The city was founded in 1267. Since the 14th century it has been part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, after the Union of Lublin and creation of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, it was transferred to The Crown as Mohylew or Mogilew. The city flourished as one of the main nodes of the east-west and north-south trading routes. In 1577 king Stefan Batory granted it with city rights. After the First Partition of Poland it became part of the Russian Empire and was the centre of the Mogilev Governorate. In years 1915�1917, during World War I, the Stavka, the headquarters of the Russian Imperial Army functioned in the city and the Tsar, Nicholas II, spent long periods here as Commander-in-Chief. In 1918 occupied by Germany and transferred to the short-lived Belarusian People's Republic. In 1919 captured by the forces of Soviet Russia and incorporated into Byelorussian SSR. Up to the Second World War and the Holocaust, like many other cities in Europe, Mogilev had a significant Jewish population: according to Russian census of 1897, out of the total population of 41,100, Jews constituted 21,500 (so around 50% percent). Between 1941 and 1944 the city was under German occupation. During that period, the Jews of Mogilev were ghettoized and systematically liquidated. Since Belarus gaining its independence in 1991 Mogilev remains one of its principal cities
