Early history: 11th–15th centuries Khotyn, located on cliffs above the
Dniester, is sometimes conflated with a sound-alike locality mentioned in 1001, Archaeological excavations found that the Kievan town covered the area of some twenty hectares. It later became part of the
Principality of Halych and its successor,
Halych-Volhynia. The town was an important trading center due to its location by a river crossing. A
Genoese trading colony was established there by the 13th century. From 1812 to 1918, Hotin was the administrative center of the
Hotin County, one of the twelve, later nine counties of Bessarabia. During the 19th century, due to economic reasons and the Russian policy of
colonization and
russification, the Ukrainian population of Bessarabia (especially in its north) increased significantly, from around 15,000 in 1810 to around 200,000 in 1917 (of which over half in the northern half of the Hotin county alone), mostly by migration from
Podolia (just across the river
Dniester). During
World War I, the north-eastern corner of the Hotin county was the only area of Bessarabia occupied temporarily by
Austria-Hungary.
Modern history: 20th–21st centuries With the collapse of the Russian Empire, Bessarabia proclaimed independence from Russia as the
Moldavian Democratic Republic in 1917. The Austrians were in control of Khotyn and several surrounding villages for several months starting February 28, 1918. In April 1918 the Moldavian Democratic Republic formally proclaimed a
union with Romania. Romania and Austria signed
a peace treaty in May 1918, and the Austrians withdrew from the area. The treaty was not formally ratified by Romania, a former
Entente ally which found itself isolated, until on November 10 Romania re-entered the war. Shortly after that, in January 1919, local Ukrainians desiring to be part of Ukraine, started a revolt, which was also exploited by some Soviet agitators, followed by the expulsion and massacre of Ukrainian rebels and collaborators during the rebellion by the Romanian authorities from January 23 to February 1, 1919. After the
Khotyn Uprising was put down by the
Romanian Army, Romania implemented policies aimed at the
re-Romanianization of the territory. At this time, the population was approximately 35,000. The city remained under Romanian control until June 28, 1940, when along with Bessarabia and Northern
Bukovina it was
occupied by the
Soviet Union. In August 1940 most of Bessarabia became the
Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic of the Soviet Union; however, Northern Bukovina and the area around Khotyn were attached to the
Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic as
Chernivtsi Oblast and the southernmost part of Bessarabia (
Budjak) became the
Akkerman (later Izmail) Oblast. After
Operation Barbarossa, where Romania acted as a German ally, the area was retaken by Romania in early July 1941. In March 1944, with the defeat of the
Axis forces, the town was retaken by the Soviets, and reattached to Soviet Ukraine. The Jews were deported to Transnistria by the Romanian authorities in 1941, where most of them died. With the
collapse of the Soviet Union and the
Declaration of Independence of Ukraine in 1991, Khotyn became a part of newly independent
Ukraine. In 2000, the
Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine created the historical-architectural preserve "Khotynska Fortetsia" (
Khotyn Fortress). In September 2002, the city celebrated its 1,000 year anniversary. ==Battles==