Ternopil (Тернопіль, terˈnɔp(j)ilj; Tarnopol; Tarnapol; Tarnopol; Tannstadt; Ternopol; Tarnopal), known until 1944 mostly as Tarnopol, is a city in the west of Ukraine, located on the banks of the Seret. Administratively, it serves as the administrative centre of Ternopil Oblast. Ternopil is one of the major cities of Western Ukraine and the historical regions of Galicia and Podolia. It is served by Ternopil Airport. The population of Ternopil was estimated at
The city is the administrative center of Ternopil Oblast (region), as well as of surrounding Ternopil Raion (district) within the oblast. It hosts the administration of Ternopil urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine.
Until 18 July 2020, Ternopil was designated as a city of oblast significance and did not belong to Ternopil Raion even though it was the center of the raion. As part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Ternopil Oblast to three, the city was merged into Ternopil Raion.
History of Ternopil
The city was founded in 1540 by Polish commander and Hetman Jan Amor Tarnowski. Its Polish name Tarnopol means 'Tarnowski's city' and stems from a combination of the founder's family name and the Greek term polis. The city served as a military stronghold and castle On 15 April 1540, the King of Poland, Sigismund I the Old, in Kraków gave Tarnowski permission to establish Tarnopol, near Sopilcze (Sopilche). protecting the eastern borders of Polish Kingdom from Tatar raids. In 1570, the city passed to the Ostrogski family, and in 1623 to the Zamoyski family. During the Khmelnytsky Uprising, many residents of the city joined the ranks of the Cossack forces. During the 1672–1676 Polish–Ottoman War, Tarnopol was almost completely destroyed by Turkish forces of Ibrahim Shishman Pasha in 1675, then rebuilt by Aleksander Koniecpolski.
In 1772, after the First Partition of Poland, the city came under Austrian rule. In 1809, after the War of the Fifth Coalition, the city came under Russian rule, incorporated into the newly created Ternopol krai, but in 1815 returned to Austrian rule in accordance with the Congress of Vienna.