Bukovina; , ; or ; see also other languages. is a historical region at the crossroads of Central and Eastern Europe. It is located on the northern slopes of the central Eastern Carpathians and the adjoining plains, today divided between Romania and Ukraine. It is inhabited mainly by Romanians (in southern regions) and Ukrainians (in northern regions).
Settled throughout history by various cultures and peoples, it became part of the Kievan Rus' in the 10th century, but the region was also affected by Pechenegs and Cumans. Consequently, the culture of the Kievan Rus' spread in the region, that belonged to the Principality of Halych. During the time of the Golden Horde, namely in the 14th century, Bukovina became part of the Principality of Moldavia, that was under the suzerainty of the medieval Kingdom of Hungary. In that region, the capital of Moldavia, Suceava, was founded.
According to the Moldo-Russian Chronicle, the Hungarian king Vladislav (Ladislaus) asked the Old Romans (i.e. Byzantines) and the New Romans (i.e. Vlachs) to fight the Tatars. During the same event, it writes that Dragoș was one of the New Romans. Eventually, Dragoș dismounted Moldavia named from a river (Moldova River) flowing in Bukovina. During a Vlach revolt in Bukovina against Balc, Dragoș's grandson, Bogdan the Founder joined the revolt and deposed Balc, securing independence from the Kingdom of Hungary. In 1497, at the Battle of the Cosmin Forest, Stephen III of Moldavia defeated the much-stronger but demoralized army of King John I Albert of Poland. The battle is known in Polish popular culture as "the battle when the Knights have perished".
After the Russo-Ottoman Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca (21 July 1774), the Habsburg Monarchy captured the region in October 1774. Under the Austro-Ottoman Convention of Pera (7 May 1775), the region that came to be known as Bukovina was officially ceded to the Habsburgs. From 1775 to 1786 it was organized as a distinctive Bukovina District, that was included into the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria (1786–1849) and later became the Duchy of Bukovina (1849–1918).
The first census that recorded ethnicity was made in 1851 and shows a population of 184,718 or 48.5% Romanians, 144,982 or 38.1% Ukrainians and 51,126 or 13.4% others, with a total population of 380,826 people. By 1910, Romanians were 34% and Ukrainians were 42% with the Romanians concentrated mainly in the south and south-east and the Ukrainians mainly in the north and west. By 1930, following the Kingdom of Romania's acquisition of Bukovina, the region had a total population of 839,500. The region's ethnic composition was approximately 368,500 or 43% Romanian, 235,800 or 28% Ukrainian, 91,100 or 11% Jewish, 75,000 or 9% German, 30,500 or 3.6% Polish, 12,400 or 1.5% Hutsul, and 11,800 or 1.4% Hungarian, with the remainder consisting of Russians, Romani, and other ethnic groups.UNGUREANU, Constantin. Populaţia Bucovinei în 1910 şi 1930. Evoluţii etno-demografice. In: In honorem Alexandru Moşanu: Studii de istorie medievală, modernă şi contemporană a românilor, 22 septembrie 2012, Cluj-Napoca. Cluj -Napoca, România: Academia Română. Centrul de Studii Transilvane: P resa Universitară Clujeană, 2012, pp. 449. ISBN 978-973-595-418-5.
In the summer of 1940, the northern half of Bukovina was annexed by the Soviet Union in violation of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, a non-aggression pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.Brackman, Roman The Secret File of Joseph Stalin: A Hidden Life (2001) p. 341 On 13 November 1940, Vyacheslav Molotov asked Adolf Hitler to endorse the Soviet annexation of South Bukovina as well. However, by that time, Romania was under a territorial guarantee from the Axis following the Second Vienna Award, so Germany refused. As the Final Report of the Wiesel Commission put it: "Only Hitler's refusal saved the rest of Bukovina from being swallowed up, Russified, and lost to Romania forever." Northern Bukovina was temporarily recovered by Romania as an ally of Nazi Germany after the latter invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, but retaken by the Soviet army in 1944. Bukovina's population was historically ethnically diverse. Today, Bukovina's northern half is the Chernivtsi Oblast of Ukraine, while the southern part is Suceava County of Romania. Bukovina is sometimes known as the 'Switzerland of the East', given its diverse ethnic mosaic and deep forested mountainous landscapes.
Name
The name first appears in a document issued by the Voivode of Moldavia Roman I Mușat on 30 March 1392, by which he gives to Ionaș Viteazul three villages, located near the Siret river.
The name Bukovina came into official use in 1775 with the region's annexation from the Principality of Moldavia to the possessions of the Habsburg monarchy, which became the Austrian Empire in 1804, and Austria-Hungary in 1867.
The official German name of the province under Austrian rule (1775–1918), , was derived from the Polish form , which in turn was derived from the common Slavic form of , meaning beech tree (compare Ukrainian ; German ; Hungarian ). Another German name for the region, , is mostly used in poetry, and means 'beech land', or 'the land of beech trees'. In Romanian, in literary or poetic contexts, the name ('the land of beech trees') is sometimes used. Often a definite article is used before the name in English also: the Bukovina.
In Ukraine, the name (Bukovyna) is unofficial, but is common when referring to the Chernivtsi Oblast, as over two-thirds of the oblast is the northern part of Bukovina. In Romania, the term Northern Bukovina is sometimes synonymous with the entire Chernivtsi Oblast of Ukraine, while Southern Bukovina refers to the Suceava County of Romania (although 30% of the present-day Suceava County covers territory outside of the historical Bukovina).
History
The territory of Bukovina had been part of Kievan Rus' since the 10th century. It then became part of the Principality of Galicia, and then part of Moldavia in the 14th century. It was first delineated as a separate district of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria in 1775, and was made a nominal duchy within the Austrian Empire in 1849.
Background
The region, which is made up of a portion of the northeastern Carpathian Mountains and the neighbouring plain, was settled by both Vlachs and Ruthenians. After being inhabited by ancient peoples and tribes (Trypillian, Scythians, Dacians, Getae) starting from the Paleolithic, Germanic culture and language emerged in the region in the 4th century by the time of the Goths, archeological research has also indicated that the Romans had a presence in the region. Later, Slavic culture spread, and by the 10th century the region was part of Turkic, Slavic and Romance people like Pechenegs, Cumans, Ruthinians and Vlachs. Among the first references of the Vlachs (Romanians) in the region is in the 10th century by Varangian Sagas referring to the Blakumen people i.e. Vlachs in the land of Pechenegs. By late 12th century chronicle of Niketas Choniates, writes that some Vlachs seized the future Byzantine emperor, Andronikos Komnenos, when "he reached the borders of Halych" in 1164. In the Moldo-Russian Chronicle, writes the events of year 1342, that the Hungarian king Vladislav (Ladislaus) asked the Old Romans and the New Romans to fight the Tatars, by that they will earn a sit in Maramureș. During the same event, it writes that Dragoș was one of the Romans .O City of Byzantium, Annals of Niketas Choniates (2.4.131), p. 74. In the year 1359 Dragoș dismounted Moldavia and took with him many Vlachs and German colonists from Maramureș to Moldavia.
Early settlement First traces of human occupation date back to the Paleolithic. The area was first settled by Trypillian culture tribes, in the Neolithic. It was then settled by now extinct tribes (Dacians/Getae, Thracian/Scythian tribes). Meanwhile, many nomads crossed the region (3rd to 9th century A.D). By the 4th century, the Goths appeared in the region. And later by the 5th and 6th century Slavic people appeared in the region. They were part of the tribal alliance of the Antes. In the 9th century Tivertsi and White Croatians and Cowari composed the local population.
Kievan Rus
According to the Russian and Ukrainian historians, Bukovina is an "ancient Slavic land".
United by Prince Oleg in the 870s, Kievan Rus' was a loose federation of speakers of East Slavic and Uralic languages from the late 9th to the mid-13th century, under the reign of the Rurik dynasty, founded by the Varangian prince Rurik. Bukovina gradually became part of Kievan Rus' from the late 10th century and Pechenegs. Parts of Bukovina were first conquered in 981 by Vladimir the Great. The rest was incorporated into the Principality of Terebovlia in 1084. When Kievan Rus' was partitioned at the end of the 11th century, Bukovina became part of the Principality of Galicia-Volhynia.
Principality of Galicia–Volhynia After the fragmentation of Kievan Rus', Bukovina passed to the Principality of Galicia (Principality of Galicia-Volhynia) in 1124. The Church in Bukovina was initially administered from Kiev. In 1302, it was passed to the Halych metropoly.
After the Mongols under Batu invaded Europe, with the region nominally falling into their hands, ties between Galician-Volhynian and Bukovina weakened. As a result of the Mongol invasion, the Shypyntsi land, recognizing the suzerainty of the Mongols, arose in the region.
Eventually, this state collapsed, and Bukovina passed to Hungary. King Louis I appointed Dragoș, Voivode of Moldavia as his deputy, facilitating the migration of the Romanians from Maramureș and Transylvania.
The Moldavian state was formed by the mid-14th century, eventually expanding its territory all the way to the Black Sea. Upon its foundation, the Moldavian or Moldovan state recognized the supremacy of Poland, keeping on recognizing it from 1387 to 1497. Later (1514) it was vassalized by the Ottoman Empire. Bukovina and neighboring regions became the nucleus of the Moldavian Principality, with the capital successively moving from Baia, to Siret, Suceava, and finally in 1564 to Iași, where it would remain until the end of the principality's history. The name of Moldavia () is derived from the Moldova River in Bukovina.
Polish and Moldavian period Petru II moved the seat of Moldova from Siret to Suceava in 1388. In the 15th century, Pokuttya, the region immediately to the north, became the subject of disputes between the Principality of Moldavia and the Polish Kingdom. Pokuttya was inhabited by Ruthenians (the predecessors of modern Ukrainians together with the Rus', and of the Rusyns). In 1497 a battle took place at the Cosmin Forest (the hilly forests separating Chernivtsi and Siret valleys), at which Stephen III of Moldavia (Stephen the Great), managed to defeat the much-stronger but demoralized army of King John I Albert of Poland. The battle is known in Polish popular culture as "the battle when the Knights have perished". The region had been under Polish nominal suzerainty from its foundation (1387) to the time of this battle (1497). Shortly thereafter, it became a vassal of the Ottoman Empire (1514).
In this period, the patronage of Stephen the Great and his successors on the throne of Moldavia saw the construction of the famous painted monasteries of Moldovița, Sucevița, Putna, Humor, Voroneț, Dragomirna, Arbore and others. With their renowned exterior frescoes, these monasteries remain some of the greatest cultural treasures of Romania; some of them are World Heritage Sites, part of the painted churches of northern Moldavia. The most famous monasteries are in the area of Suceava, which today is part of Romania. Also part of Romania is the monastery of , an Orthodox saint and martyr, who was killed by the Tatars in Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi.