Pokuttya

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Pokuttya or Pokuttia (Ukrainian: Покуття, Romanian: Pocuţia, Polish: Pokucie) is a historical area of Central Europe, between upper Prut and Cheremosh rivers, in modern Ukraine. Historically it was a culturally-distinct area inhabitated by Romanians and Ruthenians on the previously-unpopulated borderlands between the lands of Lviv and Halych. Although the historical centre of the area was Kolomyia, the name itself is derived from the name of the town of Kuty and literally means by Kuty ("Kut" by itself means "corner"). Presently, the region is inhabitted by Ukrainians, including Hutsuls.

[edit] History

Initially a part of Kievan Rus' and one of its successor states, Halych-Volhynia, the area was occupied by the Kingdom of Poland in 1325, and annexed in 1349 by Casimir III of Poland, who, needing financial support in his battles against the Teutonic Knights, used the region as a guarantee in a loan which he obtained from Petru I of Moldavia. At the same time, Petru I was eager at gaining influence within the Kingdom of Poland, where he supported the cause of his long-time allies, Jagiellons of Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Pokuttia, therefore, became the feodal property of the princes of Moldavia, but remained within the Kingdom of Poland. As in other famous similar cases in middle age Europe (such as Foix, or Dauphiné), the local feodal had to swear oath of allegiance to the king for the specific territory, even when the former was himself an independent ruler of another state. Depending on the political and military strength of each person, the king could ask for allegeiace, omtiting the words for Pokuttia, or could refrain from asking an oath altogether. Consequently, the region became a matter for judicial and military dispute among the two countries, because the debt had never been paid in full by Poland, and because Pokuttia was a more valuable asset than the money. In 1485, Moldavian prince Stephen the Great, after losing in the previous year his country's exit to the Black Sea to the Ottomans, was in serious need of alliances, and swore allegiance to Casimir IV Jagiellon, King of Poland for Pokuttia, in what is known as the Colomeea oath. However, Casimir's successor John I Albert of Poland, used the treaty as a pretext to invade Moldavia itself in 1497, but after four months of siege, failed to conquer the fortress of Suceava, Stephen's capital. Moreover, when abandoning the siege, his army ran into a trap and was decimated, and many nobles were killed. After that, in 1498, Pokuttia was conquered by Stephen the Great, and was retained by Moldavia until after the Battle of Obertyn in 1531, when it was recaptured by Poland's hetman Jan Tarnowski, who defeated Stephen's son Petru Rareş. Minor Polish-Moldavian clashes for Pokuttia continued for the next 15 years, until Petru Rareş's death.

Following the Partitions of Poland of 1772, Pokuttya fell under the Habsburg Monarchy.

In the wake of the World War I and the fall of Austria-Hungary, it became disputed between Poland and a short-lived West Ukrainian People's Republic. However, during the Polish-Ukrainian War it was seized without fight by the Romanian army, and handed over to Polish authorities. After the Polish-Soviet War was concluded, it remained in Poland.

In the effect of the 1939 invasion and partition of Poland between Nazi Germany and Soviet Union, the area was attached to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (falling to Nazi control after the start of Operation Barbarossa and until 1944). It remains a part of modern Ukraine, incorporated into several western Ukrainian oblasts, roughly corresponding to the southern half of the Ivano-Frankivsk oblast.

Throughout middle ages, Obertyn was Pokuttia's main castle, while Kolomyia was the region's main town and fair.

[edit] Places of interest

• Deliatyn (Deltyatyn)
• Hody-Dobrovidka
• Kobaky
• Kolomyia (Romanian: Colomeea)
• Kosiv
• Kosmach
• Kuty, Stari Kuty (Romanian: Cuturi)
• Lanchyn Pechenizhyn
• Obertyn (Romanian: Obertin)
• Verkhovyna
• Vorokhta
• Yabluniv
• Yaremcha
• Zabolotiv
• Carpathian National Park