Ukrainians

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Ukrainians (Ukrainian: Українці, Ukrayintsi) are an East Slavic ethnic group primarily living in Ukraine, or more broadly- citizens of Ukraine (who may or may not be ethnic Ukrainians).

Contents

Origin

Numerous nomadic tribes inhabited territories now known as Ukraine in antiquity. They included Iranic-speaking Scythians and Sarmatians, and also Greeks from the Black Sea colonies; Germanic-speaking Goths and Varangians as well as Turkic-speaking Khazars, Pechenegs and Cumans. However, Ukrainian origins are predominantly Slavic while non-Slavic nomads who mostly lived in the steppes of southern Ukraine had little influence on the ancestors of modern Ukrainians (see Proto-Ukrainians for alternative views).

Several East Slavic tribes, such as Polans, Drevlyans, Severians, Dulebes (that later likely became Volhynians and Buzhans), White Croats, Tivertsi and Ulichs lived on the territory of today's Ukraine. The Ukrainian language is an East Slavic language and Ukrainian people belong to the same subdivision of Slavs as Rusyn, Russian and Belarusian. Slavic tribes inhabited modern-day lands of Ukraine since the ancient times and by the 5th century A.D. became dominant there and founded the city of Kiev – later capital of a powerful state known as Kievan Rus'. Kniaz Volodymyr of Kievan Rus adopted Christianity in 988.

History

Ukraine had a very turbulent history, a fact explained by its geographical position. Up to the fifteenth century, Ukrainians were part of the Old East Slavic stock which also gave rise to the Belarusians and Russians. However, long history of separation and foreign influences have perceptibly reshaped their ethnolinguistic identity splitting them from the rest of East Slavs.

The history of independent statehood in Ukraine is started with the Cossacks. The Cossacks of Zaporizhia since the late fifteenth century controlled the lower bends of the river Dnieper, between Russia, Poland and the Tatars of the Crimea, with the fortified capital, Zaporizhian Sich. They were formally recognized as a state, the Zaporozhian Host, by treaty with Poland in 1649.

Ukraine originally formed part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, later of the Russian, Ottoman and Austo-Hungarian empires, Poland and the Soviet Union, finally gaining its independence on August 24 1991.

Modern Ukrainian national identity developed in opposition to foreign rule in the nineteenth century. In Imperial Russia the use of the Ukrainian language was discouraged at different times in history (see Russification); however, as many were illiterate, persecutions had little effect. The policy of persecution towards Ukrainians was even more pronounced in Poland (see Polonization). During the Soviet era, the Ukrainian language was at times suppressed at others tolerated or even encouraged.

Millions of Ukrainians starved to death in a famine, known as the Holodomor.<ref>Available data is inconclusive as the Soviet government actively denied the existence of the famine. Therefore, precise calculations and estimates vary.</ref> Some historians claim Soviet authorities were responsible for nearly 10 million deaths of innocent men, women, and children killed by the deliberate famine in 1932-1933. Ukraine has declared Holodomor to be an act of genocide.[1]


Population

Ukrainians are one of the largest European ethnic groups with a population of more than 44 million people worldwide. Most ethnic Ukrainians, about 37 million in total, live in Ukraine where they make up over three-quarters of the population. The largest Ukrainian community outside of Ukraine is in Russia, about 3 million Russian citizens consider themselves ethnic Ukrainians, while millions of others (primarily in southern Russia and Siberia) have some Ukrainian ancestry. There are also almost 2 million Ukrainians in North America (1,000,000 in Canada and 890,000 in USA). Large numbers of Ukrainians live in Brazil (550,000), Kazakhstan (about 500,000), Moldova (450,000), Poland (300,000), Belarus (250, 000), Argentina (305,000), and Slovakia (55,000). There are also Ukrainian diasporas in Germany, Portugal (65,000), UK, Romania, Latvia and former Yugoslavia.

Religion

Ukrainians are predominantly of the Orthodox Christian faith. In eastern and southern Ukraine most common is the canonically recognised Ukrainian Orthodox Church which recognises the authority of the Moscow Patriarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church. Central and west Ukraine show some support to the unrecognized Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kiev Patriarchy headed by Patriarch Filaret. Some Ukrainians. especially in the Western region of Galicia, belong to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, one of the Eastern Rite Catholic churches. Various Protestant churches as well have a growing presence among Ukrainians. (See History of Christianity in Ukraine). There are also ethnic minorities practicing Judaism and Islam.

See also

Ukrainians in traditional dress
Ukrainians in traditional dress

References

  • Andrew Wilson. The Ukrainians: Unexpected Nation. Yale University Press; 2nd edition (2002) ISBN 0-300-09309-8.
  • Magocsi, Paul R. A History of Ukraine. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1996.

Online references

  • "How Rusyns Became Ukrainians", Zerkalo Nedeli (the Mirror Weekly), July, 2005. Available online in Russian and in Ukrainian.
  • "When Was the Ukrainian Nation Born", Zerkalo Nedeli (the Mirror Weekly), April 23 - May 6, 2005. Available online in Russian and in Ukrainian.
  • 'We are more "Russian" then them', the History of Myths and Sensations, Zerkalo Nedeli (the Mirror Weekly), January 27 - February 2, 2001. Available online in Russian and in Ukrainian.
  • External Migration - the Main Cause of Ethnically non-Ukrainian Population in Modern Ukraine. Zerkalo Nedeli (the Mirror Weekly), January 26 - February 1, 2002. Available online in Russian and in Ukrainian.
  • Halyna Lozko, "Ukrainian ethnology. Ethnographic division of Ukraine" (in Ukrainian). Available online.

External links

Notes

Template:Mnb Statistics include non-primary ancestry reports. "Ukrainians" being of partial descent figured in numbers.
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