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Kremenchuk

Kremenchuk

Kremenchuk (; , Kremenchug) is an important industrial city in central Ukraine, located on the banks of Dnieper. Administratively, Kremenchuk is a part of Poltavs'ka oblast' and the center of its Kremenchutz'kyi raion (district). Its population is 226,100 (as of 2004).

History

Kremenchuk was supposedly founded in 1571. From its situation at the southern terminus of the navigable course of the Dnieper, and on the highway from Muscovy to Black Sea, it early acquired great commercial importance, and, by 1655, it was a wealthy Cossack town.

Economy

Kremenchuk is a large industrial city of the Poltava region and one of the leading industrial centers of Ukraine. Situated in the city are some enterprises such as Autokraz, Ukrtatnafta, Road Machine factory, Car-building plant, Wheel plant, Technical Carbon plant and others. Kremenchuk is a home to the KrAZ truck-manufacturing company (one of the largest in Eastern Europe and internationally important) and a major oil-refining plant. The light industries in the city are the tobacco, confectionery, knitting factories, milk plant and others. Kremenchuk is one of the most important railway junctions of Central Ukraine and is also a great port on Dnieper river.

External link

- [http://www.kremenchuk.pl.ua Official homepage of Kremenchuk], in Ukrainian Category:Cities in Ukraine ja:クレメンチュック

Ukraine

Ukraine (Ukrainian: Україна, Ukrayina, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the northeast, Belarus to the north, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary to the west, Romania and Moldova to the southwest and the Black Sea to the south. The territory of present-day Ukraine was a key centre of East Slavic culture in the Middle Ages, before being divided between a variety of powers, notably Russia, Poland, Lithuania, Austria, Romania and the Ottoman Empire. A brief period of independence following the Russian Revolution of 1917 was ended by Ukraine's absorption into the Soviet Union and the republic's present borders were only established in 1954. It became independent once more following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Name

Etymology
There are three main versions of the Slavic etymology for the name, all of them ultimately stem from the slavic root
- kraj- with the meaning 'cut'. Opinions vary as to the immediate derivation.
- By one theory the name is directly translated as 'borderland, frontier' (cf. Russian окраина/okraina 'outskirts' or Serbo-Croatian Krajina; this would be a semantic parallel to -mark in Denmark, cf. Marches).
- Another one associates it with the Ukrainian word країна/krajina 'country' (cf. also Belarusian краіна/kraina; these words can be compared to Polish kraj 'country'; this is also one of the meanings of Ukrainian and Russian край/kraj).
- Still another one derives the name directly from the Ukrainian verb краяти/krajaty, meaning 'to cut', indicating the land the Rus' (or Ruthenians or Ukrainians) carved out for themselves.

Ukraine or the Ukraine?

The country is often referred to in English with the definite article, as the Ukraine. This usage is now deprecated by many media organizations (compare "the Lebanon" and "the Sudan") and partly because of the implication that Ukraine is merely a region rather than an independent state. There was, however, no change in Ukrainian or Russian usage with Ukraine's independence, as there are no articles, definite or indefinite, in either language. However there is a parallel concerning the usage of the preposition na or v with Ukraine, both in Ukrainian and in Russian. Traditional usage is na Ukrayini (loosely, "at Ukraine"), but recently Ukrainian authorities have been using v Ukrayini ("in Ukraine"), as this preposition is used with most other country names. While in Ukrainian the newly introduced usage of v Ukrayini took hold, the usage in Russian varies. Russian language media from within Ukraine are increasingly using this form. However, the media in Russia mostly uses traditional na Ukraine, maintaining that it remains a proper usage and questioning the authority of the Ukrainian government over the Russian language. (See also Kiev or Kyiv for a similar debate).
History
Human settlement in the territory of Ukraine has been documented into distant prehistory. The late neolithic Trypillian culture flourished from ca. 4500 BC to 3000 BC. In antiquity, the southern and eastern parts of modern Ukraine were populated by Iranian nomads called Scythians. The Scythian Kingdom existed in Ukraine between 700 BC and 200 BC. In the third century, the Goths arrived, calling their country Oium, and formed the Chernyakhov culture before moving on and defeating the Roman empire. In the 7th century Ukraine was the core of the state of the Bulgars (often referred to as Great Bulgaria) who had their capital in the city of Phanagoria. The majority of the Bulgar tribes migrated in several directions at the end of the seventh century and the remains of their state was swept by the Khazars, a Turkic semi-nomadic people from Central Asia which later adopted Judaism. The Khazars founded the independent Khazar kingdom in the southeastern part of today's Europe, near the Caspian Sea and the Caucasus. In addition to western Kazakhstan, the Khazar kingdom also included territory in what is now eastern Ukraine, Azerbaijan, southern Russia, and Crimea. During the tenth and eleventh centuries the territory of Ukraine became the center of important state in Europe— Kievan Rus laying the foundation for national identity of Ukrainians, as well as other East Slavic nations, through subsequent centuries. Its capital was Kiev, the capital of modern Ukraine, ruled by Askold and Dir in the late 800s. According to the Primary Chronicle the Kievan Rus' elite initially consisted of Varangians, or Vikings, from present-day Scandinavia. The Varangians later became assimilated into the local population of Rus' and gave the Rus' its first powerful dynasty, the Rurik Dynasty. Rurik Dynasty Rurik Dynasty For the etymology of the terms Rus and Russia, see Etymology of Rus and derivatives. Kiev and Kievian Rus' were the seat of the Grand Prince of the Rurik Dynasty. The ruler of Kiev was also in effect the ruler of all the Rus' principalities. Kievan Rus' was fragmentated after Mstislav the Great's death in 1125. The term "Rus'" was originally applied to the inhabitants of all Rus' principalities, today comprising Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia. After the fall of Kiev, and until the eighteenth century, the term "Rus" was self-applied by the members of all three East Slavic nations, but the latinized version, "Ruthenian", was used to designate inhabitants of Ukraine only; while the ancestors of modern Russians were usually referred to as Muscovites or Muscovite Russians by the name of their state that Poland called Muscovy. Kievan Rus' became weakened by internal quarrels and was destroyed by Mongol and Tatar invasions. On Ukrainian territory, the state of Kievan Rus' was succeeded by the principalities of Halych and Volodymyr-Volynskyi, which were merged into the state of Halych-Volynia. In the mid 14th century it was subjugated by Kazimierz IV of Poland, and after the 1386 marriage of Lithuania's Grand Duke Jagiello to Poland's Queen Jadwiga, was ruled by the Lithuanians as part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. After the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was formed in 1569 Union of Lublin, significant part of Ukraine was moved under the Polish administration, as it was transferred to the Polish Crown. Under the cultural pressure of polonization much of the Ukrainian (or rather Ruthenian) upper class converted to Catholicism as such transitions was beneficial for achieving the political influence within the state, e.g. one of the Wiśniowiecki's even became king of Poland. At the same time the common people (peasants) retained their old ways (including the Orthodox religion), which led to the increasing social tensions, visible in such events as the 1596 Union of Brest, created by Zygmunt III, who attempted to bring the Orthodox population closer to Catholicism. This move failed to achieve its goals. The new "intermediate" religion was unnecessary for the upper class, much of whom turned directly towards Catholicism. Thus, the Ukrainian commoners were deprived of their native protectors and turned for the protection to the Cossacks who remained fiercely Orthodox at all times. In the mid of the 17th century, a Cossack state, the Zaporizhian Sich, was established by Ukrainians and others fleeing Polish serfdom which formally belonged to Poland. Located in central Ukraine, it was an autonomous military state, initially allied with the Commonwealth. However the suppression of the Ukrainian free farmers by the Polish nobility, further imposition of serfdom and the suppression of the Orthodox church pushed the allegiances of Cossacks away from Poland. Their aspiration was to have a representation in Polish Seim, recognition of Orthodox traditions, which was vehemantly denied by Polish kings. They turned toward Orthodox Russia, which was one reason for the later downfall of the Polish-Lithuanian state. In 1648 Bohdan Khmelnytsky organized the largest of the Cossacks upprising, against the Commonwealth and the Polish king Jan II Kazimierz. This uprising finally led to a partition of Ukraine between Poland and Russia. Left-Bank Ukraine was eventually integrated into Russia as the Cossack Hetmanate, as a consequence of the Treaty of Pereyaslav in 1667. After the partitions of Poland by Prussia, Austria, and Russia at the end of the eighteenth century, Western Ukraine (Galicia) was taken over by Austria, while the rest of Ukraine was progressively incorporated into the Russian Empire. The treaty of Pereyaslav was abolished and Ukrainians never received the freedoms they were hoping for from Tsarist Russia. Ukrainians played an important role in the frequent wars between East European monarchies and the Ottoman Empire, they rised to the highest offices of Russian state (e.g., Aleksey Razumovsky, Alexander Bezborodko, Ivan Paskevich), and dominated the Russian Orthodox Church (e.g., Stephen Yavorsky, Feofan Prokopovich, Dimitry of Rostov). During the first world war austro-hungarian authorities in territory of Galicia subject to repression Ukrainians, sympathizing Russia. Over twenty thousand supporters of Russia are arrested and placed in the Austrian concentration camp in Talerhof, Stiria, and in fortress Terezien, Czechia. Following the Russian Revolution in 1917, Ukraine was briefly independent in two states, then united by cruel war, in 1920. In the period when the independent Ukrainian government was headed nationalist leader Simon Petlura (1919), there were numerous Jewish pogroms. By 1922 Ukraine was split between Poland and the Soviet Union. Also in 1922, most of Central and Eastern Ukraine became a constituent republic of the USSR as the Ukrainian SSR. In 20s years the communist leaders realized a policy of Ukrainization (коренизация), introduction of the Ukrainian language and culture in Russian-speaking Ukrainian cities. To satisfy the state's need for increased food supplies, the Soviet industrialization program called for the collectivization of agriculture, which had a profound effect on Ukraine, the nation's breadbasket (see Collectivization in the USSR). In the late 1920s and early 1930s the state compounded the peasants' lands and animals into collective farms and state farms. Although the program was designed to affect all peasants, the plan met particularly heavy resistance from the wealthiest peasants, the kulaks, and a desperate struggle of the peasantry against the authorities ensued. The idea of collective farming was foreign to Ukrainian farmers where emphasis was always made on individual achievements. Peasants slaughtered their cows and pigs rather than turn them over to the collective farms, especially in Ukraine, with the result that livestock resources remained below the 1929 level for years afterward. The state in turn forcibly collectivized reluctant peasants and deported kulaks and active rebels to Siberia. Within the collective farms, the authorities in many instances exacted such high levels of procurements that starvation was widespread. In some places, famine was allowed to run its course; and millions of peasants in Ukraine starved to death in a famine, called the Holodomor in Ukrainian. An estimated 3-6 million people died in this horrible manmade famine ([http://rg-new.w-m.ru/Anons/arc_2003/0917/5.shtm]) similar to the Russian famine of 1921. The disaster also has captured many regions of southern Russia. During World War II, some elements of the Ukrainian nationalist underground fought both Nazi and Soviet forces, while others collaborated with the Nazis. In 1941 the German invaders and their Axis allies initially advanced against desperate but unsuccessful efforts of the Red Army. In the encirclement battle of Kiev, the city was acclaimed by the Soviets as a "Hero City", for the fierce resistance of the Red Army and of the local population. More than 660,000 Soviet troops were taken captive. Initially, the Germans were received as "liberators" by many Ukrainians. However, German rule in the occupied territories eventually aided the Soviet cause. Nazi administrators of conquered Soviet territories made little attempt to exploit the population's dissatisfaction with Soviet political and economic policies. Instead, the Nazis preserved the collective-farm system, systematically carried out genocidal policies against Jews, and deported others (mainly Ukrainians) to work in Germany. Under these circumstances, the great majority of the Soviet people fought and worked on their country's behalf, thus ensuring the regime's survival. Total civilian losses during the war and German occupation in Ukraine are estimated between five and eight million, including over half a million Jews shot and killed by the Einsatzgruppen, often with the help of Ukrainian collaborators. Of the estimated eleven million Soviet troops who fell in battle against the Nazis, about a quarter (2.7 million) were ethnic Ukrainians. Ukraine is distinguished as one of the first nations to fight the Axis powers in Carpatho-Ukraine, and one that saw some of the greatest bloodshed during the war. After the Second World War, the borders of then-Soviet Ukraine were extended to the West (as stipulated in the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, see also Curzon line), uniting most Ukrainians under one political state. The expellation of the Poles began in 1942-1943 with the massacres of Wolynia, where more than 40.000 people where killed by Ukrainian Insurgent Army. Over one million Poles were expelled from Ukraine. In 1954, Crimea was transferred from the RSFSR to Ukraine. This decision of Nikita Khrushchev, intended to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the Treaty of Pereyaslav, seen in Soviet historiography as the 'union of two fraternal peoples', led to tensions between Russia and Ukraine after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Independence was achieved in 1991 with the collapse of the Soviet Union, and Ukraine was a founding member of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Government and Politics
Commonwealth of Independent States Commonwealth of Independent States Ukraine is a democracy under a semi-presidential system with separate legislative, executive, and judicial branches. The President of Ukraine (elected by popular vote) nominates the Prime Minister, who must be confirmed by the 450-seat parliament, the Verkhovna Rada. The President (on advice and consent of the Prime Minister) appoints members of the Cabinet of Ministers, as well as heads of all central agencies and regional and district administrations. Laws, acts of the parliament and the Cabinet, presidential edicts, and acts of the Crimean parliament (Autonomous Republic of Crimea) may be nullified by the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, when they are found to violate the Constitution of Ukraine. Other normative acts are subject to judicial review. The Supreme Court of Ukraine is the main body in the system of courts of general jurisdiction. Local self-government is officially guaranteed. Local councils and city mayors are popularly elected and exercise control over local budgets. In practice, the scope of local self-government is limited. Ukraine has a large number of political parties, many of which have tiny memberships and are unknown to the general public. Small parties often join in multi-party coalitions (electoral blocks) for the purpose of participating in parliamentary elections. See also:
- Ukrainian presidential election, 2004
- Foreign relations of Ukraine
Subdivisions
Ukraine is subdivided into twenty-four oblasts (provinces) and one autonomous republic (Crimea). Additionally, two cities have a special legal status. See also regions of Ukraine.
Geography
regions of Ukraine The Ukrainian landscape consists mostly of fertile plains, or steppes, and plateaus, crossed by rivers such as the Dnieper, Seversky Donets, Dniester and the Southern Buh as they flow south into the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. To the southwest the delta of the Danube forms the border with Romania. The country's only mountains are the Carpathian Mountains in the west, of which the highest is the Hora Hoverla at 2,061 m, and those in the Crimean peninsula, in the extreme south along the coast. Ukraine has a mostly temperate continental climate, though a more mediterranean climate is found on the southern Crimean coast. Precipitation is disproportionately distributed; it is highest in the west and north and lesser in the east and southeast. Winters vary from cool along the Black Sea to cold farther inland. Summers are warm across the greater part of the country, but generally hot in the south.
Economy
Precipitation Precipitation Precipitation Formerly an important agricultural and industrial region of the Soviet Union, Ukraine now depends on Russia for most energy supplies, especially natural gas, although lately it has been trying to diversify its sources. The lack of significant structural reform has made the Ukrainian economy vulnerable to external shocks. After 1991 the government liberalised most prices and erected a legal framework for privatisation, but widespread resistance to reform within the government soon stalled reform efforts and led to some backtracking. Output by 1999 had fallen to less than 40% of the 1991 level. Loose monetary policies pushed inflation to hyperinflationary levels in late 1993. The current government has pledged to reduce the number of government agencies, streamline the regulatory process, create a legal environment to encourage entrepreneurs, and enact a comprehensive tax overhaul. Reforms in the more politically sensitive areas of structural reform and land privatisation are still lagging. Outside institutions—particularly the IMF—have encouraged Ukraine to quicken the pace and scope of reforms and have threatened to withdraw financial support. The GDP in 2000 showed strong export-based growth of 6%—the first growth since independence—and industrial production grew 12.9%. The economy continued to expand in 2001, as real GDP rose 9% and industrial output grew by over 14%. Growth was undergirded by strong domestic demand and growing consumer and investor confidence. Rapid economic growth in 2002 - 2004 is largely attributed to a surge in steel exports to China.
Demographics
2004 2004 Ethnic Ukrainians make up 77.8% of the population. The minorities include significant groups of ethnic Russians (17.3%), Belarusians (0.6%), Moldavians (0.5%), Crimean Tatars (0.5%), Bulgarians (0.4%), Hungarians (0.3%), Romanians (0.3%), Poles (0.3%), Jews (0.2%), Armenians (0.2%), Greeks (0.2%) and Tatars (0.2%) [http://www.ukrcensus.gov.ua/eng/results/general/nationality/]. The industrial regions in the east and south-east are the most heavily populated, and about 67.2% of the population lives in urban areas. Ukrainian is the only official state language. Russian, which was the official language in the Soviet Union, is still used by many people, especially in eastern Ukraine. Ukrainian is considered to be a native language by 67.5% of the population and Russian by 29.6% (according to the 2001 census). It is sometimes difficult to determine the extent of the two language, since many people use a mixed language (Surzhyk) containing elements of both, while thinking they speak Russian or Ukrainian. Standard literary Ukrainian is mainly spoken in western and central Ukraine. In western Ukraine, Ukrainian is also the dominant language in cities (e.g. Lviv). In central Ukraine, Ukrainian and Russian are both equally used in cities (including Kiev), while Ukrainian is the dominant language in rural communities. In eastern Ukraine mainly Russian and Surzhyk are used. In the Autonomous Republic of Crimea practically all of the population speaks Russian and Ukrainain is virtually unused. Both languages are official within the autonomous republic. The share of students receiving their education in Russian has significantly declined from 41% in 1995 to 24% in 2004, in favour of Ukrainian-language education. Still, many urban Ukrainian schools are de facto Russian-speaking, especially in the east and south. Russian continues to be the language of international communication for many Ukrainians and is generally understood throughout the country.
Religion
de facto The dominant religion in Ukraine is Eastern Orthodox Christianity, which is currently split between three Church bodies. The distant second is the Eastern Rite Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, which practices similar Liturgical rite to Eastern Orthodoxy, but is in communion with the Catholic see and recognizes the primacy of the Roman Pope as head of the Church. There are also smaller Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and Muslim communities.
Culture

- List of famous Ukrainians
- Music of Ukraine
- Ivan Kupala
- Sports in Ukraine
Miscellaneous topics

- Chernobyl accident
- Communications in Ukraine
- List of cities in Ukraine
- List of newspapers in Ukraine
- Military of Ukraine
- Security Service of Ukraine (SBU)
- Scouting in Ukraine
- Tourism in Ukraine
- Transportation in Ukraine
- Ukraine at the 2004 Summer Olympics
- Ukrainian cuisine
- 2005 Eurovision Song Contest
References

- [http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/up.html CIA World Factbook - Ukraine]
- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/country_profiles/1102303.stm Country profile: Ukraine], BBC's Country Profile on Ukraine.
- [http://www.economist.com/countries/Ukraine/index.cfm Country Briefings: Ukraine], by The Economist
- [http://eb.eiu.com/index.asp?layout=oneclick&country_id=980000298 Executive Briefing: Ukraine], by Economist Intelligence Unit.
- [http://www.guardian.co.uk/ukraine Special Report: Ukraine], ongoing coverage by Guardian Unlimited
- [http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3211.htm Background Note: Ukraine], the U.S. Department of State website
- [http://www.loc.gov/rr/international/european/ukraine/ua.html Ukraine], Portals to the World, Internet resources selected by Library of Congress subject experts
- [http://www.wumag.kiev.ua/index2.php?param=pgs20031/4 "Ukraine: Briefly about Her Past and Present"], in Welcome to Ukraine, 2003, 1]
External links

- [http://www.president.gov.ua/en/ Official presidential site of Ukraine]
- [http://www.kmu.gov.ua/control/en Government Portal of Ukraine] - Official governmental portal
- [http://www.rada.gov.ua Verkhovna Rada]—Official parliamentary site (in Ukrainian)
- [http://www.archives.gov.ua/Eng/ Archives of Ukraine]
- [http://www.ukrtelecom.ua/en/offers/web_cam/ Web cam shots for selected cities across Ukraine]
- [http://www.infoukes.com Infoukes]—General info on Ukraine's History and Politics
- [http://myukraine.info My Ukraine]—General info on Ukraine's culture and geography.
- [http://www.kyivpost.com Kyiv Post]—Kyiv News in English
- [http://www.ukraina.at Ukraina.at]—Ukraine Fanpage from Mr. Bartosch (in German)
- [http://pages.prodigy.net/l.hodges/ukraine.htm Ukrainian Language, Culture and Travel Page]
- [http://guide.kyiv.ru/ Kiev and Ukraine Travel Guide ]
- [http://www.skrobach.com/ Information about Independent Ukraine] Category:Black Sea countries zh-min-nan:Ukrayina als:Ukraine ko:우크라이나 ms:Ukraine ja:ウクライナ simple:Ukraine th:ประเทศยูเครน fiu-vro:Ukraina

Poltavs'ka Oblast

Poltava Oblast (Полтавська область, Poltavs’ka oblast’ or Полтавщина, Poltavshchyna in Ukrainian) is an oblast (province) of central Ukraine. Its capital is Poltava. The province is a center of Ukraine's oil and natural gas industry, with many wells and pipelines situated here. There is a major oil refinery plant in the city of Krementchuk. Important iron ore processing facilities also present. It is believed that normalized Ukrainian has been based on 19th century local peasant dialect. But now at least half of the province' population speaks either Russian or its mixture with Ukrainian named Surzhyk. It was mostly a result of industry-related immigration and Russification. The area of the province is 28,800 km²; its population (as of 2005-05-01) is 1.6 million people. ja:ポルタヴァ州

District

Districts are a form of local government in several countries.

Austria

Main article: Districts of Austria In Austria, a district is an administrative subdivision normally encompassing several municipalities, roughly equivalent to the Landkreis in Germany. The administrative office of a district, the Bezirkshauptmannschaft is headed by the Bezirkshauptmann. It is in charge of the administration of all matters of federal and state administrative law and subject to orders from the higher instances, usually the Landeshauptmann (governor) in matters of federal law and the Landesregierung (state government) in state law. While there are matters of administrative law of which the municipalities themselves are in charge or where there are special bodies, the district is the basic unit of general administration in Austria. Officials on the district level are not elected, but appointed by the state government. There are also independent cities in Austria. They are called Statutarstadt in Austrian administrative law. These urban districts do have the same tasks as a normal district.

Vienna

Main article: Districts of Vienna The State of Vienna, which is at the same time a municipality, is also subdivided in 23 districts, which, however, have a somewhat different function than in the rest of the country. Legally, the Magistratisches Bezirksamt (district office) is a local offices of the municipality's administration. However, representatives (Bezirksräte) on the district level are elected, and they in turn elect the head of the district, the Bezirksvorsteher. Those representative bodies are supposed to serve as immediate contacts for the locals on the political and administrative level. In practice, they have some power, e.g. concerning matters of traffic.

Belgium

The Belgian city of Antwerp is sub-divided into 9 districts (Dutch: districten).

Canada

In Ontario, a district is a statutory subdivision of the province, but, unlike a county, a district is not incorporated. Most districts are comprised of unincorporated lands, mostly Crown land. The first districts (Algoma, Nipissing were created by the Province of Canada in 1858 prior to Confederation for the delivery of judicial and provincial government services to sparsely populated areas from the district seat (e.g. Sault Ste. Marie). Some districts may have District Social Service Administration Boards, which are designed to provide certain social services. The boundaries of a federal census division may correspond to those of a district. In western and northern Canada, the federal government created districts as subdivisions of the Northwest Territories 1870-1905, partly on the model of the districts created in the Province of Canada. The first district created was the District of Keewatin in 1876 followed by four more districts in 1882. Gradually, these districts became separate territories (such as Yukon Territory, separate provinces (such as Alberta and Saskatchewan) or were absorbed into other provinces.

China

In China, the district or qū (市辖区, pinyin: shì xiá qū) is a subdivision of any of various city administrative units, including municipalities, sub-provincial cities and prefecture-level cities. Districts have county level status. Modern districts are a recent innovation. In the context of pre-modern China, the English translation "district" is typically associated with xian, another Chinese administrative division. The xian is translated as "county" in the context of modern China.

England

Main article: Districts of England Districts are the most recognisable form of local government in large parts of England. For those areas which retain two-tier local government, districts usually form the lower tier of that arrangement, with counties forming the upper tier. Districts tend to have responsibility for a number of areas including:
- tax collection (Council Tax & Non-Domestic Rates)
- Leisure Services
- Refuse collection
- Housing
- Planning
- Arts & Entertainment
- Environmental Health Each district raises taxes from residents on behalf of itself, and the upper tier authority through the Council Tax. It also raises income from business through the Non-Domestic Rates system, which is co-ordinated nationally.

Germany

- In Germany, a district ("Kreis") is an administrative unit between the "Länder" (German federal states) and the local / municipal levels (Gemeinden). Most of the 439 German districts are "Landkreise", rural districts. 116 larger cities (usually with more than 100,000 inhabitants) do not belong to a district are considered as urban districts ("Kreisfreie Städte" or "Stadtkreise") themselves. See also: Districts of Germany.
- In some states, there is additional level of administration between the Länder and the Landkreise called Regierungsbezirk ('government district').
- District was also the name of administrative subdivisions of the German Democratic Republic since 1952. See Subdivisions of East Germany.

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is divided into 18 districts, each with a district council. See also Districts of Hong Kong

Pakistan

Pakistan's districts are local administrative units inherited from the British Raj. Districts were generally grouped into administrative Divisions, which in turn formed Provinces. Pakistan has 130 districts (including 7 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir). They comprise of villages, towns and cities. A District is headed by a District Nazim (Mayor), who is an elected official and the local controller of the district level officers of all the departments under provincial government. The District Nazim heads an elected District Council which is comprised to councilors, who represent various district level constituencies. The councils have a constitutional requirement to be comprised of a minimum of 33% women, there is no upper limit to that; so women can comprise 100% of these councils but men cannot.

India

India's districts are local administrative units inherited from the British Raj. They generally form the tier of local government immediately below that of India's subnational States and Territories. Where warranted, Districts may further be grouped into administrative Divisions, which form an intermediate level between the District and the subnational State (or union territory). A District is headed by a Deputy Commissioner in most cases, responsible for the overall administration and the maintenance of law and order. The office of District Collector is also defined, who is the local controller of the district-level administrative staff officers (i.e., the "Public Service") of all the local departments under state government. The district collector is a person who belongs to IAS (Indian Administrative Services). Other key responsibilities include the collection of revenue, and for the Judiciary of the district and sessional courts. The roles of Deputy Commissioner and District Collector may be combined. Districts are most frequently further sub-divided into smaller administrative units, called either tehsils or talukas, depending on the region. These units have specific local responsibilities, including in particular coordinating revenue collection. An intermediate level (the Sub-Division) between District and tehsil/taluka may be formed by grouping these units under the oversight of Assistant Commissioners. As of October 2005, a total of 602 Districts are defined in India.

Japan

A district (gun in Japanese) is a local administrative unit comprising towns and villages but not cities. See districts of Japan for more complete discription. In 1923, its administrative role was abolished although it is still in use for addressing purposes. District is also a translation for chiku defined by Japan's planning law.

Kenya

In Kenya, a district (Wilaya) is a subdivision of a Province and is headed by a District Officer (DO).

Malaysia

In Malaysia, a district is a division of a state.

Nauru

The districts of Nauru are the only subdivisions of the whole state.

New Zealand

Main article: Territorial Authorities of New Zealand In New Zealand a district is a territorial authority (second-tier local government unit) that has not gained the distinction of being proclaimed a city. Districts tend to be less urbanised, tend to cover more than one population centre and a larger amount of rural area, and tend to have a smaller population than cities. While cities and districts are generally considered to be two different types of territorial authority, the area covered by a city is often known as its district—for example the term district plan is used equally in districts and cities. The Chatham Islands Territory is neither a district nor a city. A district is not always a simple division of a region, some districts straddle regional boundaries.

Peru

Third level subdivisions of Peru. See: Districts of Peru

Portugal

Districts (Portuguese: distritos) are administrative divisions of Portugal. They do not have an elected government; they are governed by a "civil governor" appointed by the central government. See Districts of Portugal.

Serbia and Montenegro

In Serbia and Montenegro, Serbia is divided into 29 districts (okrug) and the city of Belgrade, each of which is further divided into municipalities (opština) while Montenegro is directly divided into 21 municipalities. See Districts of Serbia.

Switzerland

In Switzerland some cantons organise themselves into districts, while others dispense with districts and govern themselves at the Wahlkreise (Constituency or electoral district) level. See Districts of Switzerland.

Thailand

A district ("amphoe") is a subdivision of a Province ("changwat") in Thailand. Some provinces also contain sub-districts ("king amphoe"), which are smaller than the average district. Districts are a form of local government in several countries.

United States

local government There are several types of districts in the United States. A constituency with a representative in Congress is a congressional district. Each state is organized into one or more such districts; the exact number within each state is based on the most recent census. Only voters within each district are allowed to vote in the election for the member of the House from that district. Overall, there are 435 congressional districts in the United States; each has roughly 630,000 people, with some variance. A constituency with a representative in a state legislature is a legislative district; the territory over which a federal court has jurisdiction is a federal judicial district. The District of Columbia is the only part of the United States, excluding territories, that is not a located within any of the fifty states. Districts in Alaska are the equivalent of a county or parish in the Lower 48 states. The United States also has many types of Special-purpose districts with limited powers of local government. School districts are the most common, but other types of districts include college districts, hospital districts, utility districts, irrigation districts, port districts, and public transit districts. Many cities in the late 20th century adopted names for non-governmental districts as a way of increasing recognition and identity of these distinct areas. In New York City, for example, there is the theatre district, the garment district, and districts with names like SoHo and TriBeCa.

1571

Events

- January 11 - Austrian nobility is granted Freedom of religion.
- January 23 - The Royal Exchange opens in London.
- Crimean Tatars from the Crimean Khanate seize and burn Moscow.
- Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School founded in Horncastle
- October 7 Battle of Lepanto - Spanish, Venetian, and Papal naval forces under Don John of Austria defeat the Turkish fleet of Ali Monizindade Pasha.

Births

- January 9 - Karel Bonaventura Buquoy, French soldier (d. 1621)
- January 27 - Abbas I of Safavid, Shah of Iran (died 1629)
- February 15 - Michael Praetorius, German composer and writer on music (died 1621)
- May 11 - Niwa Nagashige, Japanese warlord (died 1637)
- October 18 - Wolfgang Ratke, German educationist (died 1635)
- December 9 - Metius, Dutch mathematician and astronomer (d. 1635)
- December 27 - Johannes Kepler, German astronomer (died 1630)
- Henry Ainsworth, English Nonconformist clergyman and scholar (died 1622)
- William Bedell, Anglican churchman (died 1642)
- Willem Blaeu, Dutch cartographer (died 1638)
- Gabrielle d'Estrée, mistress of Henri IV of France (died 1599)
- Frederick de Houtman, Dutch explorer (died 1627)
- Hugh Roe O'Donnell, Irish chieftain and rebel (died 1603)
- Aleksander Ostrogski, Polish nobleman (died 1603)
- Alessandro Peretti di Montalto, Venetian cardinal (died 1623)
- Thomas Storer, English poet (died 1604)
- Thomas Wintour, English Gunpowder Plot conspirator (died 1606)
- Tirso de Molina, Spanish dramatist and poet (died 1648) See also :Category: 1571 births.

Deaths

- January 9 - Nicolas Durand de Villegaignon, French naval officer (born 1510)
- February 12 - Nicholas Throckmorton, English diplomat and politician (b. 1515)
- February 13 - Benvenuto Cellini, Italian artist (born 1500)
- April 6 - John Hamilton, Scottish prelate and politician (born 1511)
- June 1 - John Story, English Catholic (martyred)
- July 15 - Shimazu Takahisa, Japanese samurai and warlord (born 1514)
- July 17 - Georg Fabricius, German poet (born 1516)
- September 23 - John Jewel, English bishop (born 1522)
- Hans Asper, Swiss painter (born 1499)
- Tsukahara Bokuden, Japanese swordsman (born 1489)
- Joachim II of Brandenburg (born 1505)
- Titu Cusi, Incan ruler (born 1529)
- Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg, consort of Christian III of Denmark (born 1511)
- Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox (born 1516)
- Mori Motonari, Japanese warlord
- Jan Tarlo, Polish nobleman
- Pierre Viret, Swiss theologian (born 1511) See also :Category: 1571 deaths. Category:1571 ko:1571년

Muscovy

: This article is about Muscovite Russia. For the duck see Muscovy Duck Muscovy (Moscow principality (княжество Московское) to Grand Duchy of Moscow (Великое Княжество Московское) to Russian Tsardom (Царство Русское) is a traditional Western name for the Russian state that existed from the 14th century to the late 17th century. The Great Princedom of Moscow, as the state is known in Russian records, was the predecessor of the Russian Empire and the successor of Kievan Rus' in its northern lands. The reign of the tsars started officially with Ivan IV of Russia (Ivan the Terrible), the first monarch to be crowned Tsar of Russia, but in practice it started with the first to use the title of tsar, Ivan III of Russia (Ivan the Great), who completed centralisation of the state (traditionally known as the gathering of the Russian lands) at the same time as Louis XII did the same in France. The development of the Russian state can be traced from Vladimir-Suzdal' through Muscovy to Russia, and then, the Russian Empire. Muscovy drew people and wealth to the northeastern part of Kievan Rus'; established trade links to the Baltic Sea, the White Sea, and the Caspian Sea and to Siberia; and created a highly centralized and autocratic political system. Muscovite political traditions, therefore, exerted a powerful influence on Russian society.

Rise of Muscovy

When the Mongols invaded the lands of Kievan Rus', Moscow was an insignificant trading outpost in the principality of Vladimir-Suzdal'. The outpost's remote, forested location offered some security from Mongol attack and occupation, and a number of rivers provided access to the Baltic and Black Seas and to the Caucasus region. More important to Moscow's development in what became the state of Muscovy, however, was its rule by a series of princes who were ambitious, determined, and lucky. The first ruler of the principality of Muscovy, Daniil Aleksandrovich (d. 1303), secured the principality for his branch of the Rurik Dynasty. His son, Ivan I (r. 1325-1340), known as Ivan Kalita (Ivan Money Bag), obtained the title Grand Prince of Vladimir from his Mongol overlords. He cooperated closely with the Mongols and collected tribute/taxes from other Russian principalities on their behalf. This relationship enabled Ivan to gain regional ascendancy, particularly over Muscovy's chief rival, the northern city of Tver'. In 1327 the Orthodox metropolitan transferred his residency from Vladimir to Moscow, further enhancing the prestige of the new principality. Orthodox In the 15th century, the grand princes of Muscovy began gathering Russian lands to increase the population and wealth under their rule. The most successful practitioner of this process was Ivan III (the Great; r. 1462-1505), who conquered Novgorod in 1478 and Tver' in 1485. Muscovy gained full sovereignty over the ethnically Russian lands about 1480 when the Tatars' Golden Horde overlordship ended officially (see Great standing on the Ugra river), and by the beginning of the 16th century virtually all those lands were united. Through inheritance, Ivan obtained part of the province of Ryazan', and the princes of Rostov and Yaroslavl' voluntarily subordinated themselves to him. The northwestern city of Pskov remained independent in this period, but Ivan's son, Vasili III (r. 1505-1533), later conquered it. Ivan III was the first Muscovite ruler to use the titles of tsar and "Ruler of all Rus'". Ivan competed with his powerful northwestern rival Lithuania for control over some of the semi-independent former principalities of Kievan Rus' in the upper Dnepr and Donets river basins. Through the defections of some princes, border skirmishes, and a long, inconclusive war with Lithuania that ended only in 1503, Ivan III was able to push westward, and Muscovy tripled in size under his rule.

Evolution of the Russian Autocracy

Internal consolidation accompanied outward expansion of the state. By the 15th century, the rulers of Muscovy considered the entire Russian territory their collective property. Various semi-independent princes of Rurikid stock still claimed specific territories, but Ivan III forced the lesser princes to acknowledge the grand prince of Muscovy and his descendants as unquestioned rulers with control over military, judicial, and foreign affairs. Gradually, the Muscovite ruler emerged as a powerful, autocratic ruler, a tsar. By assuming that title, the Muscovite prince underscored that he was a major ruler or emperor on a par with the Greek emperor or the Mongol khan. Indeed, after Ivan III's marriage to Sophia Paleologue, the niece of the last Byzantine emperor, the Muscovite court adopted Byzantine terms, rituals, titles, and emblems such as the double-headed eagle. At first, the Byzantine term autocrat connoted only the literal meaning of an independent ruler, but in the reign of Ivan IV (r. 1533-1584) it came to mean unlimited rule. Ivan IV was crowned tsar and thus was recognized, at least by the Orthodox Church, as emperor. An Orthodox monk had claimed that, once Constantinople had fallen to the Ottoman Empire in 1453, the Muscovite tsar was the only legitimate Orthodox ruler and that Moscow was the Third Rome because it was the final successor to Rome and Constantinople, the centers of Christianity in earlier periods. That concept was to resonate in the self-image of Russians in future centuries.

Evolution of the Russian Aristocracy

Boyars were hereditary nobles of three categories: 1) Rurikid princes of Upper Oka towns, Suzdal, Rostov, Yaroslavl, etc. that lived in Moscow after their hereditary principalities had been incorporated into Muscovy (e.g., Shuisky, Vorotynsky, Repnin, Romodanovsky); 2) foreign princes from Lithuania and Golden Horde, claiming descent either from Grand Duke Gedyminas or from Genghis Khan (e.g., Belsky, Mstislavsky, Galitzine, Trubetskoy); 3) ancient families of Muscovite nobility that have been recorded in the service of Grand Dukes from the 14th century (e.g., Romanov, Godunov, Sheremetev). Rurikid and Gediminid boyars, whose fathers and grandfathers were independent princelings, felt that they are kin to tsar and hence almost equal to him. During the times of dynastic troubles (such as the years of Ivan IV's minority), boyardom constituted an internal force which was a permanent threat to the throne. An early form of Tsar's conflict with boyarstvo was oprichnina of Ivan the Terrible. During such conflicts, Ivan the Terrible, Boris Godunov, and some later tsars felt the necessity to counterbalance the boyardom by creating a new kind of nobility, based on personal devotion to tsar and merits earned by faithful service, rather than by heredity. Later these new nobles were called dvoryans (singular: dvoryanin). The name comes from the Russian word dvor in the meaning of tsar's dvor, i.e., The Court. Hence the expression pozhalovat ko dvoru, i.e., to be called to (serve) The Court.

Ivan IV

The development of the tsar's autocratic powers reached a peak during the reign of Ivan IV, and he became known as the Terrible (his Russian epithet, groznyy, means threatening or dreaded). Ivan strengthened the position of the tsar to an unprecedented degree, demonstrating the risks of unbridled power in the hands of a mentally unstable individual. Although apparently intelligent and energetic, Ivan suffered from bouts of paranoia and depression, and his rule was punctuated by acts of extreme violence. Ivan IV became grand prince of Muscovy in 1533 at the age of three. The Shuisky and Belsky factions of the boyars competed for control of the regency until Ivan assumed the throne in 1547. Reflecting Muscovy's new imperial claims, Ivan's coronation as tsar was an elaborate ritual modeled after those of the Byzantine emperors. With the continuing assistance of a group of boyars, Ivan began his reign with a series of useful reforms. In the 1550s, he promulgated a new law code, revamped the military, and reorganized local government. These reforms undoubtedly were intended to strengthen the state in the face of continuous warfare. 1550s During the late 1550s, Ivan developed a hostility toward his advisers, the government, and the boyars. Historians have not determined whether policy differences, personal animosities, or mental imbalance caused his wrath. In 1565 he divided Russia into two parts: his private domain and the public realm. For his private domain, Ivan chose some of the most prosperous and important districts of Russia. In these areas, Ivan's agents attacked boyars, merchants, and even common people, summarily executing some and confiscating land and possessions. Thus began a decade of terror in Russia. As a result of this policy, called the oprichnina, Ivan broke the economic and political power of the leading boyar families, thereby destroying precisely those persons who had built up Muscovy and were the most capable of administering it. Trade diminished, and peasants, faced with mounting taxes and threats of violence, began to leave Russia. Efforts to curtail the mobility of the peasants by tying them to their land brought Russia closer to legal serfdom. In 1572 Ivan finally abandoned the practices of the oprichnina. Despite the domestic turmoil of Ivan's late period, Russia continued to wage wars and to expand. Ivan defeated and annexed the Kazan Khanate on the middle Volga in 1552 and later the Astrakhan Khanate, where the Volga meets the Caspian Sea. These victories gave Russia access to the entire Volga River and to Central Asia. Russia's eastward expansion encountered relatively little resistance. In 1581 the Stroganov merchant family, interested in fur trade, hired a Cossack leader, Yermak Timofeyevich, to lead an expedition into western Siberia. Yermak defeated the Siberia Khanate and claimed the territories west of the Ob' and Irtysh rivers for Russia. Expanding to the northwest toward the Baltic Sea proved to be much more difficult. In 1558 Ivan invaded Livonia, eventually embroiling him in a twenty-five-year war against Poland, Lithuania, Sweden, and Denmark. Despite occasional successes, Ivan's army was pushed back, and Russia failed to secure a coveted position on the Baltic Sea. The war drained Russia. Some historians believe that Ivan initiated the oprichnina to mobilize resources for the war and to quell opposition to it. Regardless of the reason, Ivan's domestic and foreign policies had a devastating effect on Russia, and they led to a period of social struggle and civil war, the so-called Time of Troubles (Smutnoye vremya, 1598-1613).
Time of Troubles
Ivan IV was succeeded by his son Fedor, who was mentally deficient. Actual power went to Fedor's brother-in-law, the boyar Boris Godunov. Perhaps the most important event of Fedor's reign was the proclamation of the patriarchate of Moscow in 1589. The creation of the patriarchate climaxed the evolution of a separate and totally independent Russian Orthodox Church. In 1598 Fedor died without an heir, ending the Rurik Dynasty. Boris Godunov then convened a Zemsky Sobor, a national assembly of boyars, church officials, and commoners, which proclaimed him tsar, although various boyar factions refused to recognize the decision. Widespread crop failures caused a famine between 1601 and 1603, and during the ensuing discontent, a man emerged who claimed to be Dmitriy, Ivan IV's son who had died in 1591. This pretender to the throne, who came to be known as False Dmitriy I, gained support in Poland and marched to Moscow, gathering followers among the boyars and other elements as he went. Historians speculate that Godunov would have weathered this crisis, but he died in 1605. As a result, False Dmitriy I entered Moscow and was crowned tsar that year, following the murder of Tsar Fedor II, Godunov's son. Fedor II Subsequently, Russia entered a period of continuous chaos, known as The Time of Troubles (Смутное Время). It included a civil war in which a struggle over the throne was complicated by the machinations of rival boyar factions, the intervention of regional powers Poland and Sweden, and intense popular discontent. False Dmitriy I and his Polish garrison were overthrown, and a boyar, Vasiliy Shuyskiy, was proclaimed tsar in 1606. In his attempt to retain the throne, Shuyskiy allied himself with the Swedes. False Dmitriy II, allied with the Poles, appeared. In 1610 that heir apparent was proclaimed tsar, and the Poles occupied Moscow. The Polish presence led to a patriotic revival among the Russians, and a new army, financed by northern merchants and blessed by the Orthodox Church, drove the Poles out. In 1609 Poland intervened officially (previous invasions were by private armies). Russian boyars signed in 1610 a treaty of peace, recognising Ladislaus IV of Poland, son of Polish king Sigismund Vasa, as tzar (which was opposed by his father, however). Opponents were defeated by Polish army at Kluszyn. In 1611, False Dmitriy III appeared, but was soon apprehended and executed. In 1612, troops under command of prince Dmitry Pozharsky finally drove Poles out. But they were able to restore their rule over some territories, including Smolensk lost by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1509. In 1613 a new zemsky sobor proclaimed the boyar Mikhail Romanov as tsar, beginning the 300-year reign of the Romanov family. Russia was in chaos for more than a decade, but the institution of the autocracy remained intact. Despite the tsar's persecution of the boyars, the townspeople's dissatisfaction, and the gradual enserfment of the peasantry, efforts at restricting the power of the tsar were only halfhearted. Finding no institutional alternative to the autocracy, discontented Russians rallied behind various pretenders to the throne. During that period, the goal of political activity was to gain influence over the sitting autocrat or to place one's own candidate on the throne. The boyars fought among themselves, the lower classes revolted blindly, and foreign armies occupied the Kremlin in Moscow, prompting many to accept tsarist absolutism as a necessary means to restoring order and unity in Russia.
Romanovs
The immediate task of the new dynasty was to restore order. Fortunately for Russia, its major enemies, Poland and Sweden, were engaged in a bitter conflict with each other, which provided Russia the opportunity to make peace with Sweden in 1617 and to sign a truce with Poland in 1619. After an unsuccessful attempt to regain the city of Smolensk (the Smolensk War) from Poland in 1632, Russia made peace with Poland in 1634. Polish king Wladyslaw IV, whose father and predecessor Sigismund III had been elected by Russian boyars as tsar of Russia during the Time of Troubles, renounced all claims to the title as a condition of the peace treaty. The early Romanovs were weak rulers. Under Mikhail, state affairs were in the hands of the tsar's father, Filaret, who in 1619 became patriarch of the Orthodox Church. Later, Mikhail's son Aleksey (r. 1645-1676) relied on a boyarin, Boris Morozov, to run his government. Morozov abused his position by exploiting the populace, and in 1648 Aleksey dismissed him in the wake of the Salt Riot in Moscow. The autocracy survived the Time of Troubles and the rule of weak or corrupt tsars because of the strength of the government's central bureaucracy. Government functionaries continued to serve, regardless of the ruler's legitimacy or the boyar faction controlling the throne. In the 17th century century, the bureaucracy expanded dramatically. The number of government departments (prikazy ; sing., prikaz ) increased from twenty-two in 1613 to eighty by mid-century. Although the departments often had overlapping and conflicting jurisdictions, the central government, through provincial governors, was able to control and regulate all social groups, as well as trade, manufacturing, and even the Orthodox Church. 1613 The comprehensive legal code introduced in 1649 illustrates the extent of state control over Russian society. By that time, the boyars had largely merged with the new elite, who were obligatory servitors of the state, to form a new nobility, the dvoryanstvo. The state required service from both the old and the new nobility, primarily in the military. In return, they received land and peasants. In the preceding century, the state had gradually curtailed peasants' rights to move from one landlord to another; the 1649 code officially attached peasants to their domicile. The state fully sanctioned serfdom, and runaway peasants became state fugitives. Landlords had complete power over their peasants and bought, sold, traded, and mortgaged them. Peasants living on state-owned land, however, were not considered serfs. They were organized into communes, which were responsible for taxes and other obligations. Like serfs, however, state peasants were attached to the land they farmed. Middle-class urban tradesmen and craftsmen were assessed taxes, and, like the serfs, they were forbidden to change residence. All segments of the population were subject to military levy and to special taxes. By chaining much of Muscovite society to specific domiciles, the legal code of 1649 curtailed movement and subordinated the people to the interests of the state. Under this code, increased state taxes and regulations exacerbated the social discontent that had been simmering since the Time of Troubles. In the 1650s and 1660s, the number of peasant escapes increased dramatically. A favorite refuge was the Don River region, domain of the Don Cossacks. A major uprising occurred in the Volga region in 1670 and 1671. Stenka Razin, a Cossack who was from the Don River region, led a revolt that drew together wealthy Cossacks who were well established in the region and escaped serfs seeking free land. The unexpected uprising swept up the Volga River valley and even threatened Moscow. Tsarist troops finally defeated the rebels after they had occupied major cities along the Volga in an operation whose panache captured the imaginations of later generations of Russians. Razin was publicly tortured and executed.
Expansion
Russia continued its territorial growth through the 17th century. In the south-west, it acquired eastern Ukraine, which had been under Polish rule. The Ukrainian Cossacks, warriors organized in military formations, lived in the frontier areas bordering Poland, the Tatar lands, and Russia. Although they had served in the Polish army as mercenaries, the Cossacks of the Zaporozhian Host remained fiercely independent and staged a number of rebellions against the Poles. In 1648, the peasants of Ukraine joined the Cossacks in rebellion during the Khmelnytsky Uprising, because of the social and religious oppression they suffered under Polish rule. Initially, Ukrainians were allied with Tartars, which had helped them to throw off Polish rule. Once the Poles convinced the Tartars to switch sides, the Ukrainians needed military help to maintain their position. In 1654 the Ukrainian leader, Bohdan Khmelnytsky, offered to place Ukraine under the protection of the Muscovite tsar, Aleksey I. However, Khmelnytsky underestimated the differences between the parliamentary system of Poland and the oppressive monarchy of the Tsars. Aleksey's acceptance of this offer, which was ratified in the Treaty of Pereyaslav, led to a protracted war between Poland and Russia. The Treaty of Andrusovo, which ended the war in 1667, split Ukraine along the river Dnieper, reuniting the western sector (or Right-bank Ukraine) with Poland and leaving the eastern sector (Left-bank Ukraine) as the Cossack Hetmanate, self-governing under the suzerainty of the tsar. In the east, Russia had obtained western Siberia in the sixteenth century. From this base, merchants, traders, and explorers pushed eastward from the Ob' River to the Yenisey River, then to the Lena River. By the middle of the 17th century, Muscovites had reached the Amur River and the outskirts of the Chinese Empire. After a period of conflict with the Manchu Dynasty, Russia made peace with China in 1689. By the Treaty of Nerchinsk, Russia ceded its claims to the Amur Valley, but it gained access to the region east of Lake Baikal and the trade route to Beijing. Peace with China consolidated the initial breakthrough to the Pacific that had been made in the middle of the century. Russia's southwestern expansion, particularly its incorporation of eastern Ukraine, had unintended consequences. Most Ukrainians were Orthodox, but their close contact with the Roman Catholic and the Polish Counter-Reformation also brought them Western intellectual currents. Through the Academy in Kiev, Russia gained links to Polish and Central European influences and to the wider Orthodox world. Although the Ukrainian link stimulated creativity in many areas, it also undermined traditional Russian religious practices and culture. The Russian Orthodox Church discovered that its isolation from Constantinople had caused variations to creep into its liturgical books and practices. The Russian Orthodox patriarch, Nikon, was determined to bring the Russian texts back into conformity with the Greek originals. But Nikon encountered fierce opposition among the many Russians who viewed the corrections as improper foreign intrusions, or perhaps the work of the devil. When the Orthodox Church forced Nikon's reforms, a schism resulted in 1667. Those who did not accept the reforms came to be called the Old Believers (starovery ); they were officially pronounced heretics and were persecuted by the church and the state. The chief opposition figure, the archpriest Avvakum, was burned at the stake. The split subsequently became permanent, and many merchants and peasants joined the Old Believers. The tsar's court also felt the impact of Ukraine and the West. Kiev was a major transmitter of new ideas and insight through the famed scholarly academy that Metropolitan Mohyla founded there in 1631. Among the results of this infusion of ideas into Russia were baroque styles of architecture, literature, and icon painting. Other more direct channels to the West opened as international trade increased and more foreigners came to Russia. The tsar's court was interested in the West's more advanced technology, particularly when military applications were involved. By the end of the 17th century, Ukrainian, Polish, and West European penetration had undermined the Muscovite cultural synthesis--at least among the elite--and had prepared the way for an even more radical transformation.
Western European knowledge of Muscovy
icon painting Muscovy remained a fairly unknown society in western Europe until Baron Sigismund von Herberstein published his Rerum Moscoviticarum Commentarii (literally Notes on Muscovite Affairs) in 1549. This provided a comprehensive view of what had been a rarely visited and poorly reported state. In the 1630s, Muscovy was visited by Adam Olearius, whose lively and well-informed writings were soon translated into all major languages of Europe. Further exploration of the Russian lands was conducted by English and Dutch merchants. One of them, Richard Chancellor, sailed to the White Sea in 1553 and continued overland to Moscow. Upon his return to England, the Muscovy Company was formed by him, Sebastian Cabot, Sir Hugh Willoughby, and several London merchants. Ivan the Terrible used these merchants to exchange letters with Elizabeth I and probably even made a proposal to her.
Early Imperial Russia
Main article: Imperial Russia. The following article in the series describes how in the 18th century, Russia was transformed from a static, somewhat isolated, traditional state into the more dynamic, partially Westernized, and secularized Russian Empire. This transformation was in no small measure a result of the vision, energy, and determination of Peter the Great. Historians disagree about the extent to which Peter himself transformed Russia, but they generally concur that he laid the foundations for empire building over the next two centuries. The era that Peter initiated signaled the advent of Russia as a major European power. But, although the Russian Empire would play a leading political role in the next century, its retention of serfdom precluded economic progress of any significant degree. As West European economic growth accelerated during the Industrial Revolution, which had begun in the second half of the eighteenth century, Russia began to lag ever farther behind, creating new problems for the empire as a great power.
See Also
List of Russian rulers
References

- - [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/rutoc.html Russia]
- Grigory Kotoshikhin's Russia during the reign of Alexey Mikhailovich (1665) is the undispensible source for those studying administration of the Muscovite tsardom Category:Moscow Oblast Category:History of Russia Category:Former countries in Europe ko:모스크바 대공국 ja:モスクワ大公国

1655

Events

- May 10 - English troops land on Jamaica
- March 25 - Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is discovered by Christian Huygens.
- March 25 - English Civil War Battle of the Severn: A largely Protestant militia defeats a largely Catholic militia for control of Maryland
- April 7 - Fabio Chigi becomes Pope Alexander VII
- April - Admiral Robert Blake severely damages the arsenal of the Bey of Tunis.
- August 9 - Oliver Cromwell divides England into districts under major-generals
- New Sweden (Delaware) attacked and captured by Dutch forces.
- The Bibliotheca Thysiana is erected, the only surviving 17th century example in the Netherlands of a building that was designed as a library.
- Emperor Go-Sai ascends to the throne of Japan

Births

- January 1 - Christian Thomasius, German jurist (d. 1728)
- May 4 - Bartolomeo Cristofori, Italian maker of musical instruments (d. 1731)
- May 13 - Pope Innocent XIII (d. 1724)
- November 24 - King Charles XI of Sweden (d. 1697)
- December 28 - Charles Cornwallis, 3rd Baron Cornwallis, First Lord of the British Admiralty (d. 1698)
- Zumbi, runaway slave in Brazil (d. 1695) See also :Category:1655 births.

Deaths

- January 5 - Pope Innocent X (b. 1574)
- February 25 - Daniel Heinsius, Flemish scholar (b. 1580)
- April 6 - David Blondel, French protestant clergyman (b. 1591)
- April 30 - Eustache Le Sueur, French painter (b. 1617)
- June 27 - Eleonore Gonzaga, wife of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1598)
- July 15 - Girolamo Rainaldi, Italian architect (b. 1570)
- July 28 - Cyrano de Bergerac, French soldier and writer (b. 1619)
- August 10 - Alonso de la Cueva, Spanish cardinal and diplomat (b. 1572)
- September 7 - François Tristan l'Hermite, French dramatist (b. 1601)
- October 16 - Joseph Solomon Delmedigo, Italian physician, mathematician, and music theorist (b. 1591)
- October 24 - Pierre Gassendi, French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist (b. 1592) See also :Category:1655 deaths. ko:1655년

KrAZ

KrAZ (Kremenchuts'ky Avtomobil'ny Zavod) produces trucks in Kremenchuk, Ukraine.

External links

- [http://www.autokraz.com.ua/eng/main_eng.htm Company's own website] Category:Companies of Ukraine Category:Truck manufacturers

Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe as a region has several alternative definitions, whereby it can denote:
- European countries of the former "Eastern Bloc"
- the region lying between the variously and vaguely defined areas of Central Europe and Russia. This new Eastern Europe has become more commonly used to identify the region since the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact
- a diverse area of land stretching from east to west as follows: ::- its eastern limit is either the Ural Mountains within Russia or from the Pacific coast of the Russian Far East ::- its western limit is the boundary between the European Union and the Commonwealth of Independent States (sometimes excluding Kaliningrad). Politically, however, this region covers northeastern Eurasia, since Russia is one single transcontinental geo-political entity. The following countries are considered Eastern European by the United Nations:
- Belarus
- Bulgaria
- Czech Republic
- Hungary
- Moldova
- Poland
- Romania
- Russia
- Slovakia
- Ukraine The boundaries of Eastern Europe can be subject to considerable overlap and fluctuation depending on the context they are used in, which makes differentiation difficult. As is also true of continents, regions are only social constructs and should not be understood as physical features defined by abstract, neutral criteria. In many sources the term "Eastern Europe" still encompasses most, or all, such European countries that until the end of the "Cold War" (around 1989) were under communist regimes or direct Soviet control, i.e., the former "Eastern Bloc". However, it is currently common to include many former "Eastern Bloc" nations in the categories of Southeastern Europe/Balkans, Central Europe and Northern Europe. Today Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Slovenia are not Eastern Europe but Central Europe, because the so called "Eastern Bloc" no longer exists and in geographical terms these countries are situated more centrally in Europe.

History

As a term, the origins of "Eastern Europe" are fairly recent. For many years Europe was divided on a North-South axis, with the southern Mediterranean states having much in common, and the northern Atlantic Ocean and Baltic Sea bordering states also having much in common (see also Northern Europe, Nordic Countries). The term "Eastern Europe" first arose in the 19th century and was used to describe an area that was falling behind the rest of Europe economically. It was seen as a region where serfdom and reactionary autocratic governments persisted long after those things faded in the West. It was always a very vague notion, however, and many countries in the region did not fit the stereotypical view. More recently, the term "Eastern Europe" has been used to refer to all European countries that were previously under communist regimes, the so-called "Eastern Bloc". The idea of an "Iron Curtain" separating "Western Europe" and Soviet-controlled "Eastern Europe" was dominant throughout the period of Cold War which followed the Second World War. This dualism failed to account fully for some exceptions, as Yugoslavia and Albania were communist states, yet refused to be controlled by the Kremlin. In recent years, since the dissolution of the Soviet Union (1991), freeing its captive states, the term "Eastern Europe" is sometimes used to identify the region, in effect retroactively, as consisting only of these European countries that were during the decades prior to 1991 known as parts of the Soviet Union (see list below). As a cultural and ethnic difference, the rise of nationalism in the 1800s and onward coined the term Eastern Europe to by synonymous with "Slavic Europe", as opposed to Germanic (Western) Europe. This concept was re-enforced during the years leading up to World War II and was often used in a racist terminology to characterize Eastern/Slavic culture as being backwards and inferior to Western/Germanic culture, language, and customs. Eastern Europe would then refer to imaginary line which divided predominantly German lands from predominantly Slavic lands. The dividing line has thus changed over time as a result of the World Wars, as well as numerous expulsions and genocides. As the ideological division has now disappeared, the cultural division of Europe between Western Christianity, on the one hand, and Eastern Orthodox Christianity and Islam, on the other, has reemerged. It follows the so-called Huntington line of "clashing civilizations" corresponding roughly to the eastern boundary of Western Christianity in the year 1500. This line runs along what are now the eastern boundaries separating Norway, Finland, Estonia and Latvia from Russia, continues east of Lithuania, cuts in northwestern Ukraine, swings westward separating Transylvania from the rest of Romania, and then along the line now separating Slove