Bukovina
Bukovina[nb 1] is a historical region in Eastern Europe.[1] The region is located on the northern slopes of the central Eastern Carpathians and the adjoining plains, today divided between Romania and Ukraine.
For other uses, see Bukovina (disambiguation).
Bukovina
- Romania
- Ukraine
- Chernivtsi Oblast (Northern Bukovina in Ukraine)
- Suceava County (Southern Bukovina in Romania)
1774
- Bukovinian
- Bucovinean (in Romanian)
Inhabited by many cultures and peoples, settled by both Ukrainians (Ruthenians) and Romanians (Moldavians),[2] it became part of the Kievan Rus' and Pechenegs' territory early on during the 10th century and an integral part of the principality of Moldavia in the 14th century where the capital of Moldavia, Suceava, was founded, eventually expanding its territory all the way to the Black Sea.
Consequently, the culture of the Kievan Rus' spread in the region during the early Middle Ages. During the time of the Golden Horde, namely in the 14th century (or in the high Middle Ages), Bukovina became part of Moldavia under Hungarian suzerainty (i.e. under the medieval Kingdom of Hungary).
According to the Moldo-Russian Chronicle, the Hungarian king Vladislav (Ladislaus) asked the Old Romans (Byzantiens) and the New Romans (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' grandson, Bogdan the Founder joined the revolt and deposed Balc, securing independence from the Kingdom of Hungary. 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 territory of what became known as Bukovina was, from 1775 to 1918, an administrative division of the Habsburg monarchy, the Austrian Empire, and Austria-Hungary. 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 and Ukrainians were almost in equal numbers with the Romanians concentrated mainly in the south and the Ukrainians mainly in the north.
In 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.[3] The region 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.[2] 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.[2] Bukovina is sometimes known as the 'Switzerland of the East', given its diverse ethnic mosaic and deep forested mountainous landscapes.[4][5][6]
Geography[edit]
Bukovina proper has an area of 10,442 km2 (4,032 sq mi). The territory of Romanian (or Southern) Bukovina is located in northeastern Romania and it is part of the Suceava County (plus three localities in Botoșani County), whereas Ukrainian (or Northern) Bukovina is located in western Ukraine and it is part of the Chernivtsi Oblast.
The Carpathian Mountains in Bukovina
Cârlibaba (German: Mariensee/Ludwigsdorf)
Bukovina travel guide from Wikivoyage
Media related to Bukovina at Wikimedia Commons
Romanian Wikisource has original text related to this article: La Bucovina (Mihai Eminescu original poem in Romanian)