By Robert S. Sherins
Vice-president, Polish Genealogy Society of California
March 25, 2004
There are several versions of the origin of the town named Konotop, (aka Konotip). The exact date of first inhabitation is not known, but the Siveriany Tribe settled there during the middle ages, possibly from the 6th century.
They were involved in agriculture. A second version of the origin dated from the time of the Kievan Rus in the 12th century. Pottery shards of the type made by the Kievan Rus have been discovered in excavations near Konotop, which indicated early Kievan Rus inhabitation of the region. Another version began in the 13th century when the Tatars called the place Konotople because of the swamps, where many invaders had died during the invasion of Russia.
According to the Polish historical version, Konotop was established under Polish rather than Russian rule. Historical documents about the origin of Konotop were discovered in the Archives of Warsaw. Those documents were given to the Konotop museum in 1965. They revealed that Wladislaw IV Vasa, son of King Sigismund III, gave Mikola Cetisotu the regional lands of Konotop, which included the towns of Konotop, Gorodische, and Ezuch, for “services rendered to the Crown.”