Ruthenia

Ruthenia is the old name for the Eastern Slavonic countries known today as: Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.

The Ruthenian territories and states include:

• Kievan Rus'
• White Ruthenia, White Russia or Belarus
• Black Ruthenia, part of modern Belarus
• Red Ruthenia, now divided between Poland and Ukraine
• Galicia-Volhynia
• Carpathian Ruthenia (below)

After the feudal fragmentation of Ruthenia into several duchies, most of them were subjugated by Grand Duchy of Lithuania, later in personal union with the Kingdom of Poland to form the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (The Commonwealth of the Two Nations). There were serious attempts to change this union into the Commonwealth of the Three Nations: Poland, Lithuania (including Belarus) and Ruthenia Ukraine.

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1. Ruthenia or Carpato-Ruthenia or Carpatho-Ukraine is the name of a region in Central Europe comprising the southern slopes of the Carpathian Mountains. It is now part of the Ukraine. It takes its name from the Ruthenes (also called Rusyns, Rusins, Carpatho-Rusin, Russniaks), a small Slavonic people related to the Ukrainians and Slovaks.

History

Before World War I Ruthenia was part of Hungary. It became part of Czechoslovakia after the Treaty of Trianon in 1920. Following Adolf Hitler's seizure of the country in 1939, Ruthenia briefly proclaimed its independence, before being annexed by Hungary. After World War II it was ceded to the Soviet Union. It became part of newly independent Ukraine in 1991.

2. Latinized form of Rus. Until modern times it was applied to territories inhabited by speakers of East Slavic languages (Russian, Ukrainian, Belorusian) or to territories of contemporary Ukraina only.

Sources

• Carpatho-Rusin American Collection http://www1.umn.edu/ihrc/carpatho.htm
• The Rusin Association Home Page http://www.carpatho-rusyn.org/rusin.htm
• Carpatho-Rusyn, Rusin, Ruthenia: Cross-Index http://feefhs.org/rusyn/indexcru.html
• Who Are We: Rusin, Russian, Ruthenian, Slovak ...? by John Slivka http://www.lemko.org/lih/slivka.html
• Rusin Association of Minneapolis Minnesota Homepage http://www.geocities.com/rusinmn/