One of the natural wonders of the region are itscave complexes.[6] Although Ternopil Oblast is among the smallest regions in Ukraine, over 100 caves have been discovered there.[6] Scientists believe these are only 20% of all possible caves in the region.[6] The biggest cave isOptymistychna Cave.[6] Measuring 267 km (166 mi) in total length, it is the longest cave inEurasia and thefifth-longest in the world.[6] Twenty percent of the land in the region ischernozem soil.[6]
Among its attractions, Ternopil Oblast has 34 castles.[6] By at least one account, the most prominent is theZbarazh Castle with fortifications that expand over 16 ha (40 acres) and was the center of a 17th-century standoff between troops ofBohdan Khmelnytsky and the army of thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.[6] TheDniester Canyon passes through the oblast; it is considered one of the wonders of Ukraine, stretching for 250 km (160 mi).[6]
The oblast is located inwestern Ukraine and has an area of 13,800 km2 (5,300 sq mi). It is situated at the western part of thePodilian Upland, which is known for its rocky terrain. Among noticeable mountains there are theKremenets Mountains. The oblast is also famous for its caves.
One of the major rivers in the country, theDniester, forms the southern and southwestern borders of Ternopil Oblast with the adjacentChernivtsi Oblast andIvano-Frankivsk Oblast. Its tributaries that flow through the oblast includeZbruch,Seret, andStrypa. TheSeret River is a left tributary of the Dniester flowing through the city ofTernopil.
From theFirst Partition of Poland in 1772 until the end ofWorld War I the area which would become Ternopil Oblast was mostly part of theKingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, a possession of theHabsburg Monarchy,Austrian Empire and finallyAustria-Hungary. In Ukraine today, there are three oblasts (provinces) that largely formed the eastern part of Galicia and Lodomeria until 1918.Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast was entirely contained in the kingdom, as was the vast majority ofLviv Oblast (only a few small areas and villages nearSokal were not). The southern and central parts of Ternopil Oblast were within the kingdom while the northern parts (pre-2020 raions:Kremenets,Shumsk,Lanivtsi and the northern half ofZbarazh; post-2020: Kremenets Raion and small parts ofTernopil Raion) remained with Poland Lithuania; from 1795 (Third Partition) they belonged to theRussianVolhynian Governorate (specifically theKremenetsky Uyezd). During theNapoleonic Wars the area around Ternopil was annexed by Russia in the 1809Treaty of Schönbrunn becoming theTarnopolsky Krai [de;pl;ru;uk]; it was ceded back to Austria in 1815 (Congress of Vienna). The Tarnopolsky Krai roughly covered the eastern two-thirds of the post-2022 Ternopil Raion and the Chortkiv Raion up to theStrypa; in pre-2020 terms it corresponded with the cities of Ternopil and Chortkiv and the Borshchiv, Chortkiv, Husiatyn, Pidvolochysk, Terebovlia, Ternopil and Zalishchyky raions, the southern half of Zbarazh raion, the eastern and northern parts of Buchach raion and some eastern parts of Zboriv and Kozova raions.
The oblast was created during theSecond World War when bothNazi Germany and later theSoviet UnioninvadedPoland. Due to the Polish national policy in the area (Pacification action), many people favored the Soviet invasion ofEastern Galicia at first. However, soon thereafter, the Soviet security agencies started awitch hunt among nationally oriented members of Ukrainian resistance who emigrated to Poland after theSoviet-Ukrainian War as well as other reasons. Many of local population were exiled toSiberia regardless of their ethnic background. On December 4, 1939, the voivodeship division in theWest Ukraine was abolished and replaced with the existing Soviet administrative division oblast. Ternopil Oblast (originally Tarnopol Oblast) was established based mostly on the Tarnopol Voivodeship and southern portions of theVolhynian Voivodeship.
During the invasion of the Soviet Union byNazi Germany, Ternopil became an object of fierce fighting between Soviet and German forces because of its importance as a rail transportation hub. During German occupation, the region (except for its Volhynian portion) became part of theDistrict of Galicia and transferred to administration by theGeneral Government. After the war, a destroyed residential section of Ternopil, near the river, was turned into an artificial lake rather than being rebuilt. Additionally, upon annexation to the Soviet Union'sUkrainian SSR, most ethnic Poles in the region were forcibly relocated to Poland, whose national borders had shifted far to the west. The area of the former Polish voivodeship was expanded by adding territory in the north, though the westernmost parts were transferred to theLviv oblast. After 1945 Soviet authorities also encouraged ethnic Russians to settle in territories newly annexed to the Soviet Union, including the Ternopil oblast, though western Ukraine remained considerably less Russian than eastern Ukraine.
By 2005, the population of the oblast had grown to roughly 225,000, consisting primarily of ethnic Ukrainians with a large Russian orRussian-speaking minority. The city of Ternopil has important institutions of higher education, including two teacher's colleges, an international medical school with instruction in English, and one of three economics institutes in Ukraine.
Pochaiv Monastery
The religion of the majority isUkrainian Greek Catholic, though there is a notable Orthodox presence and a small Protestant minority. Many churches which were closed or destroyed under Soviet rule have rebuilt since independence. The local Jewish community, which was very large before 1939, disappeared in theHolocaust and was not reestablished after 1945. There are no active synagogues in the oblast and only a few isolated individuals affiliating with theJewish faith.
Vyshnivets PalaceDzhuryn Waterfall, one of the highest in Ukraine
The oblast is known for its castles and fortresses. Due to the underfunding of the state program for the preservation of cultural heritage, many of objects of historical significance are in poor condition. The following historic-cultural sites were nominated for theSeven Wonders of Ukraine.
According to the2001 Ukrainian census,Ukrainian was the native language for over 98% of Ternopil Oblast's population: it was the dominant language in all of the city, town, and village councils of the oblast.
Ternopil Oblast was one of the few oblasts of the Ukrainian SSR where the share of Ukrainian speakers was increasing despite theRussification of Ukraine carried out in the USSR.[10] Native language of the population of Ternopil Oblast according to the results of population censuses:[11][12][13][14][15][16]
Ukrainian is the only official language on the whole territory of Ternopil Oblast.[18]
On 6 November 2018, a moratorium on the public use of Russian-language cultural products was imposed in Ternopil Oblast by a decision of theTernopil Oblast Council.[19]
According to a poll conducted byRating from 16 November to 10 December 2018 as part of the project «Portraits of Regions», 95% of the residents of Ternopil Oblast believed that the Ukrainian language should be the only state language on the entire territory of Ukraine. 2% believed that Ukrainian should be the only state language, while Russian should be the second official language in some regions of the country. 3% found it difficult to answer.[20]
In 2022, Ternopil Oblast Council approved the «Regional Programme for the Development and Functioning of the Ukrainian Language in the Ternopil Oblast for 2023—2027», the main objectives of which are to strengthen the positions of the Ukrainian language in various spheres of public life in the oblast and toUkrainianize therefugees from other regions of Ukraine.[21][22]
According to the research of theContent Analysis Centre, conducted from 15 August to 15 September 2024, the topic of which was the ratio of Ukrainian and Russian languages in the Ukrainian segment ofsocial media, 94.6% of posts from Ternopil Oblast were written in Ukrainian (92.0% in 2023, 85.8% in 2022, 49.5% in 2020), while 5.4% were written in Russian (8.0% in 2023, 14.2% in 2022, 50.5% in 2020).[23][24]
After Ukraine declared independence in 1991, Ternopil Oblast, as well as Ukraine as a whole, experienced a gradualUkrainization of the education system, which had beenRussified[25] during the Soviet era. Dynamics of the ratio of thelanguages of instruction in general secondary education institutions in Ternopil Oblast:[26][27][28][29][30][31][32]
According to theState Statistics Service of Ukraine, in the 2023—2024 school year, all 105,619 pupils in general secondary education institutions in Ternopil Oblast were studying in classes whereUkrainian was the language of instruction.[33]
The economy is predominantly agriculturally oriented. Among industries, there is a well developed food industry particularly sugar production, alcohol, and dairy (such as butter). There is also number of factories such as "Vatra" (lighting equipment), Ternopil Harvester Plant, "Orion" (radio communication) among a few.
Ternopil Oblast has an adequate network of highways, while the city ofTernopil is located at the intersection of main European corridors along theE50 andE85 highways. There is a small airport inTernopil (Ternopil Airport) which however mostly is used for charter flights. There is a well developed railroad network which is a part of theLviv Railways. Water transportation is very limited and mostly along theDniester River.
Before 18 July 2020Before the 2020 administrative reform, Ternopil Oblast was administratively subdivided into 17raions (districts), as well as 1 city (municipality) which is directly subordinate to the oblast government:Ternopil, the administrative center of the oblast. The average area of a raion was around 808 km2 (312 sq mi), the biggest one wasTerebovlia Raion covering 1,130 km2 (440 sq mi) and the smallest one -Pidhaitsi Raion with 496 km2 (192 sq mi). The average population number was around 50.6 thousands which is just below the national average.
In town ofBuchach was born a Nobel Prize recipient, writerShmuel Yosef Agnon.[6] The prize was given for works about fate ofGalician Jews.[6] Agnon worked for a Lviv newspaper, but after refusal to serve in the army he moved toMandatory Palestine.[6] In Ukraine he published over 70 of his early works.[6]
Solomiya Krushelnytska, one of the brightest soprano opera stars of the first half of the 20th century, was born inBiliavyntsi.,[6] Chortkiv Raion.
^Barbara A. Anderson and Brian D. Silver, "Equality, Efficiency, and Politics in Soviet Bilingual Education Policy, 1934-1980," American Political Science Review 78 (December 1984): 1019-1039.
^«Статистичний щорічник України за 1998 рік» — К., 1999."Джерело".pics.livejournal.com. Retrieved2024-12-26.
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