n.
Polish Galicja Russian Galytsiya
Historical region, eastern Europe.
It included the northern slopes of the Carpathian Mountains and the valleys of the upper Vistula , Dniester , Bug , and Seret rivers. In 1199 eastern Galicia, situated near the principalities of Kiev and Volhynia , was taken by Prince Roman of Volhynia, who united Volhynia and Galicia. In 1349 the Polish king Casimir III annexed Galicia. When Poland was partitioned, beginning in 1772, the territory passed to Austria. Restored to Poland after World War I, eastern Galicia was taken by the Soviet Union in World War II and united to the Ukrainian S.S.R. After the war, eastern Galicia remained a part of the U.S.S.R. (after 1991, part of Ukraine), and western Galicia was attached to Poland.