WHILE SPREADING THEIR power over the vast territory from the Dnieper River in the east to the edge of the forest/ steppe zone in the southeast and south, the new rulers— Lithuanian princes— had to establish or organize local centres. According to the tradition of the time, the significant sites located along the commuting lines and pathways either along or in between the main rivers in the region, the Dniester and Southern Bug Rivers (called Bog at that time), became such centres. While the left bank of the Dniester River— which is significant for our research— was densely populated thanks to the natural specifics of its valley, there is very little evidence related to the population of the valley of the Southern Bug because of the lack of written sources.

Another pathway in the region was a route from Kyiv to the south that ran perpendicular to the main roads of the region. From the days of Kyivan Rus’ it had existed to meet the need for safe travel to the south avoiding the Dnieper rapids and dangerous steppe zones. Since the fifteenth century the pathway has been known in much detail, including information about the areas located along its way. In 1419, travelling to the Holy Land, the monk Zosima left Kyiv and went to the Bog River (Southern Bug) in the Podillya land (въ Одолской земли), and rested in the city of Bratslav (градъ Бряславлъ). From Bratslav the pilgrims went to Miterevi Kysheni (подъ Митеревыми Кышинами) on the Dniester River (Нҍстръ), and then crossed the river and went to Wallachia (the Principality of Moldavia).

The next mention of the route— or, rather, the controlled territory corresponding to the route's direction from Kyiv to the south— comes up in the privilege of Simeon Olelkovich, the prince of Kyiv, dated to 1459, granting Yeremiya Shashka the possessions limited by the rivers flowing into the Dniester River. A thorough examination of the toponyms and hydronyms recorded in the document delineates the territory from the modern city of Tomashpil to Suha Kamyanytsya (now, most likely, the city of Kamyanka on the Dniester River, Republic of Moldova). All the hydronyms, serving as reliable markers, belong to the Dniester River basin, namely the Rusava River, the Kamenytsya River (now the Kamyanka River), and the Kusnytsya and Kusnychka Rivers (both are tributaries of either the Markivka River or the Shumylivka River).