CHERNIVTSI

Russian Chernovtsy, or Cernovcy, oblast (province), southwestern Ukraine. It extends from an apex on the crestline of the Carpathian Mountains, across the foothills and the Seret and Prut valleys, to a baseline on the Dniester River. The mountain slopes are densely forested with beech, hornbeam, and other hardwoods, which yield to conifers higher up and to open alpine meadows, known as poloniny, on the summits. The oblast was formed in 1940 from the northern part of the Bukovina, when that area together with Bessarabia was ceded to the U.S.S.R. by Romania. Its complex political history has led to a very mixed population, including Russians, Poles, Jews, Hungarians, Romanians, and Moldavians, although Ukrainians form about three-quarters of the total. Chernivtsi's economy is predominantly agricultural, and about three-fifths of the population is rural, concentrated in the valleys, though many live in dispersed farmsteads. Principal crops are wheat, corn (maize), sugar beets, and sunflowers, and there are extensive orchards. Cattle and sheep use summer pastures in the highest areas, and pig keeping is important in the valleys. Lumbering is well developed, and there are small-scale timber-processing industries in the towns. A major dam on the Dniester was constructed in the late 1970s and early '80s in neighbouring Vinnytsya oblast, with its support facilities in Chernivtsi oblast. Apart from the city of Chernivtsi, the oblast headquarters, the towns are all small, and most of their industries are concerned with processing agricultural produce. Area 3,100 square miles (8,100 square km). Pop. (1991 est.) 940,500. Russian Chernovtsy, or Cernovcy, Romanian Cernauti, German Czernowitz, formerly (until 1944) Chernovitsy city and administrative centre of Chernivtsi oblast (province), southwestern Ukraine, situated on the upper Prut River in the Carpathian foothills. First documentary reference to Chernivtsi dates from 1407, when it was a town in the Polish-Lithuanian kingdom and the chief centre of the area known as the Bukovina. In the 18th century, Chernivtsi passed first to the Turks and then to Austria-Hungary. After World War I, it was given to Romania, and in 1940 the town was acquired by the U.S.S.R. Always a major focus of trade, it grew in the early 20th century as an industrial centre and an important railway junction, with lines to Lviv, Ternopil, Moldova, and Romania. The modern town has woolen- and cotton-textile, light-engineering, food-processing (especially meat and sugar), and timberworking industries. Chernivtsi stretches for more than 7 miles (11 km) along the Prut, and new suburbs have grown up on the low left bank. It has a university, founded in 1875, and a medical institute. Pop. (1991 est.) 259,000.