I
Polish Galicja Russian Galytsiya
Historical region, eastern Europe.
It included the northern slopes of the Carpathian Mountains and the valleys of the upper Dniester , Bug , and Seret rivers. In 1199 eastern Galicia, situated near the principalities of {{link=Kiev">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.
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ancient Gallaecia
Autonomous community (pop., 2001: 2,695,880) and ancient kingdom, northwestern Spain.
Covering 11,419 sq mi (29,575 sq km), Galicia is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean and Portugal, and its capital is Santiago de Compostela. Its name is derived from the Celtic Gallaeci, who lived there when the region was conquered by the Romans с 137 BC. Taken by the Visigoth s in AD 585, it next passed to the Moors and became part of the kingdom of Asturias in the 8th and 9th centuries. It lost much of its political autonomy after the unification of Castile and Aragon in 1479. The region was made an autonomous community in 1981. Agriculture, forestry, and fishing are economically important.