The Laborec River and the
Carpathian Mountains predetermined the development of the town and its surroundings, a silent witness of which has been the volcano
Vihorlat – with a summit elevation of , the highest point of the Vihorlat mountains. Thanks to its advantageous location and pleasant climate, preconditioned by the neighboring mountains, the town has been an attractive place for people since the
Stone Age, which is evidenced by several archeological findings. The
Slavic forefathers of the
Slovaks gradually moved to the basin of Humenné during the great migration of peoples, starting in the 5th century. An intensive and organized settlement of this area started as late as the middle of the 13th century, after the
Mongol raids. The first written document mentioning Humenné dates back to 1317. The history of Humenné is closely connected with the
Drugeth (Drugets, Drugetovci), a distinguished aristocratic family originally from
Naples, who, accompanying the king
Charles Robert of Anjou, came to the
Kingdom of Hungary (the territory of present-day Slovakia was part of the Kingdom of Hungary) at the beginning of the 14th century. The Drugeths made Humenné their seat and changed it into the centre of one of the largest
feudal dominions in Upper-Hungary. King
Matthias Corvinus conferred civic privileges (town status) on the town, which were validated by a seal with coat of arms. At that time, the town was crossed by an important trade route connecting the Kingdom of Hungary with the
Kingdom of Poland. Humenné is mentioned among royal customs offices, and later on, it received the right of storehousing and supposedly market rights, too. This was also the time of an ever-increasing influence of shepherd colonization from Transcarpathia by the so-called
Walachians (
Ruthenes,
Poles, and
Romanians). The most significant town monument, a
Renaissance castle, was built on the place of an original stone castle in about 1610. The castle came to be an indispensable characteristic feature of the town and serves as a museum and cultural site at present. In 1613, during the
Counter Reformation, a
Jesuit college was established as the first secondary school in the history of Humenné. In 1619, about 10,000 Polish riders—a
lisowczycy—led by Walenty Rogawski, defeated the army of
George I Rákóczi in
Battle of Humenné. Rákóczi was an insurgent against the Habsburgs and an ally of
Gábor Bethlen, Duke of Transylvania. The Drugeth line died out in 1684, and new feudal lords moved in, notably the
Csákys and the
Wandernats. The abolition of some
feudal duties and the reforms of
Maria Theresa promoted the development of crafts, and Humenné became the seat of the so-called "salt office". The town's population consisted of
Slovaks,
Ruthenes,
Hungarians and
Jews.
Latin was used as the administrative language, which appeared to be a stabilizing factor in such a mixture of nationalities. The
Andrássy family from
Transylvania started to influence the history of Humenné in the 19th century, a period characterized by economic growth. Moreover, many new buildings were erected at that time. The main fields of activity of town inhabitants were agriculture, crafts, and trade. The first train appeared in Humenné in 1871, stimulating the development of trade and wood cutting. In 1899, the first business academy in
Austria-Hungary was established in Humenné. Toward the end of the 19th century, Humenné counted 4,000 inhabitants. The 20th century brought along a cultural revival. Humenné was famous for its markets and fairs. This promising, though timid, development was interrupted by World War I. A short period of the existence of
Czechoslovakia between the two world wars proved to have positive effects upon the life of Humenné. As a corollary of World War II, however, all the effort had to start from the very beginning. On 26 November 1944, Humenné was captured by troops of the
Soviet 18th Army, acting as a part of the
4th Ukrainian Front, after which the town became again part of Czechoslovakia. Until 1956, Humenné was an administrative rather than an economic centre. Then the construction of a plant for the production of textile
polyamide fibres, the present
Chemlon company, triggered a real chain effect on the town's growth. Humenné was gradually becoming a centre of chemical, building, food, and mechanical engineering industries. This had a positive impact on the development of technical colleges. The industrial development entailed large-scale housing projects, and the town area was completed by new housing estates. While 7,000 inhabitants were living in Humenné in 1948, the population now amounts to over 33,000. == Population ==