Botiyeve (also Botevo/Boteve, formerly called Tsarevodarovka) is a village in Melitopol Raion (district), Zaporizhzhya Oblast, Ukraine. It is traditionally believed that the village was named in honour of the Bulgarian poet and revolutionary Hristo Botev, but the name was later distorted.
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History
It is known that before the Crimean War of 1853-1856 on the territory of the village lived Nogais. After the defeat of the Russian Empire in the Crimean War, the Nogai population moved to the territory of the Ottoman Empire. In 1861, Bulgarian families moved to this territory from Bessarabia. The village was named Tsarevodarovka. These Bulgarian families mostly originated from the Bessarabian colony of Dermendere. They founded modern Botiyeve and the neighbouring village of Stroganivka. Some Ukrainian families (surnames Kolesnichenko, Fedorenko, Kuzmenko and others) also moved with the Bulgarians.
The village was called Tsarevodarovka until 1927, and later renamed Botiyeve. In the 1930s it was part of Kolarovsky District of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, later - in Priazovsky District of Zaporizhzhya Oblast.
There is a ruined old cemetery in the village. Presumably, there are burials from the 1860s onwards. In the 1980s, due to the territorial expansion of the village, the cemetery was almost in the centre of the village, so the local authorities decided to demolish the tombstones. The graves were partially preserved, as no reburial took place, but a meteorological station was built on part of the cemetery. At the moment there are a few late burials (1970s-80s) and a couple of ruined crosses from the late 19th century left in part of the old cemetery. The only markers of the burials are the stones on their places.
Modern times
There is a monument to Hristo Botev in the centre of the village (near the village council). Since February 2022, the village has been under Russian occupation.
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