CHERNIGOV, a town and county in the Ukrainian S.S.R. The county has an area of 10,685 sq.km., and is much smaller than the former Chernigov government. The Dnieper river forms its western boundary; its eastern boundary reaches long. 32° E. in the north, but towards the south is further west and runs parallel with the left bank of the Desna river. Its northern boundary coincides with that of the Ukraine, and the county of Kiev lies to the south. The north-west between the Dnieper and the Desna is forested, with marshes near the rivers, but the area on the left bank of the Desna lies in the transitional f orest steppe zone. In the north-west lumbering and the production of wooden wares, tar, pitch and leather goods are the main peasant occupations, beekeeping forming a useful supplement. The sown area is small, the marshy and sandy soil being unfavourable to agriculture. The chief crops are rye and oats. Hemp is also cultivated. The Desna river and its tributaries are navigable in summer and form outlets for timber, The climate is severe, the rivers being frozen for about 130 days. The town of Chernigov lat. 51° 31' N., long. 31° 20' E. has an average Jan. temperature of 23° F and July 68.5° F. The population increased from 27,716 in 1897 to 34,359 in 1926; the chief occupations are the making of spirits, leather goods, especially footwear and flour milling. The town is a river port, with an elevator and a radio station ; it is the terminus of a branch railway. It has had a long and eventful history and was mentioned in the treaty of Oleg, 907, as next in importance to Kiev. In the 11th century it be came the capital of the principality of Syeversk, and its cathedral dates from that time. The Mongol invasion 1239 destroyed its prosperity. In the 14th century it was annexed by Lithuania, but the Poles captured and retained it until its occupation by the Russians in 1686.