with its great fruit-gardens and tanneries.
In the region drained by the Psiol, we find on the Khorol, the old Cossack city of Mirhorod (10,000 pop.), so masterfully pictured by Gogol, with its industrial school and its great home industry. Mirhorod was once an important center of the Chumak organization. Not far from it lies the railroad center of Romodan and the antique town of Khorol. Hadyach is noteworthy because of the treaty of the Cossack hetman, Vihovsky, with Poland (1658), which was to join the Ukraine as the third autonomous unit to the Polish-Lithuanian state. Sinkiv (10,000 pop.) is an important center of a versatile home industry; Rashivka, a center of the Prassoli societies; Sorochintzi, the birthplace of Gogol, has grain and cattle markets; Reshetilivka is famous for its sheep-raising and its leather industry. Above the outlet of the Psiol into the Dnieper, lies the chief river port of the region, Kreminchuk (99,000 pop.), an important bridge city, where numerous [[329]]highways and two railroads cross the navigable Dnieper. Kreminchuk trades, particularly in lumber and grain, is an emporium for lumber, coal and salt, and has machine, tobacco, carriage and leather factories, and large saw-mills. The city is subject to many floods and conflagrations, but is growing constantly. Half of the population is comprised of Jewish merchants and business men. In the spring the population of the city is regularly doubled. On the opposite Dnieper bank lies the river port of Krukiv (10,000 pop.), almost a suburb of Kreminchuk.
In the river region of the Vorskla, on the northeastern boundary of the plain, lies Oposhnia, widely known for its pottery. Farther downstream lies the city of Poltava (83,000 pop.), the chief city of the southern part of the left half of the plain, notable for the unfortunate battle (1709) in which Peter the Great, with Polish help, destroyed the plan of the dashing hetman, Mazeppa, to free the Ukraine from Russian dominion, with the aid of Charles XII. of Sweden. Today Poltava is a rising industrial city, with an important railroad junction and great annual fairs, chiefly for wool and horses. Kobeliaki (12,000 pop.), situated downstream on the Vorskla, has a cloth industry of some dimensions, as has also the district of Konstantinohrad, in the river region of the Orel. On the southeastern border of the plain, where it joins the Pontian plain in the region of the Samara, lie the old Zaporog settlements of Samarchik (Novonoskovsk, 13,000 pop.) and Pavlohrad (41,000 pop.), with a considerable grain trade and a large mill, leather and wax industry.
The spurs of the Central Russian Plateau, which lie within the borders of the Ukrainian national territory offer an almost complete anthropogeographical analogy to the above discussed district. In the north the Polissian character is still apparent. In the south agriculture and home industry are well developed. Traffic is more difficult, [[330]]because of the greater distance to the navigable Dnieper, but is rather active with the Muscovite country. The left plateau district embraces the northwest frontiers of the Governments of Chernihiv and Poltava, all of the Government of Kharkiv and the adjacent districts of Kursk, Voroniz and Don.
The northernmost town of the Ukraine is Mhlin, with its important annual fairs. In the vicinity lies Pochep, with some textile industry and Klintzi (12,000 pop.), the “Manchester of the Chernihiv country,” with spinning-mills, cloth, leather and metal factories. The inhabitants of nearby Ardon engage in carriage-making, and carry on peddling thruout the entire Ukraine. Considerable industry and trade is carried on also by Novosibkiv (16,000 pop.) and Klimiv. Starodub (13,000 pop.), the old Cossack city, on the other hand, is rich in historical reminiscences. The ancient town of Novhorod Siversky, on the Desna, and Korop, downstream, are insignificant today. Kluhiv (15,000 pop.) carries on a considerable grain trade. In the vicinity lies Shostka, with a powder factory which supplies all the powder factories of Russia with salpeter. Krolevetz (10,000 pop.) still has important annual fairs, the old town of Putivl some trade in grain and flax, Bilopilye (15,000 pop.), important annual fairs and a great grain trade. In the country about the source of the Sula lies Nedrihailiv; at the source of the Psiol is Sudza (13,000 pop.), with a large grain, honey and fruit trade. Miropilye (11,000 pop.), has an important shoe industry, Sumi (52,000 pop.), situated at a railroad junction, has an important factory industry (especially sugar factories) and important annual fairs. The old Cossack city of Lebedin (14,000 pop.), famous because of the atrocities of Menshikov (1708), now carries on a considerable grain trade.
In the region of the source of the Vorskla lies the town of Hraivoron, downstream Okhtirka (32,000 pop.), [[331]]a much frequented place of pilgrimage, with considerable fruit-culture and lumber, fur, shoe, pottery and milling industries. Considerable fruit-culture is carried on also by Bohodukhiv.
The farther part of the left plateau lies in the region drained by the Don. On the small rivers, Kharkiv and Lopan, lies the capital of the region, Kharkiv (248,000 pop.). Founded as a Cossack hamlet in the 17th Century, Kharkiv has grown very rapidly, thanks to its geographical position at a convenient crossing point from the Dnieper region into the Don region, between the interior and the sea. Here was once a crossing of Chumak roads, and is now a railroad junction. Hence the importance of Kharkiv lies in commerce. Four great fairs, whose business still amounts to 80 million rubles a year, on an average, are especially important for trade in grain, horned cattle, horses, wool and manufactures. Besides, Kharkiv has a considerable factory industry (linen, cloth, soap, candle, sugar, alcohol, tobacco, brick, ceramic, machine, boiler and bell factories). Kharkiv is the seat of a Russian University, and one of the chief centers of Ukrainian cultural life.