Zakarpattia Oblast

The Zakarpattia Oblast ( uk, Закарпатська область, Zakarpatska oblast) is an administrative oblast located in western Ukraine, mostly coterminous with the historical region of Carpathian Ruthenia. Its administrative centre is the city of Uzhhorod, Other major cities within the oblast include Mukachevo, Khust, Berehove, and Chop, the last of which is home to railroad transport infrastructure.

Zakarpattia Oblast was established on 22 January 1946, after Czechoslovakia gave up its claim to the territory of ''Subcarpathian Ruthenia'' ( cs, Podkarpatská Rus) under a treaty between Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union. The territory of ''Subcarpathian Ruthenia'' was then taken over by the Soviet Union and became part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.

Some scholars say that during the Ukrainian independence referendum held in 1991, Zakarpatska Oblast voters were given a separate option on whether or not they favoured autonomy for the region. Although a large majority favoured autonomy, it was not granted. However, this referendum was about self-government status, not about autonomy (like in Crimea).

Situated in the Carpathian Mountains of western Ukraine, except the southwestern Hungarian-populated region that belongs to the Hungarian plain, Zakarpattia Oblast is the only Ukrainian administrative division which borders upon four countries: Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania. The Carpathians are an important tourist and travel destination housing many ski and spa resorts, meaning that they play a major part in the oblast's economy.

With a land area of almost , the oblast is ranked 23rd by area and 15th by population as according to the 2001 Ukrainian Census, the population of Zakarpatska Oblast was 1,254,614. The current population is This total includes people of many different nationalities of which Hungarians, Romanians, and Rusyns constitute significant minorities in some of the province's cities, while in others, they form the majority of the population (as in the case of Berehove).

Name

The oblast is also referred to as the Transcarpathian Oblast, Transcarpathia, Zakarpattia ( uk, Закарпаття, Zakarpattia), or historically as Subcarpathian Rus'. In other languages the oblast is named:
* hu, Kárpátalja or translit. from the official Ukrainian ''Kárpátontúli terület''
* cs, Zakarpatská oblast; ''Podkarpatská Rus''
* sk, Zakarpatská oblasť; ''Podkarpatská Rus''
* pl, Obwód zakarpacki
* ro, Regiunea Transcarpatia ()

While the name ''Transcarpathia'' is a translation of the Ukrainian version of the name, the Hungarian name translates as ''Subcarpathia'', following the Hungarian language logic "feet of the mountains", naming a territory after its geographic location at the lower section of a mountain range. (Following the same language pattern that applies to the name of the sub-Alpian territory in Western Hungary, Alpokalja)

Generally, the ''Transcarpathia'' name and its versions reflect the East Slavic language logic, while some Western languages follow the same logic as the Hungarian:
* en, Subcarpathia, Subcarpathian Rus', Subcarpathian Ruthenia, Sub-Carpathian Ukraine
*french: Ukraine Subcarpathique

Other Western languages follow their own logic in creating a name for the region:
* ger, Karpatenrussland, Karpatenland, Karpathenland, Karpatho-Russland, Karpatenukraine, Karpato-Ukraine

The coat of arms of Zakarpattia was originally created in the end of the 1920’s in the then Czechoslovakia.

Geography

The Zakarpattia Oblast has a total area of and is located on southwestern slopes and foothills of the Carpathian Mountains covering around 80% of area in the region. The rest of the region is covered by the Transcarpathian Lowland which is part of the Pannonian plain. Zakarpattia is the only Ukrainian oblast to have boundaries with four countries: Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania. On the West it borders the Prešov and Košice Regions of Slovakia and Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén and Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg Counties of Hungary, on the South—the Satu Mare and Maramureș Counties of Romania, on the East and Northeast—Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, and on the North—Lviv Oblast and the Subcarpathian Voivodeship of Poland.

The Zakarpattia Oblast mostly consists of mountains and small hills covered with deciduous and coniferous forests, as well as alpine meadows. Mountains cover about 80% of the oblast's area, and cross from North-West to South-East. The Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians, part of which are located within Zakarpattia Oblast, were recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007.

The largest rivers that flow through the oblast include the Tysa, Borzhava

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