Bukovina

Bukovina is a historical region, variously described as part of either Central or Eastern Europe (or both). The region is located on the northern slopes of the central Eastern Carpathians and the adjoining plains, today divided between Romania and Ukraine.

Inhabited by many cultures and people, initially by Vlachs and subsequently by Ruthenians during the 11th century, it became part of the Kyivan Rus’ and Pechenegs’ territory in the 10th century. The region has been sparsely populated since the Paleolithic.

Consequently, the culture of the Kievan Rus’ spread in the region. During the time of the Golden Horde, in the 14th century, Bukovina became part of Moldavia under the Hungarian Suzerainty, bringing colonists from Maramureș, e.g. Vlachs, Saxons and Hungarians.

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.

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. 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. 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. Bukovina is sometimes known as the ‘Switzerland of the East’, given its diverse ethnic mosaic and deep forested mountainous landscapes.