Because of the monastery, the town became a cultural and religious center in the 15th century and until the end of the 18th century, it was the seat of the Munkács eparchy. Mukacheve today, better known as Munkács by the Jewish community that once flourished there, is at the nexus of a region that has changed sovereignty five times within the past one hundred years. By the end of the 14th century, Munkács was an important manufacturing and trading center on a trade route between Hungary and Galicia. There are documents in the Berehove (Beregszász) State Archives indicating that Jews lived in Munkács and the surrounding villages as early as the mid-17th century. In the 10th century, Munkács belonged to Kyivan Rus', and in the 11th century, to Hungary. The region's administrative center has always been Ungvár (Uzhhorod) and its commercial center Munkács (Mukacheve). Archaeologists have discovered settlements in the vicinity from the Neolithic Period, the Bronze Age, the Iron Age, and the Slavic period (8th-9th century). Serving as the administrative center of the Mukachivskyi Raion, the city itself is also designated as a separate raion within the oblast. The changes are reflected in the various names by which this region, known as Sub-Carpathian Ruthenia in English, has been called: Carpaten, Podkarpatskaya Rus, Carpatho-Ukraine and today, Zakarpats'ka Oblast of Transcarpathia (Sub-Carpathia). In 1736, there were nine Jewish families living in Munkács and by 1741, there were 80 Jewish families who, at this time, organized and constructed a synagogue.