Podillia

Podolia or Podillia is a historic region in Eastern Europe located in the west-central and southwestern parts of Ukraine and northeastern Moldova (i.e. northern Transnistria).

Podolia is bordered by the Dniester River and Boh River. It features an elongated plateau and fertile agricultural land covering an area of . The two main rivers serve as important trade channels. Podolia is known for its cherries, mulberries, melons, gourds, and cucumber, with various tribes and civilizations occupying it over time. It became part of the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia, the Golden Horde, the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Ottoman Empire, the Habsburg monarchy of Austria, and the Russian Empire. In the 20th century, Podolia underwent various political changes, with both the Second Polish Republic and the Soviet Union controlling parts of it at different times.

Podolian culture is renowned for its folk icon-painting tradition, with red, green, and yellow colors dominating the art. These iconic works can be collected in the Vinnytsya Art Museum and the Museum of Ukrainian Home Icons in Radomysl Castle.

Etymology

The name derives from Proto-Slavic ''*po'' and ''*dolъ'' (cf. English dale, German ''Tal'').

Geography

The area is part of the vast East European Plain, confined by the Dniester River and the Carpathian arc in the southwest. It comprises an area of about , extending for from northwest to southeast on the left bank of the Dniester. In the same direction, the Southern Bug separates two ranges of relatively low hills. The Podolian Upland, an elongated, up to high plateau stretches from the Western and Southern Bug rivers to the Dniester. It includes mountainous regions with canyon-like fluvial valleys.

Podolia lies east of historic Red Ruthenia, i.e. the eastern half of Galicia, beyond the Seret River, a tributary of the Dniester. In the northwest, it borders on Volhynia. It is primarily made up of the present-day Ukrainian Vinnytsia Oblast and southern and central Khmelnytskyi Oblast. The Podolian lands also include parts of the adjacent Ternopil Oblast in the west and Kyiv Oblast in the northeast. In the east, it consists of the neighbouring parts of Cherkasy, Kirovohrad and Odesa Oblast, as well as the northern half of Transnistria.

Two large rivers, with numerous tributaries, drain the region: the Dniester, which forms its boundary with Moldova and is navigable throughout its length, and the Southern Bug, which flows almost parallel to the former in a higher, sometimes swampy, valley, interrupted in several places by rapids. The Dniester forms an essential channel for trade in the areas of Mohyliv-Podilskyi, Zhvanets, and other Podolian river ports.

In Podolia, chernozem "black earth" soil predominates, making it a very fertile agricultural area. Marshes occur only beside the Bug. A moderate climate predominates, with average temperatures at Kamianets-Podilskyi of ( in January, in July).

Russian-ruled Podolia in 1906 had an estimated population of 3,543,700, consisting chiefly of Ukrainians. Significant minorities included Poles and Jews, as well as 50,000 Romanians, some Germans, and some Armenians.

The chief settlements include Kamianets-Podilskyi, the traditional capital, Vinnytsia, Khmelnytskyi, Rîbnița, Mohyliv-Podilskyi, Haisyn, Balta, Bar, Camenca, Yampil, Bratslav, and Letychiv.

Podolia is known for its cherries, mulberries, melons, gourds, and cucumbers.

History

Early history

The region has had human inhabitants since at least the beginning of the Neolithic period. Herodotus mentions it as the seat of the Graeco-Scythian Alazones and possibly the Neuri. Subsequently, the Dacians and the Getae arrived. The Romans left traces of their rule in Trajan's Wall, which stretches through the modern districts of Kamianets-Podilskyi, Nova Ushytsia, and Khmelnytskyi.

During the Migration Period, many peoples passed through this territory or settled within it for some time, leaving numerous traces in archaeological remains. Nestor in the ''Primary Chronicle'' mentions four apparently Slavic tribes: the Buzhans and Dulebes along the Southern Bug River, and the Tivertsi and Ulichs along the Dniester. The Avars invaded in the 7th century. Later. the Bolokhoveni occupied the same territory in the 13th century.

Prince Oleg extended his rule over this territory known as the ''Ponizie'', or "lowlands". These lowlands later became a part of the principalities of Volhynia, Kiev, and Galicia. In the 13th century, Bakota served as its political and administrative centre.

Lithuanian and Polish rule

During the 13th century, the Mongols plundered Ponizie; Algirdas, Grand Duke of Lithuania, freed it from their rule following his victory against the Golden Horde in the Battle of Blue Waters of 1362, annexing it to Lithuania under the name of ''Podolia'', which has the same meaning as Ponizie, and in 1366 western Podolia with Kamieniec Podolski passed under Polish sovereignty. In 1375, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kamianets-Podilskyi was founded. Polish colonisation began in the 14th century.

After the death of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas in 1430, Podolia was incorporated into Podolian Voivodeship of the Kingdom of Poland, with the exception of its eastern part, the Bracław Voivodeship, which remained with Lithuania, both forming part of the Polish–Lithuanian union. With the Union of Lublin of 1569, eastern Podolia passed from Lithuania to Poland with the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Kamieniec Podolski Fortress was nicknamed the "gateway to Poland", whereas the city of Kamieniec Podolski itself as one of Poland's major cities enjoyed voting rights during the royal election period. Podolia was the target of frequent Tatar slave raids. Podolia was invaded several times by the Crimean Tatars and Turks, and during the Deluge, also by Transylvanians and Russians, with notable Polish victories at Udycz (1606), Czarny Ostrów (1657), Uścieczko (1694).

From 1672, Podolia became part of the Ottoman Empire, when and where it was known as Podolia Eyalet. During this time, it was a province, with its center being Kamaniçe, and was divided into the sanjaks of Kamaniçe, Bar, Mejibuji and Yazlovets (Yazlofça). It returned to Poland in 1699 with the Treaty of Karlowitz.

The region was the site of two notorious massacres, the Batoh massacre of 1652, in which several thousand Poles were murdered by the Cossacks, and the Massacre of Uman of 1768, in which several thousand Poles, Jews and Uniates were murdered by haidamaks.

In 1768, the Bar Confederation was formed by the Poles, including Casimir Pulaski in Bar in Podolia. Podolia remained part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth until its Partitions of Poland in 1772 and 1793, when the Austrian and Russian Empires annexed the western and eastern parts respectively.

Russian and Austrian rule

From 1793 to 1917, part of the region was the Podolia Governorate in southwestern Russia bordering with Austria across the Zbruch River and with Bessarabia across the Dniester. Its area was .

In 1772 First Partition of Poland, the Austrian Habsburgs had taken control of a small part of Podolia west of the Zbruch