Principality of Chernigov
The river is named for an earlier town destroyed by the Mongol invasion, whose name in turn was borrowed from a place name in the Principality of Chernigov, derived from the personal name Voroneg. From the 1650s the Belgorod Line of forts ran along the Voronezh. In 1706 Peter the Great built boats along the Voronezh and sailed them down the Don to attack the Turkish fortress of Azov.