Kolomea - Encyclopedia

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

KOLOMEA (Polish, Kolomyja), a town of Austria, in Galicia, 12 2 m. S. of Lemberg by rail. Pop. (1900), 34,188, of which half were Jews. It is situated on the Pruth, and has an active trade in agricultural products. To the N.E. of Kolomea, near the Dniester, lies the village of Czernelica, with ruins of a strongly fortified castle, which served as the residence of John Sobieski during his campaigns against the Turks. Kolomea is a very old town and is mentioned already in 1240, but the assertion that it was a Roman settlement under the name of Colonia is not proved. It was the principal town of the Polish province of Pokutia, and it suffered severely during the 5th and 16th centuries from the attacks of the Moldavians and the Tatars.