LAND & PEOPLE

GEOGRAPHICAL SNAPSHOT

When you travel through the picturesque region of Transcarpathia in the Western Ukraine, admiring its flower-filled valleys and fast rivers, you might spot a small monument near the Slovak border. And, if you studied Latin, you will be able to translate the inscription, marked by the Vienna Geographical Society in 1911, as " ... with a scale of meridians and parallels, the center of Europe has been established here."

So, what is this country in the geographical center of Europe like? Bordered by Russia in the east and northeast, Belarus in the north, Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary in the west, and Romania and Moldova in the southwest, it is the second-largest European country in territory after Russia, with the fifth-largest population (approx. 45.8 million); 78 percent of the population are ethnic Ukrainians, 17 percent of the population are Russian, with other ethnic minorities, mainly from the bordering countries, making up the remaining 5 percent. The Crimean Tatars, who were forcibly deported to Central Asia in 1944, have been allowed to settle in Crimea. So far, around 250,000 have returned.

Administratively, Ukraine consists of twenty-four oblasts (regions) and one Autonomous Republic (Crimea). The capital, Kyiv (formerly "Kiev"), has a population of 2.64 million.

The Carpathian Mountains and alpine meadows (polonyny) in the west descend to the rolling hills of Podillya, and to the thick forest of Polissya further east. The steppes stretch all the way south, to the coasts of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, where the Crimean Peninsula enjoys a Mediterranean climate.

Flying over Ukraine in summer, you will see endless golden fields — "the breadbasket of Europe" lives up to its name. Even the blue and yellow Ukrainian flag reflects two of the country's treasures: clear skies and wheat fields. The temperate continental climate and a quarter of the world's rich black soil, chornozem, made the land ideal for agriculture. As Ukrainians say, "Even if you plant a spade, it will grow in Ukrainian soil." And, although only 33 percent of the population live in the rural areas, the Ukrainians (including those who live in the cities) are known for their "farmer's" mentality. They are self-reliant, hardworking, and individualistic, and they are ready to face hardships and laugh at themselves.

The longest river, the Dnipro (Dnieper), flows through the center of the country, and serves as a natural division between east and west. This divide is not only geographical.

The East–West Divide

The three biggest Ukrainian industrial cities — Kharkiv, city of engineers, metallurgical Dnipropetrovsk, and mining Donetsk — with their giant post-Soviet industrial plants, are situated in the eastern part of Ukraine. Western Ukraine is more rural and traditional. Apart from economic development, there is a national aspect. As large areas of Western Ukraine were parts of Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Poland until the end of the Second World War, Western Ukraine is much more pro-European, and sees Ukraine's future in the new Europe. Eastern Ukraine supports closer economic ties with Russia — not surprisingly, as most of the eight million ethnic Russians live here.

On August 24, 1991, the Ukrainian Parliament declared Ukraine's independence. On December 1, 1991, in a nationwide referendum, over 90 percent of the voters confirmed the Act of Independence. Ukraine, a former republic of the Soviet Union, became a state in its own right. To understand what this meant for Ukraine at the threshold of the twenty-first century, it is essential to look at the country's history.

A BRIEF HISTORY

It is often said that Ukraine is enriched by nature but robbed by history. For centuries, neighboring states fought bloody wars to control its fertile lands. Foreign domination has left indelible traces in the Ukrainian mentality: Ukrainians are fatalistic, patient, and resilient, and, as we've seen, one of their most popular sayings translates as "Things will improve somehow."

Kyivan Rus

The Ukrainians trace their ancestry to the early eastern Slavic tribes. According to legend, three brothers — Kiy, Shchek, and Khoryv, from the Slavic Polian tribe — founded the settlement of Kyiv in the sixth century CE. They called it Kyiv after the eldest brother. In 882 CE the Scandinavian prince Oleg captured Kyiv, killed the local Polian rulers Ascold and Dir, and proclaimed, "Here will be the mother of Rus cities." The Rus were the dominant Viking clan. Kyiv became an important point on the Viking trade route — called "From Varangians [Vikings] to Greeks" — from the Baltic to the Mediterranean. In the tenth century Kyiv was the capital of Kyivan Rus, a powerful empire extending from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Black Sea in the south.

In 988 Prince Vladimir introduced Orthodox Christianity to Rus, albeit in a peculiar way. He announced to the Byzantine emperors Constantine and Basil his decision to be christened, and took his fleet to Crimea, to the Byzantine city of Khersones, for the purpose. He returned to Kyiv and ordered the pagan wooden idols to be cast down and floated down the River Dnipro. While his subjects watched in horror, Vladimir appeared on the hill with the council of Greek priests. At his signal, all the people there, adults and children, were commanded to step into the freezing waters of the Dnipro to be baptized.

Kyivan Rus flourished during the rule of Yaroslav, Vladimir's son. Known as Yaroslav the Wise, he created the first legal code, "the Russian truth," carried out grand construction projects, and avoided wars by marrying his daughters to European monarchs. His eldest daughter, Anna, became the first literate queen of France when she married Henry I in Reims Cathedral in 1051. On being consecrated as Queen, she took her oath placing her hand on the Gospel that she had brought from Kyiv.

The prosperity of Kyivan Rus attracted invaders from the southern steppes. The city of Kyiv and the power of Kyivan Rus were destroyed by the Mongol Baty Khan's conquest in 1240. The siege of Kyiv lasted several weeks. The Mongol army was so enormous that, according to the chronicler, "You could not hear anything for the creak of their carts, the roar of their camels ... The land of Rus was filled with enemy." The city was burned down, and thousands were killed. The lands of Kyivan Rus were divided by the principalities of Galicia, Volynia, and Muscovy — later Poland, Lithuania, and Russia.

In the fifteenth century the Lithuanian prince Alexander granted the city of Kyiv a certain degree of independence under the Magdeburg Right, the European code of municipal self-government, in accordance with which the citizens of Kyiv were governed by the members of an elected...