BERDICHEV, the chief town of the Berdichev district of the Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic. Lat. 49° 52' N., Long. 28° 3o' E. Pop. 53,100. It is a railway junction, and centre for the exchange of skins, iron and wooden wares, salt fish, grain, cattle and horses. Small industries—tobacco, soap, leather and bricks—are carried on, and fairs are held. In the treaty of demarcation between the Poles and Lithuanians in 1546, Berdichev was assigned to Lithuania. After the capture of Bar, 1768, Pulaski, the leader of the Polish confederacy of Bar fled to Berdichev, which was captured by the Russians after a 25 days' siege. Later the town belonged to the Radziwill family. A fortified Carmelite monastery was founded here in 1627, was plundered by the Zaporogian Cossacks under Chmielnicki in 1647, and disestablished 1864. The Cathedral of the Assumption was completed in 1832.