The oldest settlement at the location of modern-day Zmiiv dates back to the
1st millennium BC. The area around Zmiiv saw numerous different people groups during its history, such as the
Scythians,
Sarmatians,
Goths,
Huns,
Alans,
Avars,
Polovtsians,
Pechenegs,
Tatars, and
Slavs.
Igor Svyatoslavich, prince of
Novgorod-Seversky, waged wars with the Polovtsy, the Zmiiv settlement founded in 1180-1185 on the
Donets at the mouth of the river . In the mid-1500s an outpost was built there, and in the 1650s the Cossacks built a fort there to defend the vicinity against the Tatars. Zmiiv was a company town of the Kharkiv regiment from 1669 to 1765. It was ravaged by the Tatars in 1688, 1689, and 1692. Its Cossacks took part in the uprisings led by Ivan Dzykovksy (1670) and Kodratii Bulavin (1707–9). The new wave of settlement of the Wild Field lands, and in particular the lands of the Slobozhanshchina, dates back to the 1630-50s, when thousands of Ukrainians were forced to flee from massacre after unsuccessful revolts against the Polish authorities. 1640 is the official date of foundation of the city. But in the same year, the Tatars seized the city, which was captured by Cossacks Kondratii Sulima. In the 1650s, to the south of the Zmiiv appeared the Zmiiv Nikolaev Cossack Monastery, which was the castle of the old, wounded and other Cossacks. It is believed that the monastery was a treasure chest; it had 6,000 acres of land and numerous buildings. In 1656, was appointed as governor of Zmiiv by
Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. At the end of 17th century, the Zmiiv was already a large enough settlement, surrounded by posts: Zamost, Zidki, and Sands. And if for some time he was a part of the Chuguev uyezd, then from 1657 he became the center of the newly created
Zmiev uyezd. Sources also mention the weapons of the local fortress: in 1668 it had 7 large cast iron guns, 290 cores and a lot of gunpowder, with 2 shafts surrounding it and a system of underground passages. In 1688, 1692 and 1736, Tatar attacks were carried out on the city. The presence of settlements in Slobozhana under the rule of the Russian tsar and the strong oppression on the part of the church and the Cossack elders did not best reflect the mood of the freedom-loving settlers. Thus, in 1668, a rebellion broke out in a number of towns and cities in Slobozhanshchyna, which was headed by
Ivan Sirko. During the fighting against government forces, the insurgents burned down the Zmiiv. According to lord-colonel of Kharkiv cossacks regiment Kvitka, the Tatars' raids have stopped since 1736. In 1788, the Zmiiv Monastery was destroyed by order of
Tsarina Catherine II. It was an administrative centre of
Zmiev uyezd in
Kharkov Governorate of
Russian Empire. From 1891 to 1893, was built here. Across 1932 and 1933, 559 victims of the
Holodomor genocide in Ukraine were identified in Zmiiv and neighbouring , which has since been absorbed into the city. During
World War II, Zmiiv was occupied by the
German army from 22 October 1941 to 17–18 August 1943. In 1956, a was established here. Zmiiv was the administrative centre of
Zmiiv Raion, until 18 July 2020, when the
raion was abolished as part of the as part of the
administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of
Kharkiv Oblast to seven. The area of Zmiivk Raion was merged into
Chuhuiv Raion. ==Demographics==