Chernivtsi Oblast (), also referred to as Chernivechchyna (), is an

oblast An oblast ( or ) is a type of administrative division in Bulgaria and several post-Soviet states, including Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. Historically, it was used in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. The term ''oblast'' is often translated i ...

(province) in western

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

, consisting of the northern parts of the historical regions of

Bukovina 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 betwe ...

and Bessarabia. It has an international border with

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

and

Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. ...

. The region spans . The oblast is the smallest in Ukraine both by area and population. It has a population of and its administrative center is the city of

Chernivtsi Chernivtsi (, ; , ;, , see also #Names, other names) is a city in southwestern Ukraine on the upper course of the Prut River. Formerly the capital of the historic region of Bukovina, which is now divided between Romania and Ukraine, Chernivt ...

. In 1408, Chernivtsi was a town in

Moldavia Moldavia (, or ; in Romanian Cyrillic alphabet, Romanian Cyrillic: or ) is a historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester River. An initially in ...

and the chief centre of the area known as Bukovina. Chernivtsi later passed to the Turks and then in 1774 to the

Habsburg monarchy The Habsburg monarchy, also known as Habsburg Empire, or Habsburg Realm (), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities (composite monarchy) that were ruled by the House of Habsburg. From the 18th century it is ...

. After

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, it was ceded to Romania, and in 1940, the town was acquired by the

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...

. The oblast has a large variety of landforms: the

Carpathian Mountains The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe and Southeast Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Ural Mountains, Urals at and the Scandinav ...

and picturesque hills at the foot of the mountains gradually change to a broad partly forested plain situated between the

Dniester The Dniester ( ) is a transboundary river in Eastern Europe. It runs first through Ukraine and then through Moldova (from which it more or less separates the breakaway territory of Transnistria), finally discharging into the Black Sea on Uk ...

and Prut rivers.

Geography

Chernivtsi Oblast covers an area of . It is the smallest oblast in Ukraine, representing 1.3% of Ukrainian territory, and is only larger than the city of

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

itself. In the oblast there are 75 rivers longer than 10 kilometers. The largest rivers are the

(290 km, in the Oblast), Prut (128 km, in the Oblast) and Siret (113 km, in the Oblast).About Oblast
Chernivtsi Oblast State Administration The oblast covers three geographic zones: a forest steppe region between Prut and Dnister rivers, a foothill region between the

and Prut river, and a mountain region known as the Bukovinian part of the

. Chernivtsi Oblast is bordered by Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast,

Ternopil Oblast Ternopil Oblast (), also referred to as Ternopilshchyna () or Ternopillia (), is an Oblasts of Ukraine, oblast (province) of Ukraine. Its Capital (political), administrative center is Ternopil, through which flows the Seret (river), Seret, a tribu ...

, Khmelnytskyi Oblast,

Vinnytsia Oblast Vinnytsia Oblast (, ), also referred to as Vinnychchyna (), is an oblasts of Ukraine, oblast in central Ukraine. Its capital city, administrative center is Vinnytsia. The oblast has a population of History Vinnytsia Oblast, first established on ...

, and

. Within the oblast the national border of Ukraine with Romania extends 226 km, and with Moldova .

History

Chernivtsi oblast was created on August 7, 1940, in the wake of the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina. The oblast was organized out of the northeast part of Ținutul Suceava of

Kingdom of Romania The Kingdom of Romania () was a constitutional monarchy that existed from with the crowning of prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen as King of Romania, King Carol I of Romania, Carol I (thus beginning the Romanian royal family), until 1947 wit ...

, joining parts of three historical regions: northern half of

, northern half of the Hotin County county of Bessarabia, and Hertsa region, which was part of the Dorohoi county (presently

Botoșani County Botoșani County () is a county (județ) of Romania, in Western Moldavia (encompassing a few villages in neighbouring Suceava County from Bukovina to the west as well), with the county seat at Botoșani. Demographics As of 1st of December 20 ...

) of proper

. Archaeological sites in the region date back to 43,000-45,000 BC, with finds including a mammoth bone dwelling from the Middle Paleolithic. The Cucuteni-Trypillian culture flourished in the area. In the Middle Ages, the region was inhabited by East Slavic tribes White Croats and Tivertsi. From the end of the 10th century, it became a part of the

Kievan Rus' Kievan Rus', also known as Kyivan Rus,. * was the first East Slavs, East Slavic state and later an amalgam of principalities in Eastern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical At ...

, then Principality of Halych, and in the mid-14th century of the

Principality of Moldavia Moldavia (, or ; in Romanian Cyrillic: or ) is a historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester River. An initially independent and later auto ...

(which in the 16th century became a vassal of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

). In 1775, two counties of Moldavia, since then known as

, were annexed by the

as part of the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire, officially known as the Empire of Austria, was a Multinational state, multinational European Great Powers, great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the Habsburg monarchy, realms of the Habsburgs. Duri ...

and its final iteration

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

. In 1812, one half of Moldavia, since then known as Bessarabia, was annexed by the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. Hertsa region remained in Moldavia until its union with

Wallachia Wallachia or Walachia (; ; : , : ) is a historical and geographical region of modern-day Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians. Wallachia was traditionally divided into two sections, Munteni ...

in 1859, a union which in 1881 became the

. In 1918 both provinces of

and Bessarabia united with the

. The Soviet occupation began on June 28, 1940. In addition to Bessarabia, the USSR demanded Northern Bukovina as compensation for the occupation of Bessarabia by Romania from 1918 to 1940. Hertsa region was not included in the demands that the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

addressed to Romania, but was occupied at the same time. Most of the occupied territories were organized on August 2, 1940, as the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, while the remainder, including the Chernivtsi Oblast, which was formed on August 7, 1940, were included in the

Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...

Throughout 1940–1941 several tens of thousands of Bukovinians were deported to

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

and

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

, some 13,000 of them on June 13, 1941, alone. This and later deportations were primarily based on social class difference, it targeted intellectuals, people employed previously by the state, businessmen, clergymen, students, railworkers. In the winter and spring of 1941, the Soviet troops (

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

) opened fire on many groups of locals trying to cross the border into Romania (for more, see: Lunca massacre and Fântâna Albă massacre). Between September 17 and November 17, 1940, by a mutual agreement between USSR and Germany, 43,641 "ethnic Germans" from the Chernivtsi region were moved to Germany, although the total ethnic German population was only 34,500, and of these some 3,500 did not go to Germany. Beginning with 1941, when the region returned under the control of the Romanian administration, the Jewish community of the area was largely destroyed by the deportations to ghettos and

Nazi concentration camps From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps (), including subcamp (SS), subcamps on its own territory and in parts of German-occupied Europe. The first camps were established in March 1933 immediately af ...

, where about 60% died. Despite the anti-Semitic policies of the Ion Antonescu's government of Romania, the mayor of Cernăuți, Traian Popovici, now honored by

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

's Yad Vashem memorial as one of the Righteous Among the Nations, saved approximately 20,000 Jews. In 1944, when the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

troops returned to

, many inhabitants fled to

, and Soviet persecutions resumed. In demographic terms, these war-time and post-war-time factors changed the region's ethnic composition. Today the number of Jews, Germans and Poles is negligible, while the number of Romanians has decreased substantially. Ruthenian communities in Bukovina date back to at least 16th century. In 1775,

Ukrainians Ukrainians (, ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. Their native tongue is Ukrainian language, Ukrainian, and the majority adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, forming the List of contemporary eth ...

( Ruthenians) represented some 8,000 out of a 75,000 population of

. By 1918, as a result of immigration of Ukrainian peasants from nearby villages in Galicia and Podolia, there were over 200,000 Ukrainians, out of a total of 730,000. Most of Ukrainians settled in the northern parts of Bukovina. Their number was especially large in the area between the

and Prut rivers, where they became a majority. A similar process occurred in Northern Bessarabia. Throughout the history of the region, there were no inter-ethnic clashes, while the city of

was known for its German-style architecture, for a highly cultivated society, and for ethnic tolerance. Small ethnic disputes were, however, present on occasion. In 1918, many Ukrainians in Bukovina wanted to join an independent Ukrainian state. After an initial period of free education in

Ukrainian language Ukrainian (, ) is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language, spoken primarily in Ukraine. It is the first language, first (native) language of a large majority of Ukrainians. Written Ukrainian uses the Ukrainian alphabet, a variant of t ...

, in late 1920s Romanian authorities attempted to switch all education to the

Romanian language Romanian (obsolete spelling: Roumanian; , or , ) is the official and main language of Romania and Moldova. Romanian is part of the Eastern Romance languages, Eastern Romance sub-branch of Romance languages, a linguistic group that evolved fr ...

. After 1944 Ukrainian anti-Soviet resistance rose up, Romanians and Ukrainians fought alongside against

. Many Ukrainians in the south-western mountain area of the Chernivtsi region belong to the

Hutsul The Hutsuls (Rusyn language, Hutsul/; ; ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group spanning parts of western Ukraine and northern Romania (i.e. parts of Bukovina and Maramureș). In Ukraine, they have often been officially and administra ...

ethnic sub-group, a sophisticated cultural community inhabiting an area in the

in both

and

. When the

collapsed, Chernivtsi Oblast, then part of the Ukrainian SSR, became part of the newly independent (August 24, 1991)

. It has a Ukrainian ethnic majority. In the

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

on December 1, 1991, 92% of the oblast's residents supported the independence of Ukraine, with wide support from both Ukrainians and Romanians.

Subdivisions

Since July 2020, Chernivtsi Oblast is administratively subdivided into 3 '' raions'' (

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

s). These are * Chernivtsi Raion; * Dnistrovskyi Raion; * Vyzhnytsia Raion. At the locality level, the territory of the oblast is divided among 11 cities, 8

urban-type settlement Urban-type settlement, abbreviated: ; , abbreviated: ; ; ; ; . is an official designation for lesser urbanized settlements, used in several Central and Eastern Europe, Central and Eastern European countries. The term was primarily used in the So ...

s, and 252 communes.

Urban settlements

Population and demographics

According to the latest

Ukrainian Census (2001) The 2001 Ukrainian census is to date the only census of the population of independent Ukraine. It was conducted by the State Statistics Committee of Ukraine on 5 December 2001, twelve years after the last Soviet Union census in 1989.Ukrainians Ukrainians (, ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. Their native tongue is Ukrainian language, Ukrainian, and the majority adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, forming the List of contemporary eth ...

represent 74.98% (689,056) of the population of Chernivtsi Oblast out of 919,028 inhabitants. Moreover, 12.46% (114,555) reported themselves as Romanians, 7.31% (67,225) as

Moldovans Moldovans, sometimes referred to as Moldavians (, , ), are an ethnic group native to Moldova, who mostly speak the Romanian language, also referred to locally as Moldovan language, Moldovan. Moldovans form significant communities in Romania, It ...

, and 4.12% (37,881) as

Russians Russians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian language, Russian, the most spoken Slavic languages, Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church ...

. The other nationalities, such as

Poles Pole or poles may refer to: People *Poles (people), another term for Polish people, from the country of Poland * Pole (surname), including a list of people with the name * Pole (musician) (Stefan Betke, born 1967), German electronic music artist ...

Belarusians Belarusians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Belarus. They natively speak Belarusian language, Belarusian, an East Slavic language. More than 9 million people proclaim Belarusian ethnicity worldwide. Nearly 7.99&n ...

, and

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

sum up to 1.2%. According to the 2001 census, the majority of the population of the Chernivtsi region was Ukrainian-speaking (75.57%), and there were also Romanian (18.64%) and Russian (5.27%) speakers. In the last Soviet census of 1989, out of 940,801 inhabitants, 666,095 declared themselves Ukrainians (70.8%), 100,317 Romanians (10.66%), 84,519 Moldovans (8.98%), and 63,066 Russians (6.7%). The decline in the number (from 84,519 to 67,225) and proportion of Moldovans (from 8.98% to 7.31%) was explained by a switch from a census Moldovan to a census Romanian ethnic identity, and has continued after the 2001 census.Ion Popescu and Constantin Ungureanu, ''Romanii din Ucraina - intre trecut si viitor'', vol. 1 (''Romanii din Regiunea Cernauti''), Cernauti, 2005, p. 242, 257, 259, 261. By contrast, the number of self-identified ethnic Romanians has increased and so has their proportion of the population of the oblast (from 10.66% to 12.46%), and the process has continued after the 2001 census. A 2015 survey found that 86% of respondents ascribed to the Orthodox church while 2% ascribed to Greek Catholic. Another 5% was "unspecified Christian.""Religious preferences of the population of Ukraine". Sociology poll by
Razumkov Centre, SOCIS, Rating and KIIS about the religious situation in Ukraine (2015)The survey sample was 25000 people, excluded Crimea, so 1000 people for oblast. The use of separate categories for the

and Romanians, as well as for the Moldovan and Romanian languages in the Ukrainian census has been criticized by various Romanian organizations in Ukraine, including the Romanian Community of Ukraine Interregional Union.Noi, NU! Revistă de atitudine şi cultură - Românii din Ucraina
Furthermore, it was alleged that individuals, especially, but not exclusively, in the Odessa region were threatened with dismissal from their jobs if they declared that they were "Romanians" rather than "Moldovans", and it was also claimed that the ethnicity of some individuals was listed arbitrarily by census-takers who did not even ask those individuals what their ethnicity was. Nevertheless, all census respondents had to write in their ethnicity (no predetermined set of choices existed), and could respond or not to any particular census question, or not answer any questions at all.The Organization Order of the Population Census
at the State Statistics Committee of Ukraine web-site. According to Kateryna Sheshtakova, a professor at the Pomeranian University of Slutsk in Poland who did field research among 15 self-identified Romanians and self-identified Moldovans in the Chernivtsi region of Ukraine, 'Some Moldovans use both names of the mother tongue (Moldovan or Romanian) and accordingly declare two ethnic affiliations.' Opinion polling from the Chernivtsi oblast, as well as the discussions of the delegates of the Meeting of the Leaders of the Romanophone Organizations from Ukraine of December 6, 1996, indicated that many of the self-identified Moldovans believed that the Moldovan and Romanian languages were identical. Shestakova suggests that those self-identified Moldovans who see differences between Moldovan and Romanian tend to be from "the older generation".Kateryna Sheshtakova, "Ethnic Identity and Linguistic Practices of Romanians and Moldovans (On the Example of Chernivtsi Oblast, Ukraine), in ''Studia Humanistyczne AGH'', Tom 12/2, 2013, p. 72, second paragraph, first sentence. More information on the Romanian identity population and Moldovan identity population in Ukraine, including in the Chernivtsi oblast, and including detailed statistical data, may be found in the articles Romanians in Ukraine, Moldovans in Ukraine and Moldovenism. According to the Romanian census of 1930, the territory of the future ''Chernivtsi Oblast'' had 805,642 inhabitants in that year, out of which 47.6% were

, and 28.2% were Romanians. The rest of the population was 88,772

, 46,946

(among them an important community of Lipovans), around 35,000

Germans Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, constitution of Germany, imple ...

, 10,000

, and 10,000

Hungarians Hungarians, also known as Magyars, are an Ethnicity, ethnic group native to Hungary (), who share a common Culture of Hungary, culture, Hungarian language, language and History of Hungary, history. They also have a notable presence in former pa ...

. During the inter-war period, Cernăuți County had a population of 306,975, of which 136,380 were Ukrainians, and 78,589 were

Romanians Romanians (, ; dated Endonym and exonym, exonym ''Vlachs'') are a Romance languages, Romance-speaking ethnic group and nation native to Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. Sharing a Culture of Romania, ...

. Storojineţ County had 77,382 Ukrainians and 57,595

. (The three other counties of

, which remained in

, had a total of 22,368 Ukrainians). The northern part of the Hotin County had approximately 70% Ukrainians and 25%

. The Hertsa region, smaller by area and population, was virtually 100% Romanian. Major demographic changes occurred during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Immediate after the

takeover of the region in 1940 the

government deported or killed about 41,000 Romanians (''see Fântâna Albă massacre''), while at the same time further encouraging an influx of

from the

. Most

were deported by the

authorities, while most

forcibly returned to

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. After the

took control of the region during the war (1941–1944), the Jewish community of the area was largely destroyed by the deportations to ghettos and concentration camps. 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.

Age structure

: ''0-14 years:'' 16.7% (male 77,507/female 73,270) : ''15-64 years:'' 69.7% (male 304,793/female 325,677) : ''65 years and over:'' 13.6% (male 41,980/female 80,871) (2013 official)

Median age

: ''total:'' 36.9 years : ''male:'' 34.5 years : ''female:'' 39.4 years (2013 official)

Attractions

On the territory of the Chernivtsi region there are 836 archeological monuments (of which 18 have national meanings), 586 historical monuments (2 of them have national significance), 779 monuments of architecture and urban development (112 of them national significance), 42 monuments of monumental art. * Residence of Bukovinian and Dalmatian Metropolitans,

UNESCO World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

* Khotyn Fortress State historical-architectural preserve * House of Olha Kobylianska * Caves of Oleksa Dovbush * Chernivtsi architectural complex of Olha Kobylianska Street * Several archaeological sites of the Trajan's Wall * Church of the Nativity of The Most Holy Theotokos in Rukhotyn

Gallery

File:Universitat Czernowitz.jpg, Residence of Bukovinian and Dalmatian Metropolitans in

File:Chernivtsi Teatr DSC 0903 73-101-0016.JPG, Chernivtsi Drama Theatre File:73-250-0001 Khotyn Fortress RB 24.jpg, Khotyn Fortress complex File:Водоспад на річці Виженка в урочищі Лужки.JPG, Luzhka Waterfall File:Водоспад Бісків.jpg, Biskiv Waterfall File:Чемернарський Нижній Гук.JPG, Chemernarskyi Nyzhnii Huk

References

External links

Chernivtsi Oblast Administration
(official website)
Chernivtsi Oblast Council
(official website)
Statistics Committee of Chernivtsi Oblast