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During the period of the ], Bukovina remained part of the ]n or Austrian territories of the Empire. Ethnically, Bukovina remained mixed under the Austrian rule: predominantly ] in the south, ] in the north, a few Hungarian ], ] and Polish peasants, and in the towns ], ] and ] added to the mix. During the period of the ], Bukovina remained part of the ]n or Austrian territories of the Empire. Ethnically, Bukovina remained mixed under the Austrian rule: predominantly ] in the south, ] in the north, a few Hungarian ], ] and Polish peasants, and in the towns ], ] and ] added to the mix.

Since ] in ], it became the country's important priority to incorporate an entire historic province which, as a core of ], was of a great historic significance to ] and containied many prominent monuments of the ] and architecture.


In spite of some frictions between Romanian and Ukrainian populations at the time over the influences in the ] hierarchy, the inter-ethnical conflicts did not reach a significant level and both cultures developed in educational and public life. Moreover, in the end of the ], the development of ] in Bukovina surpassed most of the rest of Ukraine with a network of Ukrainian educational facilities. In spite of some frictions between Romanian and Ukrainian populations at the time over the influences in the ] hierarchy, the inter-ethnical conflicts did not reach a significant level and both cultures developed in educational and public life. Moreover, in the end of the ], the development of ] in Bukovina surpassed most of the rest of Ukraine with a network of Ukrainian educational facilities.

Revision as of 17:46, 31 December 2005

Bukovina is the territory on the northern slopes of the northeastern Carpathian Mountains and the adjoining plains. It comprises a former Austrian Empire colony, split following a Soviet-German agreement, between Romania and Ukraine in 1940.

Name

The original name of the region in Romanian during the rule of the Moldavian Principality was "Ţara de Sus" (Upper Country), refering as opposed to the lower plains called "Ţara de Jos" (Lower Country).

The name Bukovina came into official use in 1775 with the region's annexation to the Austrian Habsburg possessions, later known as the Austrian Empire, and Austria-Hungary. The name has a Slavic origin and is derived from the word for beech tree (бук in Ukrainian); the German equivalent, das Buchenland, mostly used in poetry, means, literally, "beech land", or, more poetically, "land of beech trees". Its pronounced and written similarly in several European languages, Romanian: Bucovina; Ukrainian: Буковина, Bukovyna; German: das Buchenland' or die Bukowina, etc.

The standard German name, die Bukowina, which was the official German-language name for the province under Austrian rule, is derived from the Slavic original, via the Polish form of the name which is exactly the same. This was due to the fact that, for roughly the first half of the 19th century, and for some years prior, Austrian Bukovina was adminstered as an integral part of neighbouring Galicia, whose internal government was, by active Austrian policy, controlled by Polish bureaucrats and nobles (szlachta). The Polish nobility had traditionally formed the ruling class in that territory before the Habsburg acquired it for Austria under the partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the last quarter of the 18th century. In English, an alternate name is The Bukovina, increasingly an archaism, which, however, is to be found in older literature.

History

From Roman times, Dacian peoples inhabited the territory. In the 5th century, the territory came under the rule of the Avars. Around the 7th century, Slavic populations settled in the region. In the 9th to early 14th centuries the territory was a part of Kievan Rus' and one of its successor states, Galician-Volhynian principality.

From the mid-14th century, this region became the nucleus of the Moldavian Principality, with the city of Suceava as its capital from 1388. In the 15th century, parts of the region became the subject of disputes between the Moldavian state and the Polish Kingdom. In this period, the patronage of Ştefan cel Mare and his successors on the throne of Moldavia saw the construction of the famous painted Monasteries of Moldoviţa, Putna, Suceviţa and Voroneţ. With their renowned exterior frescoes, these monasteries, located on the Romanian side of the border traced in 1940, remain some of the greatest cultural treasures of Romania.

File:Bukovina 1910.jpg
Map of the Austrian province

In the 16th century, the Moldavian Principality came under the control of the Ottoman Turks. In the course of the Russo-Turkish War the Ottomans were driven out by the Russian Empire (1769) and since 1774 the territory was controlled by the Austrian Habsburgs. It remained under Austrian administration until 1918, initially as a closed military district (1775 - 1786), then as the largest district, Kreis of the Austrian constituent Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria (1787 - 1849), and, finally, in 1849, became an Austrian crownland, Kronland, and duchy, as Herzogtum Bukowina.

During the period of the Dual Monarchy, Bukovina remained part of the Cisleithanian or Austrian territories of the Empire. Ethnically, Bukovina remained mixed under the Austrian rule: predominantly Romanian in the south, Ukrainian in the north, a few Hungarian Székely, Slovak and Polish peasants, and in the towns Germans, Poles and Jews added to the mix.

In spite of some frictions between Romanian and Ukrainian populations at the time over the influences in the Orthodox hierarchy, the inter-ethnical conflicts did not reach a significant level and both cultures developed in educational and public life. Moreover, in the end of the 19th century, the development of Ukrainian culture in Bukovina surpassed most of the rest of Ukraine with a network of Ukrainian educational facilities.

In World War I, several battles were fought in Bukovina between the Austro-Hungarian, German, and Russian armies and the Russian army was finally driven out in 1917. With the collapse of Austria-Hungary in 1918 the National Council of Bukovina, which represented only the Romanian population of the province, voted for union to Romania and subsequently the province was occupied by Romanian troops. Romania formally annexed Bukovina on November 28, 1918.

Although local Ukrainians have unsuccesfully attempted to incorporate parts of northern Bukovina into the short living West Ukrainian National Republic, the Romanian control of the province was finally formalized in the Treaty of St. Germain in 1919 and the policies of Romanization were carried in the interwar period. Romanian language was introduced to ethnic minority schools in 1923 and by 1926 all Ukrainian schools in Bukovina were closed. Although in 1928 - 1938 period, Ukrainian culture has given some limited means to redevelop, any gains were sharply reversed in 1938.

Following the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, the June 1940 Soviet Ultimatum demanded the northern part of Bukovina, a province connected with Galicia annexed by the Soviet Union at 1939 Poland's partition. The largely Ukrainian populated northern part of Bukovina that belonged to Romania since 1918 was "requested" as a minor "reparation for the great loss produced to the Soviet Union and Bessarabia's population by twenty-two years of Romanian domination of Bessarabia". In the following days, Romanian government evacuated Chernivtsi and the Red Army moved in. Almost the entire German population of northern Bukovina established during Austrian rule emigrated to the Reich.

In the course of the 1941 attack on the Soviet Union by the Axis forces the Romanian Third Army led by General Petre Dumitrescu occupied the region along with Herta, Bessarabia, Odessa region and other territories in the south of Ukraine. Under the occupation the Jewish community was destroyed by the deportations to the death camps (see Bogdanovka) over the Dniester and Bug rivers. In 1943 the Soviet Army advances drove the axis forces out of the territory.

Romania was forced to formally cede the northern part of Bukovina to the USSR by the 1947 Paris peace treaty. That territory became part of the Ukrainian SSR as a Chernivtsi Oblast (province).

After 1944, despite the fact that Romania became part of the Soviet camp, the human and economic connections between the northern and southern parts of Bukowina were severed. While the northern part is the nucleous of the Ukrainian Chernovitsi Oblast, the southern part is tighlty integrated with other Romanian historic regions.

Demographic history

According to the 1775 Austrian census, the Romanian population made up about 86% of the total population of Bukovina. During the 19th century, however, the Austro-Hungarian Empire policies encouraged the influx of many immigrants such as Germans, Poles, Jews and Hungarians but especially Ruthenian (Ukrainian) immigrants from Galicia.

Despite this influx, Romanians continued to be the largest ethnic group in the province, until 1880 when Ukrainians outnumbered the Romanians 5:4. According to the 1880 census there were 239,690 Ukrainians or roughly 41.5 % of the region while Romanians came in second with 190,005 people or 33% of the region, a ratio that remained unchanged until WWI.

According to the 1930 Romanian census, Romanians made up almost 45% of the total population of Bukovina and Ukrainians 29.2%. However in the northern region and Hertsa which subsequently were surrendered to the USSR in 1940, Romanians made up only 32.6% of the population, while Ukrainians slightly outnumbered Romanians.

Bukovina should not be confused with Chernivtsi Oblast, as the later included not only northern Bukovina and Hertsa but also the northern part of the Khotin county, thus totaling a population of circa 805,000 in 1940, out of which 47.5% were Ukrainians in 1940 and 28.3% were Romanians, Germans, Jews, Poles, Hungarians and Russians comprising the rest.

During WWII, major demographic changes occurred, most Jews and Poles being deported, while most Germans returned to Germany. Moreover, the Soviet government deported or killed about 41,000 Romanians.

The present demographic situation hardly resembles that before WWII. As of 2001 Ukrainians represent about 75% (689.1 thousand) of the population of northern Bukovina, while Romanians and Moldavians have fallen to 12.5% (114.6 thousand) and 7.3% (67.2 thousand), respectively. Russians are the next largest ethnic group with 4.1%, while Poles, Belarusians, and Jews comprise the rest. The languages of the population closely reflect the ethnic composition with over 90% within each of the major ethnic groups declaring their national language as the mother tongue (Ukrainian, Romanian, Moldovan and Russian, respectively).

Current population

A compact Romanian minority inhabits the southern part of Chernivtsi region, in Herta, Novoselitza (Noua Suliţă), Hlyboka (Adâncata), Storozhinetz (Storojineţ).

In every other part of northern Bukovina, including the city of Chernivtsi, Ukrainians are in the majority.

Cities and towns

Northern Bukovina

Southern Bukovina

See also

External links

Historical regions in Romania
Banat Banat (1918–)
  • Banat
Dobruja Dobruja (1878–)
Moldavia Moldavia (1859–)
Transylvania Transylvania (1918–)
Wallachia Wallachia (1859–)
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