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Zakarpattia Oblast

Zakarpattia Oblast

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The Zakarpattia Oblast (there are names in other languages) is an administrative oblast
Administrative divisions of Ukraine
Ukraine is subdivided into 24 oblasts , one autonomous republic, and two "cities with special status".- Overview :...

 (province
Province
A province is a territorial unit, almost always an administrative division, within a country or state.-Roman provinces:The word is attested in English since c.1330, deriving from Old French province , which comes from the Latin word provincia, which referred to the sphere of activity which a...

) located in southwestern Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east; Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south. The city of Kiev is both the capital and the largest city of...

. Its administrative center is the city of Uzhhorod
Uzhhorod
Uzhhorod is a city located in western Ukraine, at the border with Slovakia and near the border with Hungary. It is the administrative center of the Zakarpattia Oblast , as well as the administrative center of the surrounding Uzhhorodskyi Raion within the oblast...

. Other major cities within the oblast include Mukachevo, Khust
Khust
Khust is a city located on the Khustets River in the Zakarpattia oblast in western Ukraine. It is near the confluence of the Tisza and Rika Rivers...

, Berehove
Berehove
Berehove is a city located in the Zakarpattia Oblast in western Ukraine, near the border with Hungary. Serving as the administrative center of the Berehivskyi Raion , the city itself is also designated as a separate raion within the oblast...

 and Chop
Chop, Ukraine
Chop is a city located in the Zakarpattia Oblast of western Ukraine, near the borders of Slovakia and Hungary. It is separated from the Hungarian town of Záhony by the river Tisza, and the city itself is designated as a separate raion within the oblast.-Demography:According to the Ukrainian...

 which is home to railroad transport infrastructure.

Zakarpattia Oblast was formally established on 22 January 1946 after the annexation of Subcarpathian Rus
Carpathian Ruthenia
Carpathian Ruthenia, aka Transcarpathian Ruthenia, Transcarpathian Ukraine, Zakarpattia, Rusinko, Subcarpathian Rus, Subcarpathia is a small region in Central Europe, now...

 lands to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. Some scholars say that during the Ukrainian independence referendum
Ukrainian independence referendum, 1991
The Referendum took place in Ukraine on December 1, 1991. The only question of the referendum was: "Do you support the Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine?" with the text of Act printed first...

 held in 1991, Zakarpattia Oblast voters were given a separate option on whether or not they favored autonomy
Autonomy
Autonomy is a concept found in moral, political, and bioethical philosophy. Within these contexts, it refers to the capacity of a rational individual to make an informed, un-coerced decision...

 for the region. Although a large majority favored autonomy, it was not granted.. However, this referendum was about self government status, not about autonomy (like in Crimea).

Situated in the Carpathian Mountains
Carpathian Mountains
The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians are a range of mountains forming an arc roughly long across Central and Eastern Europe, making them the largest mountain range in Europe...

 landscape of western Ukraine, Zakarpattia Oblast is the only Ukrainian administrative division which borders upon four countries: Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

, Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe with a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia borders the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south. The largest city is its capital, Bratislava...

, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , in English officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia. Its capital is Budapest. Hungary is a member of OECD, NATO, EU, V4 and is a Schengen state...

, and Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located in Southeastern and Central Europe, North of the Balkan Peninsula, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea. Almost all of the Danube Delta is located within its territory...

. The Carpathian Mountains play a major part in the oblast's economy, making the region an important tourist and travel destination housing many ski and spa resorts.

The oblast is ranked 23rd by area and 17th by population. According to the 2001 Ukrainian Census
Ukrainian Census (2001)
The first Ukrainian Census was carried out by State Statistics Committee of Ukraine on 5 December 2001, twelve years after the last Soviet Union census in 1989....

, the population of Zakarpattia Oblast is 1,254,614. Excluding Ukrainians
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group primarily living in Ukraine, or more broadly—citizens of Ukraine...

, this total includes people of many different nationalities of which Hungarians, Romanians
Romanians
The Romanians are a nation and ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian ; they are the majority inhabitants of România.In one prominent interpretation of the census results in Moldova, Moldovans are counted as Romanians, which would...

 and Rusyns
Rusyns
Rusyns are an Eastern Slavic ethnic group related to Ukrainians who speak a Western Ukrainian language or dialect known as Rusyn. The group unites a minority of Ruthenians who did not adopt the ethnonym Ukrainian to describe their ethnic identity in the early twentieth century...

 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, Zakarpattya, or historically as Subcarpathian Rus. In other languages the oblast in named:, translit.
Romanization of Ukrainian
The romanization or Latinization of Ukrainian is the representation of the Ukrainian language using Latin letters. Ukrainian is natively written in its own Ukrainian alphabet, a variation of Cyrillic....

 ., translit. .

Geography


The Zakarpattia Oblast has a total area of and is located in the Carpathian Mountains
Carpathian Mountains
The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians are a range of mountains forming an arc roughly long across Central and Eastern Europe, making them the largest mountain range in Europe...

 region of western Ukraine. It is the only Ukrainian oblast to have boundaries with four countries: Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

, Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe with a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia borders the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south. The largest city is its capital, Bratislava...

, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , in English officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia. Its capital is Budapest. Hungary is a member of OECD, NATO, EU, V4 and is a Schengen state...

 and Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located in Southeastern and Central Europe, North of the Balkan Peninsula, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea. Almost all of the Danube Delta is located within its territory...

. On the West it borders the Prešov
Prešov Region
The Prešov Region is one of the eight Slovak administrative regions. It consists of 13 districts.-Geography:...

 and Košice
Košice Region
The Košice Region is one of the eight Slovak administrative regions. It consists of 11 districts .-Geography:It is located in the southern part of the east Slovakia and covers an area of 6,752 km²...

 Regions of Slovakia and Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén
Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén
Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén is the name of an administrative county in north-eastern Hungary , on the border with Slovakia. It shares borders with the Hungarian counties Nógrád, Heves, Hajdú-Bihar and Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg. The capital of Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county is Miskolc...

 and Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg
Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg
Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg is an administrative county in north-eastern Hungary, bordering Slovakia, Ukraine and Romania. It shares borders with the Hungarian counties Hajdú-Bihar and Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén...

 Counties of Hungary, on the South—the Satu Mare
Satu Mare County
Satu Mare County is a county of Romania. The capital city is Satu Mare. Besides Romanians , Satu Mare features a significant ethnic minority of Hungarians .-Demographics:...

 and Maramureş Counties
Maramures County
Maramureş is a county of Romania, in the Maramureş region. The county seat is Baia Mare.- History :* The 10th century frontier county of Borsova was founded by Stephen I of Hungary...

 of Romania, on the East and Northeast—Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast
Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast
Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast is an oblast in western Ukraine...

, and on the North—Lviv Oblast
Lviv Oblast
Lviv Oblast is an oblast in western Ukraine. The administrative center of the oblast is the city of Lviv.-History:...

 and the Subcarpathian Voivodeship
Subcarpathian Voivodeship
Subcarpathian Voivodeship is a voivodeship, or province, situated in the far south-east of Poland...

 of Poland.
The Zakarpattia Oblast mostly consists of mountains and small hills covered with deciduous
Deciduous
Deciduous means falling off at maturity or tending to fall off and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe...

 and coniferous
Pinophyta
The conifers, division Pinophyta, also known as division Coniferophyta or Coniferae, are one of 13 or 14 division level taxa within the Kingdom Plantae. Pinophytes are gymnosperms. They are cone-bearing seed plants with vascular tissue; all extant conifers are woody plants, the great majority...

 forests, as well as alpine meadow
Alpine meadow
An alpine meadow is a high-altitude grassland plant community located in an alpine climate, above the treeline of a mountain.Alpine meadows, along with sub-alpine meadows, are part of the Montane grasslands and shrublands biome as defined by the World Wildlife Fund They form where sediments from...

s. Mountains cover about 80% of the oblast's area, and cross from North-East to South-East. The Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians
Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians
The Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathian, an outstanding example of undisturbed, complex temperate forests, constitute a transnational serial property of ten separate components along a 185 km axis from the Rakhiv Mountains and the Chornohirskyi Range in Ukraine, west along the Polonynian...

, part of which are located within Zakarpattia Oblast, were recognised as a UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations established on 16 November 1945...

 World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a site that is on the list that is maintained by the international World Heritage Programme administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, composed of 21 state parties which are elected by their General Assembly for a four-year term.A World Heritage Site is a...

 in 2007.

The largest river
River
A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing toward an ocean, a lake, a sea or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water...

s that flow through the oblast include the Tysa
Tisza
The Tisza is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It originates in Ukraine, with the White Tisza in the Chornohora and Black Tisza in the Gorgany range, flows partially along the Romanian border, enters Hungary at Tiszabecs, marks the Slovak-Hungarian border, passes through Hungary, and falls...

, Borzhava, and the Tereblia. The region's climate is moderate and continental
Continental climate
Continental climate is a climate that is characterized by winter temperatures cold enough to support a fixed period of snow cover each year, and relatively moderate precipitation occurring mostly in summer, although east coast areas may show an even distribution of precipitation.Regions containing...

 with about of rainfall per year. The average temperature in summer is +21°С
Celsius
Celsius is a temperature scale that is named after the Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius , who developed a similar temperature scale two years before his death...

 (70°F
Fahrenheit
Fahrenheit is the temperature scale proposed in 1724 by, and named after, the physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit . Today, the scale has been replaced by the Celsius scale in most countries; it is still in use for non-scientific purposes in the United States and a few other nations, such as...

) and -4°С (25°F) in winter. With a total height of , Hoverla
Hoverla
Hoverla mountain at 2,061 m, is the highest mountain in Ukraine and part of the Carpathian Mountains. The mountain is located in the Eastern Beskides, in the so-called Chornohora region. The slopes are covered with beech and spruce forests, above which there is a belt of sub-alpine meadows called...

, part of the Chornohora
Chornohora
Chornohora is the highest mountain range in Western Ukraine in Outer Eastern Carpathians. It is adjacent to the Gorgany range. The highest peak of Chornohora is Hoverla with other high peaks including Pop Ivan and Petros...

 mountain range, is the tallest point in the oblast. The lowest point, above sea level
Sea level
Mean sea level is the average height of the ocean's surface ; used as a standard in reckoning land elevation.- Measurement :...

, is located in the village of Ruski Heyevtsi in the Uzhhorodskyi Raion
Uzhhorodskyi Raion
Uzhhorod Raion is one of the raions of Zakarpattia Oblast in western Ukraine. It's administrative center is the city of Uzhhorod, also the center of the surrounding oblast.-Cities:-Towns:-Villages:...

.

The four of the oblast's historical-cultural sites were nominated for the Seven Wonders of Ukraine
Seven Wonders of Ukraine
The Seven Wonders of Ukraine are the seven historical and cultural monuments of Ukraine, which were chosen in the Seven Wonders of Ukraine contest held in July, 2007...

 competition in 2007: Palanok Castle
Palanok Castle
The Palanok Castle or Mukachevo Castle is a historic castle in the city of Mukachevo in the western Ukrainian oblast of Zakarpattia. The Palanok Castle is delicately preserved,, and is located on a former 68 meter high volcanic hill...

, Museum upon the Chorna River, Mykhailiv Orthodox Church, and the Nevytsky Castle
Nevytsky Castle
Nevytsky Castle is a semi-ruined castle in Zakarpattia Oblast, Ukraine 12 km north of Uzhhorod. It was founded in the early 15th century....

.

History


Zakarpattia was part of Kingdom of Hungary
Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary , emerged in 1000, when the Principality of Hungary, founded in 896, was recognized as a Kingdom. The form of government was changed from Monarchy to Republic briefly in 1918 and again in 1946, ending the Kingdom and creating the Republic of Hungary...

, later Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria–Hungary, also known as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the k.u.k. Monarchy, or Dual State, was a monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in Central Europe...

 until the latter's demise at the end of World War I
World War I
World War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...

. This region was briefly part of the short-lived West Ukrainian National Republic
West Ukrainian National Republic
The West Ukrainian National Republic was a short-lived republic that existed in late 1918 and early 1919 in eastern Galicia, that claimed parts of Bukovina and Carpathian Ruthenia and included the cities of Lviv, Peremyshl', Kolomyia, and Stanislaviv.The coat of arms of the West Ukrainian People's...

 in 1918 and occupied by Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located in Southeastern and Central Europe, North of the Balkan Peninsula, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea. Almost all of the Danube Delta is located within its territory...

 at end of that year. It was later recaptured by Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , in English officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia. Its capital is Budapest. Hungary is a member of OECD, NATO, EU, V4 and is a Schengen state...

 in the summer of 1919. Finally, it joined the newly formed Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...

 as Subcarpathian Rus, of which it formed one of the four main regions, the others being Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands, currently the Czech Republic...

, Moravia
Moravia
Moravia is a historical region in central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, one of the former Czech lands. It takes its name from the Morava River which rises in the northwest of the region.-Geography:...

 and Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe with a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia borders the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south. The largest city is its capital, Bratislava...

.
During the World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 German occupation of Czechoslovakia
German occupation of Czechoslovakia
Following the Anschluss of Nazi Germany and Austria in March 1938, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler's next target for annexation was Czechoslovakia. His pretext was the alleged privations suffered by ethnic German populations living in Czechoslovakia's northern and western border regions, known...

, the southern part of the region was awarded to Hungary
Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946)
The Kingdom of Hungary existed from 1919 to 1946 and was a de facto country under Regent Miklós Horthy. Horthy officially represented the abdicated Hungarian monarchy of Charles IV, Apostolic King of Hungary...

 under the First Vienna Award
First Vienna Award
The First Vienna Award was the result of the First Vienna Arbitration, which took place at Vienna's Belvedere Palace on November 2, 1938...

 in 1938. The remaining portion was constituted as an autonomous region of the short-lived Second Czecho-Slovak Republic
German occupation of Czechoslovakia
Following the Anschluss of Nazi Germany and Austria in March 1938, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler's next target for annexation was Czechoslovakia. His pretext was the alleged privations suffered by ethnic German populations living in Czechoslovakia's northern and western border regions, known...

. After the occupation of Bohemia and Moravia on 15 March 1939 and the Slovak declaration of an independent state
Slovak Republic (1939-1945)
The Slovak State , also known as first Slovak republic was a quasi-independent national Slovak state which existed from 14 March 1939 to 8 May 1945 as an ally and client state of Nazi Germany. It existed on roughly the same territory as present-day Slovakia...

, Ruthenia declared its independence (Republic of Carpatho-Ukraine
Carpatho-Ukraine
Carpatho-Ukraine was an autonomous region within Czechoslovakia from late 1938 to March 15, 1939. It declared itself an independent Ukrainian republic on March 15 1939, but was occupied by Hungary between March 15 and March 18, 1939, remaining under Hungarian control until the Nazi Occupation of...

) but was immediately occupied and later annexed by Hungary.
During the German occupation of Hungary in 1944, almost the entire Jewish population was deported; few survived the Holocaust. When the Soviet Army
Red Army
The Red Army The Red Army The Red Army was the Soviet government’s revolutionary militia beginning in the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the USSR. Since 1946, after the Second World War, it was called the Soviet Army.The 'Red...

 crossed the pre-1938 borders of Czechoslovakia in 1944, Soviet authorities refused to allow Czechoslovak governmental officials to resume control over the region, and in June 1945, President Edvard Beneš
Edvard Beneš
Edvard Beneš was a leader of the Czechoslovak independence movement, Minister of Foreign Affairs and the second President of Czechoslovakia. He was known to be a skilled diplomat.- Youth :...

 formally signed a treaty ceding the area to the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...

. It was then incorporated into the Ukrainian SSR
Ukrainian SSR
The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic or the Ukrainian SSR was one of the founders of the Soviet Union constituent republic that made up the former Soviet Union from its formation in 1922 to its abolition in 1991.-Name:...

. After the break-up of the Soviet Union, it became part of independent Ukraine as Zakarpattia Oblast.

The province has a unique footnote in history as the only region in the former Soviet Union to have had an American governor: its first governor was Gregory Zatkovich
Gregory Zatkovich
Gregory Zatkovich was an American lawyer and political activist for Rusyns in the United States and Europe...

, an American citizen who had earlier emigrated from the region and represented the Rusyn community in the U.S. Zatkovich was appointed governor by Czechoslovakia's first president, Tomáš Masaryk
Tomáš Masaryk
Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk , sometimes called Thomas Masaryk in English, was an Austro-Hungarian and Czechoslovak statesman, sociologist and philosopher, who as the keenest advocate of Czechoslovak independence during World War I became the first President and founder of Czechoslovakia...

 in 1920, and served for about one year until he resigned over differences regarding the region's autonomy.

After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine held an independence referendum in which the residents of Zakarpattia were asked about the Zakarpattia Oblast Council's proposal for self rule. About 78% of the oblast's population voted in favor of autonomy; however, it was not granted. There were also propositions of separating from Ukraine to rejoin Czechoslovakia, but after Czechoslovakia's dissolution
Dissolution of Czechoslovakia
The dissolution of Czechoslovakia, which took effect on 1 January 1993, saw Czechoslovakia split into two separate countries: the Czech Republic and Slovakia...

 into the Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a country in Central Europe that is sometimes considered to be Eastern European. The country borders Poland to the northeast, Germany to the west and northwest, Austria to the south and Slovakia to the east. The capital and largest city is Prague...

 and Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe with a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia borders the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south. The largest city is its capital, Bratislava...

 on 1 January 1993, these ideas have been rendered largely moot.

On 25 October 2008, delegates to the Congress Of Carpathian Ruthenians declared the formation of the Republic of Carpathian Ruthenia.. The prosecutor’s office of Zakarpattia region has filed a case against Russian Orthodox Church
Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church ; or The Moscow Patriarchate , also known...

 priest Dmytro Sidor and Yevhen Zhupan, an Our Ukraine
Our Ukraine
The Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc is an electoral alliance active in Ukraine, associated with President Viktor Yushchenko. Since 2005, the bloc has been dominated by a core consisting of the People's Union "Our Ukraine" party and five smaller partner parties.The Our Ukraine Bloc is most...

 deputy of the Zakarpattia regional council and chairman of the People’s Council of Ruthenians, on charges of encroaching on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine.

Wooden churches

  • Sredne Vodyane churches
  • Verkhnye Vodyane church
  • Danylovo church
  • Kolodne church
  • Krainykovo church
  • Nyzhnie Selyshche church
  • Olexandrivka church
  • Sokyrnytsia church

Politics


Zakarpattia Oblast's local administration is controlled by the Zakarpattia Oblast Council (rada
Rada
Rada is the term for "council" or "assembly"borrowed by Polish from the Low Franconian "Rad" and later passed into the Czech, Ukrainian, and Belarusian languages.Normally it is translated as "council"...

). The Chairman
Speaker (politics)
The term speaker is a title often given to the presiding officer of a legislative body. The speaker's official role is to moderate debate, make rulings on procedure, announce the results of votes, and the like. The speaker decides who may speak and has the powers to discipline members who break the...

 of the Council is Mykhailo Kichkovskyi, elected from the People's Union "Our Ukraine" party. Kichkovsky holds this position since his election in April 2006.

The Zakarpattia Oblast Rada consists of a total of 90 deputies. Based on the results of the regional election held on 26 March 2006, the distribution of the council's mandates is as follows (June, 2009):
  • 30 mandates
    Mandate (politics)
    In politics, a mandate is the authority granted by a constituency to act as its representative.The concept of a government having a legitimate mandate to govern via the fair winning of a democratic election is a central idea of democracy...

     for the People's Union "Our Ukraine
    Our Ukraine
    The Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc is an electoral alliance active in Ukraine, associated with President Viktor Yushchenko. Since 2005, the bloc has been dominated by a core consisting of the People's Union "Our Ukraine" party and five smaller partner parties.The Our Ukraine Bloc is most...

    ";
  • 25 for the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc;
  • 15 for the Party of Regions
    Party of Regions
    The Party of Regions is a Ukrainian political party created in March 2001. According to the party’s leadership in 2002, from the creation of the party to the end of 2001 the number of members jumped from 30,000 to 500,000...

    ;
  • 7 for the Lytvyn People's Bloc;
  • 5 for the Party of Hungarians of Ukraine "KMKS";
  • 4 for the Democratic Party of Hungarians of Ukraine;
  • 4 for the Socialist Party of Ukraine
    Socialist Party of Ukraine
    The Socialist Party of Ukraine is a Socialist political party in Ukraine. It is one of the oldest parties, registered in late 1991, as the Communist Party was disbanded. Initially a party with a quasi-Communist orientation, the SPU has developed into a left-wing party of the European sense...

    .


The oblast's governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...

 (currently Oleh Havashi) is appointed by the President of Ukraine
President of Ukraine
The President of Ukraine is the head of state of Ukraine, representing the state in international relations, administers the foreign political activity of the State, conducts negotiations and concludes international treaties of Ukraine....

.

Administrative divisions


Zakarpattia Oblast is administratively subdivided into 13 raions (district
District
Districts are a type of administrative division, in some countries managed by a local government. They vary greatly in size, spanning entire regions or counties, several municipalities, or subdivisions of municipalities.-Austria:...

s), as well as 5 cities (municipalities
Municipality
A municipality is an administrative entity composed of a clearly defined territory and its population and commonly denotes a city, town, or village, or a small grouping of them. A municipality is typically governed by a mayor and a city council or municipal council.The notion of municipality...

) which are directly subordinate to the oblast government: Berehove
Berehove
Berehove is a city located in the Zakarpattia Oblast in western Ukraine, near the border with Hungary. Serving as the administrative center of the Berehivskyi Raion , the city itself is also designated as a separate raion within the oblast...

, Chop
Chop, Ukraine
Chop is a city located in the Zakarpattia Oblast of western Ukraine, near the borders of Slovakia and Hungary. It is separated from the Hungarian town of Záhony by the river Tisza, and the city itself is designated as a separate raion within the oblast.-Demography:According to the Ukrainian...

, Khust
Khust
Khust is a city located on the Khustets River in the Zakarpattia oblast in western Ukraine. It is near the confluence of the Tisza and Rika Rivers...

, Mukachevo, and the administrative center of the oblast, Uzhhorod
Uzhhorod
Uzhhorod is a city located in western Ukraine, at the border with Slovakia and near the border with Hungary. It is the administrative center of the Zakarpattia Oblast , as well as the administrative center of the surrounding Uzhhorodskyi Raion within the oblast...

. There are a total of 7 cities, 19 towns, and more than 579 villages.

Zakarpattia Oblast incorporates four unofficial geographic-historic regions (counties): Ung, Bereg
Bereg (county)
Bereg is the name of a historic administrative county of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory is presently in north-eastern Hungary and western Ukraine...

, Ugocsa
Ugocsa
Ugocsa is the name of a historic administrative county of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory is presently in north-western Romania and western Ukraine...

, and Northern Maramuresh. There is a project for a reform of the current administrative division of the Oblast

The following data incorporates the number of each type of administrative divisions of Zakarpattia Oblast:
  • Administrative Center — 1 (Uzhhorod
    Uzhhorod
    Uzhhorod is a city located in western Ukraine, at the border with Slovakia and near the border with Hungary. It is the administrative center of the Zakarpattia Oblast , as well as the administrative center of the surrounding Uzhhorodskyi Raion within the oblast...

    );
  • Raions — 13;
  • City raions — 0;
  • Settlements — 609, including:
    • Villages — 579;
    • Cities/Towns — 30, including:
      • Urban-type settlement
        Urban-type settlement
        Urban-type settlement is an official designation for a certain type of urban localities used in some of the countries of the former Soviet Union....

        s — 19;
      • Cities — 11, including:
        • Cities of oblast' subordinance — 5;
        • Cities of raion subordinance — 6;
  • Selsovets — 307.

Demographics


According to the 2001 Ukrainian Census
Ukrainian Census (2001)
The first Ukrainian Census was carried out by State Statistics Committee of Ukraine on 5 December 2001, twelve years after the last Soviet Union census in 1989....

, the population of Zakarpattia Oblast is 1,254,614. The current estimated population is 1.2 million people (as of 2004).

Although ethnic Ukrainians are in majority here (80.5%), other ethnic group
Ethnic group
An ethnic group is a group of humans whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage that is real or presumed.Ethnic identity is further marked by the researcher Seng Yang in the recognition from others of a group's distinctiveness and the recognition of common cultural,...

s are relatively numerous in Zakarpattia. The largest of these are Hungarians (12.1%), Romanians
Romanians
The Romanians are a nation and ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian ; they are the majority inhabitants of România.In one prominent interpretation of the census results in Moldova, Moldovans are counted as Romanians, which would...

 (2.6%), Russians
Russians
The Russian people are an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....

 (2.5%), Roma
Roma minority in Ukraine
The presence of a Roma minority in Ukraine was first documented in the early 14th century. Roma maintained their social organizations and folkways, shunning non-Roma contacts, education and values, often as a reaction to anti-Roma attitudes and persecution...

 (1.1%), Slovaks
Slovaks
The Slovaks are a western Slavic people that primarily inhabit Slovakia and speak the Slovak language, which is closely related to the Czech language....

 (0.5%) and Germans
Germans
The German people are an ethnic group, in the sense of sharing a common German culture, descent, and speaking the German language as a mother tongue. Within Germany, Germans are defined by citizenship , distinguished from people of German ancestry...

 (0.3%). The Ukrainian government does not recognize the Rusyn people living in that country as a distinct nationality but rather as an ethnic group of Ukrainians. About 10,100 people (0.8%) identify themselves as Rusyns according to the last census.

Their languages and culture are respected by the provision of education, clubs, etc. in their respective languages. Those who recognize Ukrainian as their native language total 81.0% of the population, Hungarian
Hungarian language
Hungarian is a Uralic language unrelated to most other languages in Europe. It is mainly spoken in Hungary and by the Hungarian minorities in the seven neighbouring countries...

 — 12.7%, Russian
Russian language
Russian is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages, and the largest native language in Europe...

 — 2.9%, Romanian
Romanian language
Romanian or Daco-Romanian is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova. It has official status in Romania, Republic of Moldova, and the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina in Serbia...

 — 2.6%, and Rusyn
Rusyn language
Rusyn language is the language spoken by the Rusyns living in the Carpathian region. Opinions differ among linguists concerning whether Rusyn is a separate East Slavic language or a dialect of Ukrainian...

 — 0.5% Residents in seven of Mukachivskyi Raion
Mukachivskyi Raion
The Mukachevo Raion is a raion of the Zakarpattia Oblast in Ukraine. Mukachevo is the administrative center of the raion.-Towns:-Villages:...

's villages have the option to learn the Hungarian language in a school or home school environment.

Zakarpattia is home to approximately 14,000 ethnic Roma (otherwise known as Gypsies), the largest population of Roma in Ukraine. The first Hungarian College in Ukraine is in Berehovo, the II. Rákoczi Ferenc College.

Economy



Situated in the Carpathian Mountains
Carpathian Mountains
The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians are a range of mountains forming an arc roughly long across Central and Eastern Europe, making them the largest mountain range in Europe...

, Zakarpattia Oblast's economy depends mostly on trans-border
Border
Borders define geographic boundaries of political entities or legal jurisdictions, such as governments, states or subnational administrative divisions. They may foster the setting up of buffer zones...

 trade, vinery and forestry
Forestry
Forestry is the art and science of managing forests, tree plantations, and related natural resources. The main goal of forestry is to create and implement systems that allow forests to continue a sustainable continuation of environmental supplies and services...

. The oblast is also home to a special economic zone
Special Economic Zone
A Special Economic Zone is a geographical region that has economic laws that are more liberal than a country's typical economic laws...

.

The oblast's main industry includes woodworking
Woodworking
Woodworking is the process of building, making or carving something using wood.-History:Along with stone, mud, and animal parts, wood was certainly one of the first materials worked by primitive human beings. Microwear analysis of the Mousterian stone tools used by the Neanderthals show that many...

. Other industries include food, light industry, and mechanical engineering. Segment of foodstuffs in the structure of ware production of national consumption is 45%. The total number of large industrial organisations is 319, compared to 733 small industrial organisations.

The most common crops grown within the region include cereal
Cereal
Cereals, grains or cereal grains, {as a collective} are grasses cultivated for the edible components of their fruit seeds  - the endocarp, germ and bran...

s, potato
Potato
The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species. Potatoes are the world's fourth largest food...

es and other vegetables. In 1999, the total amount of grain produced was 175,800 ton
Ton
The term ton or tonne generally refers to a unit of mass. However, there exists more than one measure of mass that are named "ton", so one has to be specific when using the term. While they do vary considerably, a ton is generally one of the heaviest units of mass referred to in colloquial speech...

s, of sunflower seeds — 1,300 tons, and potatoes — 378,200 tons. The region also produced 76,100 tons of meat, 363,400 tons of milk and 241,900,000 egg
Egg (food)
An egg is a round or oval body laid by the female of any number of different species, consisting of an ovum surrounded by layers of membranes and an outer casing, which acts to nourish and protect a developing embryo and its nutrient reserves...

s. The total amount of registered farms in the region was 1,400 in 1999.

See also

  • Administrative divisions of Ukraine
    Administrative divisions of Ukraine
    Ukraine is subdivided into 24 oblasts , one autonomous republic, and two "cities with special status".- Overview :...

  • Carpathian Ruthenia
    Carpathian Ruthenia
    Carpathian Ruthenia, aka Transcarpathian Ruthenia, Transcarpathian Ukraine, Zakarpattia, Rusinko, Subcarpathian Rus, Subcarpathia is a small region in Central Europe, now...

    , small historical region
  • Carpatho-Ukraine
    Carpatho-Ukraine
    Carpatho-Ukraine was an autonomous region within Czechoslovakia from late 1938 to March 15, 1939. It declared itself an independent Ukrainian republic on March 15 1939, but was occupied by Hungary between March 15 and March 18, 1939, remaining under Hungarian control until the Nazi Occupation of...

    , a short-lived Ukrainian state on the territory
  • Ruthenians and Ukrainians in Czechoslovakia
    Ruthenians and Ukrainians in Czechoslovakia (1918-1938)
    Subcarpathian Ruthenia had been Czechoslovakia’s poorest region, and, if Slovakia had fared badly under Hungarian domination within Austria-Hungary, Carpatho-Ukraine's situation had been far worse...

  • Museum of Folk Architecture and Life
    Museum of Folk Architecture and Life, Uzhhorod
    Museum of Folk Architecture and Life is an open-air museum located in Uzhhorod, Ukraine. It features over 30 traditional structures collected from villages across Zakarpattia Oblast, the Ukrainian province of which Uzhgorod is the capital. According to Michael Benanav of The New York Times, "the...

    , museum displaying Zakarpattia architecture

External links