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Specific Features of Historical Evolution

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Specific Features of Historical Evolution SPECIFIC FEATURES OF HISTORICAL EVOLUTION Through the turbulent course of history with its The transition to the Iron Age (1000 years kaleidoscopic changes, Ukraine appeared on the B. C.) was marked not only by evident climatic geographical and political maps of Europe in changes, which to a great extent caused the re- the blink of an eye, disappearing from them just duction in the native population over the entire as suddenly, only to arise anew with a variety territory of what would become in the future, of names, territories and borders. It has experi- Ukrainian ethnic territory. The Iron Age also wit- enced a troubled and unique history which is nessed a significant transformation of the terri- rooted in ancient times; a dramatic, yet some- tory's economics and way of life. Important fea- times tragic and heroic era; periods of crucial tures in the ethnogenesis of the Ukrainians were change contrasted with relative stability (which left by a number of cultures at particular refer- at times has verged on economic and political ence points in history, such as Greek colonisers stagnation) as well as periods of state welfare north of the Black Sea coast; nomads from the and centuries of stateless existence. Its own he- Eurasian steppe (the Scythian and Sarmatians); roes and anti-heroes figure large in the past. Thracian, Teutonic (German) and Baltic proto- The historical development of civilisa- cultures. The influence of ancient civilisations tion on Ukrainian soil is notable for its richness broadened the outlook of the native population and variety. Ukraine's involved and complex re- of ethnic Ukrainian territories and enabled their construction is only possible today if this process engagement with European civilisation. is a unity of considerations that are both objec- The period from 1000 B. C. – 1000 A. D. tive and subjective, social and ethnic, collective heralded the formation of the first groups of eth- and individual in nature. Society's development nic Slavs in the southeast Europe region. The is not determined by a particular factor, and Zarubintsy, Cherniakhiv and Kiev archeological mankind's evolution has always been affected cultures are representative of this development by a variety of influences: economic, political, in Ukraine. At the turn of 4th and 5th centuries ideological, religious, cultural, and more. the confederation of Venedian tribes (which as- During their history that spans more than similated non-Slavic groups of the population) a millennium, the Ukrainians have passed over a broke up into several independent tribes of long and difficult road of development. The suc- Sklavians and Antes, who in turn, formed new cessive change of archeological cultures, ancient archeological cultures. The first centuries of the and nomadic proto-civilisations as well as the Christian era were marked by the transition formation of a quasi-Slavic state all took place on from the prehistoric period to the advent of the Ukrainian ethnic territory. According to archeologi- first historical tribes in the south and southwest cal discoveries, the first group of native inhabitants territories of Ukraine, as well as the formation of that lived within the historical borders of modern late Scythian states on the Crimean steppe and Ukraine, can trace their roots back to Stone Age in the Danube delta. and the first archeological artifacts left by human The massive settling of Slavs in the activity date back to the Paleolithic period. Ukrainian forest-steppe region in the second Waves of migration, which were typical half of the first millennium was the impetus for for Europe during the Stone and Bronze Ages, the formation of Slavic “ethnic and cultural sym- influenced the ethno-genetic processes to a great biosis”, which would become the genetic core of extent, especially in such historical regions as: Ukrainian nationality in the future. Polissia, Volhynia (Volyn), Podolia (Podillia), the The evolutionary development of Slavic Ukrainian Carpathians, Middle Dnipro Region tribal unions led to the establishment of econom- and Nadporizhzhia. This migration also resulted ic, political and social institutions. The rise of in the development of specific archeological cul- the powerful Old Russian state, with its political tures on the left and right banks of the Dnipro centre in Kiev, took place in the final 300 years of river, coastal lowland of the Black Sea and the the first millennium (Figure 7). Its golden age fell Dnister region. during the rule of Princes Volodymyr the Great 19 20 (Saint) and Yaroslav the Wise. Owing to its mili- During the so called Polish-Lithuanian tary strength and dynastic marriages strengthen- period, the historical development of the ing the power of the princes, the economic devel- Ukrainians had a specific character. Being part opment of Kievan Rus’, centralisation in its home of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and later in- and foreign policy, and cultural development corporated in Rzeczpospolita i.e. the Polish– following from its adoption of Christianity re- Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Ukrainians on sulted in it becoming one of the most influential the one hand were enriched by progressive west- states in eastern Europe at the turn of 10th–11th ern European ideas, and on the other received centuries. However, the period of political, cul- important lessons in the struggle for national tural and national development of this ancient identity. The historical evolution of Ukrainians Russian state was short-lived. Internal centrifu- is fundamentally punctuated around this time gal processes, as a by-product of the previous by the formation of a new social community on development of this poly-ethnical state (which the eastern borders: the Cossacks, who created was, for a period of time the empire of the Rurik original state form – Zaporozhian Army (Viysko Dynasty which united different principalities of Zaporizhske). In the political and religious fields Slavic tribal unions and other non-Slavic groups) the unions of Lublin (1569) and Brest (1596) were caused the gradual division of Kievan Rus’ into signed (Figure 7). 15 independent principalities in the 12th and 13th The time interval of a little over 200 years centuries. Under the prevailing conditions of po- that historians called the Cossack period, occu- litical fragmentation, the baton founding the na- pies a very important place in the historical de- tion was taken by the Galych–Volhynian (Galicia velopment of Ukraine (Figures 7 and 8). It was – Volyn) state (Figure 7). a crucial point in Ukrainian history, when the Further development of the Ukrainian hitherto slow course of events abruptly accel- nation included large territories, such as Kiev, erated in a cataclysmic manner and influenced Pereiaslav, Chernihiv–Siversk, Galych–Volhynia the panoply of human activity. The result was principalities, and it partly covered present- a radical turn in Ukrainian history. The reasons day areas of Bukovina and Transcarpathia that caused the appearance of the Cossack state, (Figure 7). During the 15th–17th centuries the were complex and included economic, politi- Ukrainians moved on to the south, colonising cal, social, military and strategic factors. The Slobozhanschina (”Free Ukraine”), and at the Cossacks were the first ethnic community that beginning of the 18th century settled in coastal came to reflect the characteristic features of the regions of the Black Sea and Sea of Azov. Ethnic Ukrainians as an ethnically independent soci- and social development took place under com- ety. It would be difficult to overestimate the sig- plicated conditions imposed by the division of nificance of the Cossacks in the development Ukrainian territories. The existence of political of the liberation movement and social struggle borders was the reason distinctive features of of the masses. Over a lengthy period of time, differing regions of Ukraine were preserved. the Cossacks were the only force who would Historical development for the spar with neighbouring states in the name of the Ukrainians in a variety of fields had far from Ukrainians, fighting for their right to an exist- stopped at this stage. During their ethnogen- ence and economic and spiritual development. esis, the medieval Ukrainians were enriched In the political field, the Cossacks estab- by the experience of a social and national lib- lished a new era of nation-building. The creation eration movement, which has evolved into the of Zaporozhian Sich, which was the Cossack con- modern Ukrainian nation, with its unique na- ception of a state, meant that the Ukrainian state tional consciousness, a highly developed sense organisation was enriched by historical forms, of spirituality and culture. This complicated and which were inadequate for economic and social controversial process receved new qualitative basis of late medieval community. A republican forms in the following centuries. The primary form of government and the participation of a example was an economic union which took the wide circle of Cossacks in the decision-making form of close inner commercial and economic process around economic and social problems ties that fused the independent regions together, resulted in Zaporozhian Sich becoming a strong and also resulted in intensive migration between political organisation with a wide field of activ- these regions. ity. During the different periods of its existence, 21 22 Zaporozhian Sich was not a “republic in itself”, borders of ethnic Ukrainian territories. The but always strove for expansion of its political Ukrainians were highly populous in the coastal sovereignty to the other Ukrainian lands. lowland along the Black Sea (Figure 8). The 1640s were marked by the event that The 19th century was an ambiguous fundamentally changed the course of Ukrainian era for the historical evolution of Ukraine. history and predetermined it in many respects. Despite being assimilated into the empires of The national liberation movement between the the Hapsburgs and Romanovs (Figure 8), the 1640s to the 1670s had no rival in Europe for its Ukrainians managed to significantly develop strength, scope and results.
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