The city is mentioned in historical sources beginning in 1267. From the 14th century, it was part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and since the Union of Lublin (1569), part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, where it became known as Mohylew. In the 16th-17th centuries, the city flourished as one of the main nodes of the east-west and north-south trading routes.

After World War II, a huge metallurgy centre with several major steel mills was built. Also, several major factories of cranes, cars, tractors and a chemical plant were established. By the 1950s, tanning was Mogilev's principal industry, and it was a major trading centre for cereal, leather, salt, sugar, fish, timber and flint: the city has been home to a major inland port on the Dnieper river since (year/period) and an airport since. Since the fall of the Soviet Union and the establishment of Belarus as an independent country, Mogilev has become one of that country's main economic and industrial centres.

When someday comes you'll need to get in.

When someday comes you'll need to be able to get around.