Ukraine
| Ukraine Україна | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||
Anthem:  Ще не вмерла України(Ukrainian) Shche ne vmerla Ukrayiny(transliteration) Ukraine's glory has not perished | ||||||
![Location of Ukraine (green)in Europe (dark grey) — [Legend]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Europe-Ukraine.svg) | ||||||
| Capital (and largest city) | Kiev 50°27′N 30°30′E / 50.45°N 30.5°E | |||||
| Official language(s) | Ukrainian | |||||
| Recognised regional languages | Russian, Crimean Tatar | |||||
| Ethnic groups (2001) | 77.8% Ukrainians, 17.3% Russians, 4.9% others and unspecified | |||||
| Demonym | Ukrainian | |||||
| Government | Unitary semi-presidential republic | |||||
| - | President | Viktor Yanukovych | ||||
| - | Prime Minister | Mykola Azarov | ||||
| - | Speaker of Parliament | Volodymyr Lytvyn | ||||
| Legislature | Verkhovna Rada | |||||
| Formation | ||||||
| - | Kievan Rus' | 882 | ||||
| - | Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia | 1199 | ||||
| - | Cossack Hetmanate | 1649 | ||||
| - | Ukrainian National Republic | November 7, 1917 | ||||
| - | West Ukrainian National Republic | November 1, 1918 | ||||
| - | Ukrainian SSR | December 30, 1922 | ||||
| - | Second Declaration of Independence | June 30, 1941 | ||||
| - | Independence from the Soviet Union | August 24, 1991 | ||||
| Area | ||||||
| - | Total | 603,628 km (46th) 233,090 sq mi | ||||
| - | Water (%) | 7% | ||||
| Population | ||||||
| - | 2010 estimate | 45,888,000 (28th) | ||||
| - | 2001 census | 48,457,102 | ||||
| - | Density | 77/km (115th) 199/sq mi | ||||
| GDP (PPP) | 2010 estimate | |||||
| - | Total | $302.679 billion | ||||
| - | Per capita | $6,656 | ||||
| GDP (nominal) | 2010 estimate | |||||
| - | Total | $136.561 billion | ||||
| - | Per capita | $3,003 | ||||
| Gini (2006) | 31 (medium) | |||||
| HDI (2011) |  0.710 (high) (76th) | |||||
| Currency | Hryvnia (
UAH
) | |||||
| Time zone | Eastern European Time (UTC+2) | |||||
| - | Summer (DST) | Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+3) | ||||
| Drives on the | right | |||||
| ISO 3166 code | UA | |||||
| Internet TLD | .ua, .укр | |||||
| Calling code | 380 | |||||
| An independence referendum was held on December 1, after which Ukrainian independence was finalized on December 26. The current constitution was adopted on June 28, 1996. | ||||||
Ukraine (
/juːˈkreɪn/ yew-krayn; Ukrainian: Україна, transliterated: Ukrayina, ; Russian: Украи́на; Crimean Tatar: Ukraina) is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia. Ukraine borders the Russian Federation to the east and northeast, Belarus to the northwest, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary to the west, Romania and Moldova to the southwest, and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south and southeast, respectively.
Established by the Varangians in the 9th century, the medieval state of Kievan Rus', the first East Slavic state, emerged as a powerful nation in the Middle Ages until it disintegrated in the 12th century. By the middle of the 14th century, Ukrainian territories were under the rule of three external powers—the Golden Horde, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Kingdom of Poland. After the Great Northern War (1700–1721) Ukraine was divided between a number of regional powers and, by the 19th century, the largest part of Ukraine was integrated into the Russian Empire with the rest under Austro-Hungarian control. A chaotic period of incessant warfare ensued, with several attempts at independence from 1917 to 1921, following World War I and the Russian Civil War. Ukraine emerged from this fighting on December 30, 1922 as one of the founding republics of the Soviet Union. The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic's territory was enlarged westward shortly before and after World War II, and southwards in 1954 with the Crimea transfer. In 1945, the Ukrainian SSR became one of the founding members of the United Nations.
Ukraine became independent again when the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991. This dissolution started a period of transition to a market economy, in which Ukraine was stricken with an eight-year recession. Since then, however, the economy experienced a high increase in GDP growth. Ukraine was caught up in the worldwide economic crisis in 2008 and the economy plunged. GDP fell 20% from spring 2008 to spring 2009, then leveled off as analysts compared the magnitude of the downturn to the worst years of economic depression during the early 1990s.
Ukraine is a unitary state composed of 24 oblasts (provinces), one autonomous republic (Crimea), and two cities with special status: Kiev, its capital and largest city, and Sevastopol, which houses the Russian Black Sea Fleet under a leasing agreement. Ukraine is a republic under a semi-presidential system with separate legislative, executive, and judicial branches. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Ukraine continues to maintain the second largest military in Europe, after that of Russia. The country is home to 46 million people, 77.8 percent of whom are ethnic Ukrainians, with sizable minorities of Russians (17%), Belarusians and Romanians. The Ukrainian language is the official language in Ukraine. Russian is also widely spoken. The dominant religion in the country is Eastern Orthodox Christianity, which has heavily influenced Ukrainian architecture, literature and music.
Etymology
History
Early history
Human settlement in Ukraine and its vicinity dates back to 32,000 BCE, with evidence of the Gravettian culture in the Crimean Mountains. By 4,500 BCE, the Neolithic Cucuteni-Trypillian Culture flourished in a wide area that included parts of modern Ukraine including Trypillia and the entire Dnieper-Dniester region. During the Iron Age, the land was inhabited by Cimmerians, Scythians, and Sarmatians. Between 700 BC and 200 BC it was part of the Scythian Kingdom, or Scythia.
Golden Age of Kiev
Foreign domination
The Ruin
In 1657–1686 came "The Ruin," a devastating 30-year war amongst Russia, Poland, Turks and Cossacks for control of Ukraine, which occurred at about the same time as the Deluge of Poland. For three years, Khmelnytsky's armies controlled present-day western and central Ukraine, but, deserted by his Tatar allies, he suffered a crushing defeat at Berestechko, and turned to the Russian Czar for help.
19th century, World War I and revolution
Inter-war Polish Ukraine
The war in Ukraine continued for another two years; by 1921, however, most of Ukraine had been taken over by the Soviet Union, while Galicia and Volhynia were incorporated into independent Poland.
A powerful underground Ukrainian nationalist movement rose in Poland in the 1920s and 1930s, led by the Ukrainian Military Organization and the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN). The movement attracted a militant following among students and harassed the Polish authorities. Legal Ukrainian parties, the Ukrainian Catholic Church, an active press, and a business sector also flourished in Poland. Economic conditions improved in the 1920s, but the region suffered from the Great Depression in the 1930s.
Inter-war Soviet Ukraine
World War II
Post–World War II
Independence
Historical maps of Ukraine
The Ukrainian state has occupied a number of territories since its initial foundation. Most of these territories have been located within Eastern Europe, however, as depicted in the maps in the gallery below, has also at times extended well into Eurasia and South-Eastern Europe. At times there has also been a distinct lack of a Ukrainian state, as its territories were on a number of occasions, annexed by its more powerful neighbours.
| Historical Maps of Ukraine and its Predecessors | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Geography
Regionalism
There are not only clear regional differences on questions of identity but historical cleavages remain evident at the level of individual social identification. Attitudes toward the most important political issue, relations with Russia, differed strongly between Lviv, identifying more with Ukrainian nationalism and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, and Donetsk, predominantly Russian orientated and favorable to the Soviet era, while in central and southern Ukraine, as well as Kiev, such divisions were less important and there was less antipathy toward people from other regions (a poll by the Research & Branding Group held March 2010 showed that the attitude of the citizens of Donetsk to the citizens of Lviv was 79% positive and that the attitude of the citizens of Lviv to the citizens of Donetsk was 88% positive). However, all were united by an overarching Ukrainian identity based on shared economic difficulties, showing that other attitudes are determined more by culture and politics than by demographic differences.
Biodiversity
Ukraine is home to a very wide range of animals, fungi, micro-organisms and plants.
Animals
Fungi
More than 6600 species of fungi (including lichen-forming species) have been recorded from Ukraine., but this number is far from complete. The true total number of fungal species occurring in Ukraine, including species not yet recorded, is likely to be far higher, given the generally accepted estimate that only about 7% of all fungi worldwide have so far been discovered. Although the amount of available information is still very small, a first effort has been made to estimate the number of fungal species endemic to Ukraine, and 2217 such species have been tentatively identified.
Climate
Ukraine has a mostly temperate continental climate, although a more Mediterranean climate is found on the southern Crimean coast. Precipitation is disproportionately distributed; it is highest in the west and north and lowest in the east and southeast. Western Ukraine receives around 1,200 millimetres (47.2 in) of precipitation annually, while Crimea receives around 400 millimetres (15.7 in). Winters vary from cool along the Black Sea to cold farther inland. Average annual temperatures range from 5.5 °C (41.9 °F)–7 °C (44.6 °F) in the north, to 11 °C (51.8 °F)–13 °C (55.4 °F) in the south.
Politics
The Constitution of Ukraine
The President, Parliament and the Government of Ukraine
Courts and law enforcement
Foreign relations
Administrative divisions
Military
Economy
Corporations
Tourism
Energy
Transportation
Demographics
Demographic crisis
Fertility and natalist policies
Urbanization
| Largest municipalities in Ukraine | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | City | Name in Ukrainian | Urban | Metro | ||
| 1 | Kiev (Kyiv) | Київ | 2,786,518 (2010) | 3,648,000 (2009) | ||
| 2 | Kharkiv | Харків | 1,440,676 (2010) | 1,732,400 (2009) | ||
| 3 | Dnipropetrovsk | Дніпропетровськ | 1,006,276 (2010) | 1,859,500 (2009) | ||
| 4 | Odessa | Одеса | 1,005,591 (2010) | 1,546,600 (2009) | ||
| 5 | Donetsk | Донецьк | 977,257 (2010) | 2,009,700 (2009) | ||
| 6 | Zaporizhia | Запоріжжя | 776,918 (2010) | 817,900 (2009) | ||
| 7 | Lviv | Львів | 758,351 (2010) | 1,498,000 (2009) | ||
| 8 | Kryvyi Rih | Кривий ріг | 670,068 (2010) | 1,010,000 (2009) | ||
| 9 | Mykolaiv | Миколаїв | 499,659 (2010) | 502,700 (2009) | ||
| 10 | Mariupol | Маріуполь | 489,702 (2010) | 519,000 (2009) | ||
| 11 | Luhansk | Луганськ | 470,152 (2010) | 501,200 (2009) | ||
| 12 | Makiivka | Макіївка | 398,058 (2010) | Part of Donetsk metro | ||
| 13 | Vinnytsia | Вінниця | 369,200 (2010) | 664,000 (2009) | ||
| 14 | Simferopol | Сімферополь | 359,551 (2010) | 385,000 (2009) | ||
| 15 | Sevastopol | Севастополь | 380,301 (2010) | 395,000 (2009) | ||
| 16 | Kherson | Херсон | 340,525 (2010) | 567,600 (2009) | ||
| 17 | Poltava | Полтава | 298,492 (2010) | 462,400 (2009) | ||
| 18 | Chernihiv | Чернігів | 296,896 (2010) | 305,000 (2009) | ||
| 19 | Cherkasy | Черкаси | 287,591 (2010) | 287,741 (2009) | ||
| 20 | Sumy | Суми | 272,899 (2010) | 283,700 (2009) | ||
Religion
Famines and migration
The famines of the 1930s, followed by the devastation of World War II, comprised a demographic disaster. Life expectancy at birth fell to a level as low as ten years for females and seven for males in 1933 and plateaued around 25 for females and 15 for males in the period 1941–44. According to The Oxford companion to World War II, "Over 7 million inhabitants of Ukraine, more than one-sixth of the pre-war population, were killed during the Second World War."
Significant migration took place in the first years of Ukrainian independence. More than one million people moved into Ukraine in 1991–2, mostly from the other former Soviet republics. In total, between 1991 and 2004, 2.2 million immigrated to Ukraine (among them, 2 million came from the other former Soviet Union states), and 2.5 million emigrated from Ukraine (among them, 1.9 million moved to other former Soviet Union republics). Currently, immigrants constitute an estimated 14.7 % of the total population, or 6.9 million people; this is the fourth largest figure in the world. In 2006, there were an estimated 1.2 million Canadians of Ukrainian ancestry, giving Canada the world's third-largest Ukrainian population behind Ukraine itself and Russia.
Health
Education
Culture
Language
Literature
Architecture
Music
Weaving and embroidery
Sport
Cuisine
See also
Notes
a. Among the Ukrainians that rose to the highest offices in the Russian Empire were Aleksey Razumovsky, Alexander Bezborodko, Ivan Paskevich. Among the Ukrainians who greatly influenced the Russian Orthodox Church in this period were Stephen Yavorsky, Feofan Prokopovich, Dimitry of Rostov.
b. See the Great Purge article for details.
c. Estimates on the number of deaths vary. Official Soviet data is not available because the Soviet government denied the existence of the famine. See the Holodomor article for details. Sources differ on interpreting various statements from different branches of different governments as to whether they amount to the official recognition of the Famine as Genocide by the country. For example, after the statement issued by the Latvian Sejm on March 13, 2008, the total number of countries is given as 19 (according to Ukrainian BBC: "Латвія визнала Голодомор ґеноцидом"), 16 (according to Korrespondent, Russian edition: "После продолжительных дебатов Сейм Латвии признал Голодомор геноцидом украинцев"), "more than 10" (according to Korrespondent, Ukrainian edition: "Латвія визнала Голодомор 1932–33 рр. геноцидом українців") Retrieved on 2008-01-27.
d. These figures are likely to be much higher, as they do not include Ukrainians from nations or Ukrainian Jews, but instead only ethnic Ukrainians, from the Ukrainian SSR.
e. This figure excludes POW deaths.
f. According to the official 2001 census data (by nationality; by language) about 75 percent of Kiev's population responded 'Ukrainian' to the native language (ridna mova) census question, and roughly 25 percent responded 'Russian'. On the other hand, when the question 'What language do you use in everyday life?' was asked in the 2003 sociological survey, the Kievans' answers were distributed as follows: 'mostly Russian': 52 percent, 'both Russian and Ukrainian in equal measure': 32 percent, 'mostly Ukrainian': 14 percent, 'exclusively Ukrainian': 4.3 percent.
"What language is spoken in Ukraine?". Welcome to Ukraine. 2003/2. http://www.wumag.kiev.ua/index2.php?param=pgs20032/72. Retrieved 2008-07-11.
g. Such writings were also the base for Russian and Belarusian literature.
h. Without the city of Inhulets.
i. Russia and Khazakstan are the first and second largest but both these figures include European and Asian territories. Russia is the only country possessing European territories larger than Ukraine.
References
Print sources
Reference books
Recent (since 1991)
Historical
External links
- Ukraine entry at The World Factbook
- Website Ukraine-CityGuide
- Ukraine information from the United States Department of State
- Ukraine travel guide from Wikitravel
- Portals to the World from the United States Library of Congress
- Ukraine at UCB Libraries GovPubs
- Ukraine at the Open Directory Project
- Wikimedia Atlas of Ukraine
- Ukraine travel guide from Wikitravel
- Government
- The President of Ukraine
- Government Portal of Ukraine
- The Parliament of Ukraine
- Chief of State and Cabinet Members
- Ukrainian art. Most famous modern painters
Coordinates: 49°N 32°E / 49°N 32°E
- Albania
- Andorra
- Armenia
- Austria
- Azerbaijan
- Belarus
- Belgium
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Cyprus
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Georgia
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Ireland
- Italy
- Kazakhstan
- Latvia
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Macedonia
- Malta
- Moldova
- Monaco
- Montenegro
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Russia
- San Marino
- Serbia
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Turkey
- Ukraine
- United Kingdom
- Vatican City
.svg)
other territories
| Denmark | |
| Finland | |
| United Kingdom |
