Region, eastern central Europe.
It consists of part of the northeastern Carpathian Mtns. and the adjoining plain. Settled by both Ukrainians and Romanians, it became an integral part of Moldavia in the 14th century. It acquired its own name in 1775, when it was ceded to Austria by the Turks. Romania occupied it when Austria-Hungary collapsed in 1918, and was granted it through treaty in 1919. In 1944 the Soviet Union took the northern region, which became part of the Ukrainian S.S.R. (now Ukraine), while the rest became part of the Romanian People's Republic (now Romania).