Kharkiv Oblast

Kharkiv Oblast (Ukrainian: Харківська область, translit. Kharkivs’ka oblast’; also referred to as Kharkivshchyna – Ukrainian: Харківщина) is an oblast (province) in eastern Ukraine. The oblast borders Russia to the north, Luhansk Oblast to the east, Donetsk Oblast to the south-east, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast to the south-west, Poltava Oblast to the west and Sumy Oblast to the north-west. The area of the oblast is 31,400 km², corresponding to 5.2% of the total territory of Ukraine.

The oblast is the third most populous region of Ukraine, with a population of 2,857,751 (as of 2004^[update]), more than half (1.5 million) of whom live in the city of Kharkiv, the oblast's administrative center. While the Russian language is primarily spoken in the cities of Kharkiv oblast, elsewhere in the oblast most inhabitants speak Ukrainian.

History

The territory of the Kharkiv oblast has been permanently inhabited since at least the late Paleolithic period (10,000–12,000 years ago) but archaeological evidence indicates a human (Neanderthal) presence as early as the Mousterian period some 80,000 years ago.

The territory was relatively sparsely inhabited until the 1630s, when large numbers of Ukrainians began to settle there before and during the Khmelnytsky Uprising. Most of the settlers were migrants from the Dnieper region, many of whom were fleeing fighting between Cossacks, Poles and Tatars. They called the newly settled region the Sloboda Ukraine or Slobozhanshchina, as the area is still sometimes called, and ruled it from the newly established fortress-city of Kharkiv (founded 1656). In 1654, the region was incorporated into Muscovy (and subsequently the Russian Empire) under the terms of the Treaty of Pereyaslav.

Over the next 340 years, the area became heavily Russified. Kharkiv itself became one of the cultural and administrative centres of the Russian Empire in the mid-18th century, and served as the capital of the Ukrainian SSR from 1919 until 1934, when the Soviet authorities moved the capital back to Kiev. The modern Kharkiv oblast is a relatively recent creation, having been established on 27 February 1932. During the Holodomor the population of the Kharkiv Oblast together with Kiev Oblast suffered the most. The region saw major fighting during World War II in several Battles of Kharkov between 1941 and 1943.

Points of interest

The following sites were nominated for the Seven Wonders of Ukraine.

• Derzhprom Building
• Pokrov monastery (Kharkiv)
• Skovoroda museum

Demographics

Its population (as of 2001) is 2,895,800 million (1328900 males (45,9 %), 1566900 females (54,1%)).

As of the 2001 census, the ethnic groups within the Kharkiv Oblast are:

• Ukrainians – 70.7%,
• Russians – 25.6%,
• Belorussians – 0.5%
• Jews – 0.4%,
• Armenians – 0.4%,
• Azeris – 0.2%,
• Georgians – 0.15%,
• Tatars – 0.14%,
• others – 2.1%,;

the groups by native language:

• Ukrainian 53.8%,
• Russian 44.3%,
• other languages 1.9%.

Economy

The Kharkiv oblast has a primarily industrially based economy, including engineering, metallurgy, manufacturing, production of chemicals and food processing. It also has an important agricultural sector with 19,000 square kilometres of arable land (comprising 5.9% of the total arable lands of Ukraine).

Also in Kharkiv is the Airplane plant for space controlling systems. It is a major center for all branches of engineering, from large-scale manufacture to microelectronics. Also situated in Kharkiv Oblast is a gas field, which is one of the biggest in Ukraine.

Subdivisions

The Kharkiv Oblast is administratively subdivided into 27 raions (districts), as well as 7 cities (municipalities) which are directly subordinate to the oblast government: Chuhuiv, Izium, Kupiansk, Liubotyn, Lozova, Pervomaiskyi, and the administrative center of the oblast, Kharkiv.

Nomenclature

Most of Ukraine's oblasts are named after their capital cities, officially referred to as "oblast centers" (Ukrainian: обласний центр, translit. oblasnyi tsentr). The name of each oblast is a relative adjective, formed by adding a feminine suffix to the name of respective center city: Kharkiv is the center of the Kharkivs’ka oblast’ (Kharkiv Oblast). Most oblasts are also sometimes referred to in a feminine noun form, following the convention of traditional regional place names, ending with the suffix "-shchyna", as is the case with the Kharkiv Oblast, Kharkivshchyna.

Notes

External links

• Kharkiv Oblast Facts & Figures
• Kharkiv Oblast statistics
• Maps of Kharkiv oblast Cities, Towns and Villages
• About Kharkiv Oblast
• Post codes directory of Kharkiv Oblast