Bukowina

Bukovina (Beech Wood Land), until 1918 crown land of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy with an area of 10,440 km² in the headwater region of the Rivers Pruth and Sereth; now part of Ukraine (northern part) and Romania (southern part). After the Habsburgs had acquired Galicia in 1771, Joseph II tried to establish a link to Transylvania, and in 1774 he occupied the Bukovina, which was then part of the Turkish Empire. With Russian consent Turkey ceded the country in 1775. The Bukovina became an administrative unit of Galicia, in 1850 a crown land and from 1867 it was part of the western half of the Monarchy. In 1910 the Bukovina had a population of 801,364: 40.8 % Ruthanians, 31.4 % Romanians, 3.7 % Poles, 21.8 % who spoke German (of which 96,000 were Jews and 72,000 were Christians). The Landtag consisted of 31 members, 11 delegates were sent to the Reichsrat (in 1900). The main city, Chernovtsy, was regarded as an outpost of the Monarchy; from 1875 it had a German university and theatre. Economically, the Bukovina was a developing region, trade was mainly in the hands of Jews and Armenians. In 1918 the Bukovina was annexed to Romania.

Literature: R. F. Kaindl, Geschichte der Bukowina, 3 vols., 1896-1903; H. Hofbauer, Bukowina, Bessarabien, Moldawien, 1993.