Homyel, also spelled Homel or Gomel, city and administrative centre, Homyel oblast (region), Belarus, on the Sozh River. It was first mentioned in 1142 as Gomy. It passed to Lithuania in the 14th century and later to Poland, and it was acquired by Russia in 1772. In the late 19th century Homyel developed as a major railway junction, and industries began to flourish. The city now is an important port and industrial centre, producing superphosphate fertilizers, agricultural machinery, machine tools, cables, bearings, timber products, glass, and footwear, foodstuffs, and other consumer goods. There are rolling-stock and rivercraft repair yards. Homyel has teacher-training and railway-engineering institutes and a forestry-research institute. Pop. (2006 est.) 481,500.
Learn More in these related Britannica articles:
Homyel, voblasts(province), southeastern Belarus. It occupies the level plain of the middle Dnieper River and its tributaries. There are considerable areas of reed and grass marsh and of peat bog. Most of the drier areas lie in dense forest of…
Belarus, country of eastern Europe. Until it became independent in 1991, Belarus, formerly known as Belorussia or White Russia, was the smallest of the three Slavic republics included in the Soviet Union (the larger two being Russia and Ukraine). While Belarusians share a distinct ethnic identity and language, they…
Lithuania, country of northeastern Europe, the southernmost and largest of the three Baltic states. Lithuania was a powerful empire that dominated much of eastern Europe in the 14th–16th centuries before becoming part of the Polish-Lithuanian confederation for the next two centuries.…
Poland, country of central Europe. Poland is located at a geographic crossroads that links the forested lands of northwestern Europe to the sea lanes of the Atlantic Ocean and the fertile plains of the Eurasian frontier. Now bounded by seven nations, Poland has waxed and waned over the centuries, buffeted…
Russia, country that stretches over a vast expanse of eastern Europe and northern Asia. Once the preeminent republic of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.; commonly known as the Soviet Union), Russia became an independent country after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991.…