Kolomyia (Ukrainian: Коломия, IPA: [koloˈmɪjɐ] ⓘ), formerly known as Kolomea, is a city located on the Prut River in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast in western Ukraine.

[2] The city rests approximately halfway between Ivano-Frankivsk and Chernivtsi, in the centre of the historical region of Pokuttia, with which it shares much of its history.

In 1388 the king Władysław Jagiełło was forced by the war with the Teutonic Order to pawn the area of Pokuttia to the hospodar of Moldavia, Petru II.

Although the town remained under Polish sovereignty, the income of the customs offices in the area was given to the Moldavians, after which time the debt was repaid.

[6][7] This move made the development of the area faster and Kołomyja, as it was called then, attracted many settlers from many parts of Europe.

[7] In 1443, a year before his death, King Wladislaus II of Poland granted the town yet another privilege which allowed the burghers to trade salt, one of the most precious minerals of the Middle Ages.

This gave the town an additional boost, especially as the region was one of three salt-producing areas in Poland (the other two being Wieliczka and Bochnia), both not far from Kraków.

However, the vacuum after the decline of the Golden Horde started to be filled by yet another power in the area: the Ottoman Empire.

In 1485 Sultan Beyazid II captured Belgorod and Kilia, two ports on the northern shores of the Black Sea.

After the festivity most knights returned home, apart from 3,000 under Jan Karnkowski, who were given to the Moldavian prince as support in his battles, which he won in the end.

Known as Mukha's Rebellion, this series of battles was supported by the Moldavian prince Stephen the Great, and it is one of the earliest known uprisings of Ukrainians against Polish oppression.

[7][8] With the death of Stephen the Great of Moldavia, the neighbouring state started to experience both internal and external pressure from the Turks.

This victory secured the city's existence for the following years, but the Ottoman power grew and Poland's southern border remained insecure.

With the town in ruins, the starosta of Kamieniec Podolski fortress financed its reconstruction – slightly further away from the Prut River.

[9] With the help of incoming Cossack forces, Vysochan managed to overtake the important local fortress of Pniv (today – a village of Nadvirna Raion) and eventually managed to take under its control most of cities and villages in the region providing great support for the advancing Cossack forces of Bohdan Khmelnytskyi.

As a result of the first of Partitions of Poland (Treaty of St. Petersburg dated 5 July 1772), Kolomyia[10] was attributed to the Habsburg monarchy.

As a result of the collapse of Austria-Hungary, both the town itself and the surrounding region became disputed between renascent Poland and the West Ukrainian People's Republic.

However, during the Polish-Ukrainian War of 1919, it was seized without a fight by the Romanian Land Forces under General Iacob Zadik, and handed over to Polish authorities.

[4] During the Polish-Bolshevik 1919 war in Ukraine, a Polish division under General Zeligowski tore through Bessarabia and Bukovina and stopped in Kolomyia during its winter march to Poland.

The ethnic mixture was composed of Jews, Poles, Ukrainians (including Hutsuls), Germans, Armenians, and Hungarians, as well as of descendants of Valachians and other nationalities of former Austria-Hungary.

With the development of infrastructure, the town became a major railroad hub, as well as the garrison village of the 49th Hutsul Rifle Regiment.

The town had a monument to Polish poet Franciszek Karpinski, a monument to Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz, and an obelisk near the town, located in a spot where in 1485 hospodar Stephen III of Moldavia paid tribute to king Kazimierz IV Jagiellon.

In 1920-30s workers' strikes took place in the village, possibly organized by the Communist Party of Western Ukraine that was established in Kolomyia in 1923.

[5] After the outbreak of World War II with the Invasion of Poland of 1939, the town was thought of as one of the centres of Polish defence of the so-called Romanian Bridgehead.

[citation needed] However, the Soviet invasion from the east made these plans obsolete, and the town was occupied by the Red Army.

After liberation, many construction workers, teachers, doctors, engineers and other skilled professionals began to arrive to restore the ruined town.

As a result, many people found themselves unemployed, and many town residents felt forced to move abroad to find work.

Most of these companies were widely known in the former Soviet Union and abroad, as they were highly advanced in terms of equipment, skilled workers, and engineering staff.

These enterprises produced many products, with people working in several shifts, and providing the village with received significant tax revenues.