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Ukraine (Ukrainian Ukraina), country
in eastern Europe, and the second largest country in Europe after Russia. Ukraine is bordered
on the west by Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary; on the southwest by Romania and Moldova; on
the south by the Black Sea and Sea of Azov; on the east and northeast by Russia; and on the
north by Belarus. The Crimean Autonomous Republic encompassing the Crimean Peninsula, or
Crimea, in the south is included in Ukraine borders. The capital and largest city is
Kyiv. The greatest part of Ukraine's territory is a fertile plain
suited for agriculture.
Ukraine is rich in natural resources, and has a developed economy with significant agricultural
and industrial sectors. The country has a democratic form of government headed by a president. Under the 1996 constitution, the president is head of state. The president is elected by direct, majority vote for a term of five years and may serve no more than two consecutive terms. The president appoints the prime minister and, under the advice of the prime minister, also appoints the Cabinet of Ministers. These appointments are subject to confirmation by the legislature. The prime minister is head of government and is responsible for carrying out its policies. The legislature (Verkhovna Rada, or Supreme Council) consists of a single chamber of 450 deputies elected for four-year terms. The inability of some candidates to win absolute majorities in their constituencies has left a number of these seats unfilled. Among its prerogatives, the legislature has the right to change the constitution, pass laws, confirm the budget, and impeach the president. History Ukraine’s geographic location between Europe and Asia was an important factor in its early history. The steppes were the domain of Asiatic nomads, the Black Sea coast was inhabited by Greek colonists, and the forests in the northwest were the homeland of the agrarian East Slavic tribes from whom, eventually, the Ukrainian, Russian, and Belarusian nations evolved. As the East Slavs expanded, they accepted, in the 9th century, a Varangian (Viking) elite that led them to establish a vast domain, centered in Kyiv (Kiev) and called Kievskaya Rus. It became one of the largest, richest, and most powerful lands in medieval Europe. In 988 Saint Volodymyr (Vladimir), grand prince of Kyiv, accepted Orthodox Christianity, and in this way brought Kievan Rus under the cultural influence of the Byzantine Empire. Inter-princely feuds, shifting trade routes, and recurrent nomadic attacks weakened Kievan Rus, however, and in 1240 it fell to the invading Mongols. Only the western principality of Galicia-Volhynia managed to retain its autonomy for about a century thereafter. In the mid-14th century the grand duchy of Lithuania gained control of most Ukrainian lands, while the Polish kingdom ruled the western region of Galicina. In 1569 most of Ukraine was annexed into Poland when the Union of Lublin joined the Lithuanian duchy and the Polish kingdom—already linked dynastically since the late 14th century—in a constitutional union, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (Rzeczpospolita). The colonization of the vast steppes gave rise to the cossacks, frontier settlers who, in time, became defenders of Ukrainian interests against Polish overlords. In 1648 Bohdan Khmel’nyt’sky, the cossack hetman, or leader, led a massive uprising against the Poles. Seeking foreign support, he accepted the overlordship of the Russian emperor in 1654 in the Treaty of Pereyaslav. This initiated steady Russian expansion into Ukraine. Hetman Ivan Mazepa attempted to throw off Russian rule in 1708 and 1709 but failed. In 1793, as a result of the three partitions of Poland, all of the Ukrainian lands east of the Dnieper River came under Russian rule. At about this time the Crimean Peninsula was also annexed by the Russian Empire. Meanwhile, the western regions of Galicina, Bukovina, and Transcarpathia were incorporated into the Austrian Empire beginning in 1772. As a result of these foreign conquests, about 80 percent of Ukrainians lived under the rule of Russia, while the remaining 20 percent lived under the rule of Austria (known as Austria-Hungary from 1867 to 1918). Catherine the Great, empress of Russia, introduced serfdom in Russian-ruled Ukraine in 1795 and encouraged the colonization of the south, which soon became the leading agricultural region of the empire. As Russian imperial rule became more encompassing, the Ukrainian elite and the cities became Russified. The villages, however, remained distinctly Ukrainian. In the late 19th century, rapid and large-scale industrialization of the Donetsk and Kryvyy Rih regions began, bringing an influx of Russian workers. Sparked by Western ideas and the poetry of Taras Shevchenko, the Ukrainian national movement developed among the intelligentsia. But imperial repression, including bans on the Ukrainian language, kept it weak. In 1848 a widespread revolution in the lands ruled by the Austrian Empire, including Ukraine’s western regions, resulted in the emancipation of the serfs and a new constitution; this allowed for the growth of a strong Ukrainian national movement, which was fiercely opposed by the Poles in Galicina. In social and economic terms, however, change in the village-based society was limited and slow. So, Ukraine was for centuries under the rule of a succession of foreign powers, including Poland and the Russian Empire. In 1918 a Communist government was established in Ukraine, and in 1922 the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR) became one of the republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Ukraine declaration of independence, approved by a popular vote on December 1, 1991, was a major factor in the USSR collapse later that month
Source: Microsoft Encarta 98© |
