LVIV

Russian Lvov, oblast (province), western Ukraine. It extends from the crestline of the Carpathian Mountains, across the upper Dniester River valley and the Roztochchya Upland to the Bug River basin. There is much variation in soil and vegetationmixed forest in the north, forest-steppe on the upland, meadows along the Dniester, and dense forest on the Carpathian slopes, yielding to meadows on the gently rounded summits. Much of the region has been cleared for agriculture, which is intensively developed. Rye, wheat, corn (maize), and sugar beets are the main crops. Cattle and sheep raising are important in the high summer pastures of the mountains. There is considerable timberworking in the mountains, and furniture making is widespread; Zhydachiv has the largest paper mill in Ukraine. Mineral exploitation is also significant. Near Boryslav is a small but locally important oil field, and at Dashava and Rudky are large deposits of natural gas, which is piped to the city of Lviv (the oblast headquarters) and used locally. The region produces native sulfur, and potassium salts are also mined. Area 8,400 square miles (21,800 square km). Pop. (1991 est.) 2,771,300. Russian Lvov, Polish Lww, German Lemberg city and administrative centre of Lviv oblast (province), Ukraine, on the Roztochchya Upland. Founded in the mid-13th century by Prince Daniel Romanovich of Galicia, Lviv has historically been the chief centre of Galicia, a region now divided between Ukraine and Poland. Its position controlling east-west routes and passes across the Carpathians has given it a stormy history. Polish control was established in 1349. The town was seized by the Cossacks in 1648 and the Swedes in 1704. It was given to Austria on the first partition of Poland in 1772 and occupied by Russia in 191415. The government of a short-lived western Ukrainian republic arose in Lviv in late 1918, but the Poles drove Ukrainian troops out of the city and regained control. Lviv was seized by the Soviet Union in 1939 and, after German occupation, annexed by the Soviets in 1945. Modern Lviv retains its nodal position, with nine railways converging on the city. As a result, industrial development has been considerable: engineering products manufactured in the city include buses, agricultural machinery, loading machinery, bicycles, and television sets; there is also a wide range of consumer goods and foodstuffs industries. Lviv is also a major publishing and cultural centre, especially of Ukrainian culture, which flourished there in tsarist times when it was suppressed in Russian Ukraine. The university, which was founded in 1661 and named for the Ukrainian poet and journalist Ivan Franko under the Soviet regime, is one of the institutions of higher education and research in the city. Pop. (1993 est.) 810,000.