Galicia (Eastern Europe)

Galicia (/ɡəˈlɪʃ(i)ə/ gə-LISH(-ee)-ə; Polish: Galicja, IPA: [ɡaˈlit͡sja] ^ⓘ; Ukrainian: Галичина, romanized: Halychyna, IPA: [ɦɐlɪtʃɪˈnɑ]; Yiddish: גאַליציע, romanized: Galitsye) is a historical and geographic region spanning what is now southeastern Poland and western Ukraine, long part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It covers much of the other historic regions of Red Ruthenia (centered on Lviv) and Lesser Poland (centered on Kraków).

The name of the region derives from the medieval city of Halych, and was first mentioned in Hungarian historical chronicles in the year 1206 as Galiciæ. The eastern part of the region was controlled by the medieval Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia before it was annexed by the Kingdom of Poland in 1352 and became part of the Ruthenian Voivodeship. During the partitions of Poland, it was incorporated into a crown land of the Austrian Empire – the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria.

The nucleus of historic Galicia lies within the modern regions of western Ukraine: the Lviv, Ternopil, and Ivano-Frankivsk oblasts near Halych. In the 18th century, territories that later became part of the modern Polish regions of the Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Subcarpathian Voivodeship, and Silesian Voivodeship were added to Galicia after the collapse of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Eastern Galicia became contested ground between Poland and Ruthenia in medieval times and was fought over by Austria-Hungary and Russia during World War I and also Poland and Ukraine in the 20th century. In the 10th century, several cities were founded there, such as Volodymyr and Jaroslaw, whose names mark their connections with the Grand Princes of Kiev. There is considerable overlap between Galicia and Podolia (to the east) as well as between Galicia and south-west Ruthenia, especially in a cross-border region (centred on Carpathian Ruthenia) inhabited by various nationalities and religious groups.