Number and Geographical Distribution of Ukrainians
To give the ethnographic boundaries of a Western or Central European nation is very easy, for they have long since been determined and investigated, and it would be hard to find anyone who might try to efface or disregard them, least of all to falsify them. But with the Ukrainians it is quite different. They possess neither political independence, as for example, the Germans, French, Italians, etc., nor political influence, as for instance, the Poles and Czechs in Austria. The Ukrainians inhabit parts of two states, Austria-Hungary and Russia, and have some political significance in the former, while in the latter they are not even recognized as a racial entity.
Accordingly, the real boundaries of the National territory of the Ukraine are insufficiently known. They are best known within Austrian territory, altho the statistics, especially those of Galicia, are very poor. Even less exact in respect to the distribution of the Ukrainians are the Hungarian statistics. In Russia the condition is worst of all. The first real census here was taken on January 28, 1897. All earlier calculations and estimates are of very questionable worth. For instance, all the Pinchuks, the Ukrainian inhabitants of the Polissye, have been erroneously counted with the White Russians, the Ukrainians in the [[119]]vicinity of Mhilin and Starodub with the Great Russians. Besides, very many Ukrainians were registered under the general heading of “Russians.”
For this reason, it is impossible at the present time to give the boundaries of the Ukrainian racial territory as exactly as those of the Western and Central European countries. The boundaries here given, however, are drawn from official statistical sources, and only very conspicuous and generally acknowledged errors have been corrected.
The western boundary of the compact Ukrainian national territory begins on the shores of the Black Sea at the delta of the Danube, where part of the descendants of the Zaporogs are still devoted to their traditional vocation of fishing. Here the neighbors of the Ukrainians are the Roumanians and Bulgarians. The Ukrainian-Roumanian boundary line then goes thru Bessarabia, Bukowina, and Northeastern Hungary.
In Bessarabia the border passes thru Ismail, Bilhorod, the mouth of the Dniester at its liman, then up the Dniester to Dubosari, running in adventurous windings past Orhiev and Bilzi until it reaches the Prut-Dniester divide, and leaving this province near Novoselitza. Innumerable ethnographic islands lie on both sides of this boundary; Roumanians on Ukrainian territory and Ukrainians on Roumanian territory. Only within the past centuries has the land been settled more thickly and the main body of Roumanians has been so dotted with this medley of races as to form a veritable ethnographic mosaic.
In the Bukowina, the boundary of the Ukrainian territory, running along the national border at first, reaches the cities of Sereth and Radivtzi. Then it turns with a sharp bend to Chernivtzi and passes in a wide curve toward the southwest and west, thru Storozhinetz, Vikiv, Moldavitsia and Kirlibaba to the White Cheremosh, where it extends over into Hungary. In the Bukowina, too, the [[120]]ethnographic boundary of the Ukrainians is not of great antiquity (the Cheremosh region excluded).
The boundary is all the older in Hungary, for the Ukrainian people have had a place here since the early middle ages. This boundary extends along the Visheva, and then the Tissa, past Sihot to Vishkiv. At this place the border crosses to the left bank of the river and, passing along the Gutin Mountain Ridge, reaches the river Tur near Polad. Here the Roumanian-Ukrainian boundary ends and the neighboring country of the Magyars begins.
The boundary of Ukrainian territory here runs in a generally northeast direction, touching Uylak, Beregszasz, Mukachiv (Munkacs), Uzhorod (Unghvar), Bardiiv (Bartfa), Sabiniv (Kis Szeben), Kesmark. At Lublau the boundary crosses the Poprad River and reaches Galicia. Between Unghvar and Bartfeld, the Slovaks become the neighbors of the Ukrainians. The boundary between Slovaks and Ukrainians is very indistinct, and only the investigations of Hnatiúk and Tomashivsky have succeeded in determining it and in proving that thru the centuries the borders of Ukrainian territory have been subject to comparatively slight changes.
In Galicia, the Ukrainians are neighbors to the Poles. The Polish rule of over 500 years’ duration, has forced the Ukrainian element eastward to a great extent into the hill country and the plain. Only in the mountains has the Ukrainian element preserved itself and the Ukrainian territory here forms a peninsula extending far to the west.
The Ukrainian-Polish boundary in Galicia begins at the village of Shlakhtova, west of the Poprad Pass, and extends eastward, touching the small towns of Pivnichna, Hribov, Horlitzi, Zmigrod, Dukla, Rimanov, Zarshin, as far as Sianik, whence it follows the general direction of the San as far as Dubetzco. Here it turns toward the northeast, reaches the San River again near Radimno, [[121]]and runs along the left shore past Yaroslav, Siniava, Lezaisk, reaching Russian-Poland at Tarnogrod.
In Russian Poland, the Ukrainians inhabit the newly-created Government of Kholm, and for five centuries they have had to ward off the eastward expansion of the Poles. Nevertheless, the Polonizing of the country began to progress under Russian rule, as a result of the inconsiderate Russification policy of the authorities and the sympathy of the Ukrainian population with the Greek-Catholic faith, ruthlessly suppressed by the Russians, to which the Ukrainians of the Kholm country still belonged half a century ago, a sympathy which is not yet extinct.
The boundary line between Poles and Ukrainians in the Kholm country has, on both sides, a more or less wide zone of a mixed population and numerous ethnographic islands. It passes thru Tarnogrod, Bilhoray, Shteshebreshin, Zamostye, Krasnostav, Lubartiv, Radin, Lukiv, Sokoliv, Dorohichin and Bilsk, reaching the Narev River in the Government of Grodno. Here the borders of the Ukrainian and the Polish national territory meet the White Russian border and the northern border of the Ukraine begins.
The Ukrainian-White Russian boundary extends thru the Governments of Grodno and Minsk, at first along the Narev River, up to its source in the Biloveza Forest. Then the line passes Pruzani over to the Yassiolda River, turning off near Poriche toward the northeast and reaching the lake of Vihonivske Ozero. From here it turns toward the southeast and reaches the Pripet River at the mouth of the Zna. Then this river forms the boundary up to where it joins with the Dnieper. Only below Mosir the White Russians push forward in an obtuse salient to the right bank of the Pripet. It should be observed that the White Russians along the boundary described form a transition in respect to language and ethnology between the real White Russians and the real Ukrainians, who, in this region, are [[122]]called Pinchuki. The transition zone is 30 to 50 kilometers in width.
The Dnieper forms the boundary of the Ukraine only along a short stretch in the Government of Chernihiv, from the mouth of the Pripet to the mouth of the Sol near Loüv. Then the border runs northeast past Novosibkiv, Nove misto and Suraz, as far as Mhlin, where the White Russian country ceases and the Russian begins.
To sketch accurately the boundary of the Ukraine toward Muscovy is not easy, even tho there is by no means a gradual transition here, as there is on the White Russian border. The boundary of the Ukraine is even much more sharply defined here than in the region where it separates the Ukrainians from the Poles, Roumanians and Magyars. But it is hard to determine without detailed investigation on the spot, for the official Russian statistics have been compiled very much in favor of the ruling race. In addition, it must be observed that the districts along this border were not thickly settled until the 17th and 18th Centuries. The settlers came from the Ukraine on the one side and from Muscovy on the other, and established themselves in separate settlements. To this day a purely Ukrainian village or small town often borders on one made up entirely of Russians, and the number of ethnographic islands is rather large on both sides.
The boundary of the compact Ukrainian territory in the Governments of Kursk and Voronizh passes thru Putivil, Rilsk, Sudza, Miropilia, Oboian, the sources of the Psiol, and Vorskla, Bilhorod, Korocha, Stari Oskol, Novi Oskol, and Biriuch, and reaches the Don River near Ostrohosk. The Don forms a smaller part of the border of the Ukraine than the Dnieper. The boundary line leaves the river at the mouth of the Icorez, cuts the Bitiuh River and, passing Baturlinivka and Novokhopersk, reaches the Khoper River in the country of the Don Cossacks. Here begins the [[123]]eastern boundary of the Ukrainian country. It extends first along the Khoper River southward, crosses the Don perpendicularly at the mouth of the Khoper, passes along the Kalitva and the Donetz, crossing the Don for the third time near Novocherkask, and, pursuing a wide curve along the Sal River, reaches Lake Manich. Right opposite, on the left bank of the Don, the Ukrainians confront the Kalmucks, the advance guard of the sub-Caucasian and Caucasian medley of races. Among these thinly scattered and culturally inferior tribes, a strong flood of Ukrainian and Russian colonization has been pouring in the course of the past century. The Ukrainian element is gradually predominating in the entire region of Ciscaucasia and is constantly pushing forward toward the east and southeast. New islands of Ukrainian-speaking people are forming and are growing constantly and uniting to form larger complexes.
From Lake Manich, the border of the Ukraine country runs southward thru the district of Medveza of the Government of Stavropol, as far as the sources of the great Yahorlik. Then it turns eastward past Stavropol, Alexandrivsk and Novohrihoryvsk. In a narrow strip the Ukrainians here reach the Caspian Sea. It was only suggested in the census of 1897, but proved beyond doubt by the reports of the new settlements of the Ukrainian element in these regions, that the Ukrainian area here shows a great increase.
The southern boundary of the Ukraine in the Caucasian lands passes thru the Terek, Kuban and Black Sea Governments by way of Nalchic, Piatihorsk, Labinsk and Maikop, reaching the shore of the Black Sea between Tuapse and Sochi. In this region the Ukrainians have as neighbors besides the Russians, the Kalmucks, Kirgizians, Norgaians, Chechenians, Cabardines, Circassians, Abkhasians and Caucasian Tartars.
The further course of the southern border of the Ukraine, [[124]]as far as the delta of the Danube, is indicated on the whole by the coasts of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azof. Only Crimea has, until recently, remained outside the ethnographic confines of the Ukraine. To the extent that the Crimean Tartars have begun to emigrate to Turkey, however, the Ukrainian element has gained strength thru constant reinforcements from the Central Ukrainian districts, so that today only the mountain region and the south coast of Crimea are considered Tartar country.
These boundaries enclose the compact country which is inhabited by the Ukrainians. This country includes North and West Bukowina, Northeastern Hungary, East Galicia and the southwestern part of West Galicia, the newly-created Government of Kholm (the eastern districts of the Governments of Lublin and Sidlez in Russian Poland), the southern part of Grodno and Minsk, all of Volhynia, Podolia, Kiev and Kherson, besides the southeastern and northwestern districts of Bessarabia. To the left of the Dnieper, the borders of the Ukraine include the Governments of Chernihiv, Poltava, Kharkiv, Katerinoslav, Tauria (with the exception of the Yaila) and the entire Kuban region, the chains of high mountains excepted. In addition, the following belong to the territory of Ukraine: The southern third of the Government of Kursk, the southern half of Voroniz, the western third of the Don Cossack country, the southern half of Stavropol, the northern border of the Terek region, and, finally, the northwestern part of the Government of the Black Sea. For Europe it is a very spacious territory, being second in size only to the Russian (Muscovite) national territory. The area of the Ukrainian national territory is 850,000 square kilometers, of which only 75,000 square kilometers lie within the borders of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, the remaining country of 775,000 square kilometers being subject to Russian rule. [[125]]
Beyond this compact Ukrainian national territory, the Ukrainians live in numerous great homogeneous patches, scattered over wide areas of the Old and New Worlds. In Bessarabia we meet with a whole series of these Ukrainian language areas or islands along the Prut River and the Russian-Roumanian boundary, in the Roumanian Dobrudja, and in the delta of the Danube. In the Bukowina there are Ukrainian language islands at Suchava and Kimpolung, in Hungary in the Backza, at Nyregihatza, Nagi-Caroli, Göllnitz, etc., in the Kholm country between Lukov and Zelekhov, between Sidletz and Kaluszin, and near Sokolov. Along the White Russian border, where the transition is gradual, no real language islands are found in the intervening zone before mentioned. We find all the more of them in Ukrainian-Russian borderlands, where the two nationalities are very sharply separated and there are no transitions. In the Government of Kursk we find a whole chain of well-defined Ukrainian language islands in the midst of the Russian territory; at Fatiez, between Dmitriev and Oboian, and also at the sources of the Sem. In the Government of Voroniz there are several language islands at Siemlansk and Borisoglebsk. A few scattered Ukrainian settlements extend to the district of Tambov and Yelez. The Don country, for a long time practically closed to settlers because of its Cossack organization, was a valuable thoroughfare for the Ukrainian colonization movement in its expansion in the central Volga district. Here there lived (1910) over 600,000 Ukrainians in the Governments of Saratov, Samara and Astrakhan. Here lie, in closest proximity to numerous German colonies, great Ukrainian language islands, near Balashov, Atkarsk, Balanda, on the Eman and Medveditza, at Nikolaievsk, Khvalinsk, Samara and Boguruslan. From Khvalinsk on, the Ukrainian colonies on the left bank of the Volga take up as much space as the [[126]]Russian. We find the Ukrainian colonies here opposite Saratov, Kamishin, Dubivka, Chorni Yar, and at Zarev. Besides these there are, at a greater distance from the Volga, Ukrainian language islands in the country around the source of the Yeruslan and the Great Usen, on Lakes Elton and Baskunchak, on the Ilovla and the Yergeni hills. In the Orenburg Government, on the Ural River, more than 50,000 Ukrainian colonists now dwell. In general, the Ukrainians in the year of 1897 comprised 13% of the population of the Government of Astrakhan (District of Zarev 38%, Chornoyar 43%), more than 7% in the Government of Saratov, nearly 5% in Samara. At present, considering the active Ukrainian colonization of the past decades, these percentages must be much greater.
In the Caucasus lands we likewise find a goodly number of Ukrainian Colonies. According to the results of the census of 1897 the Ukrainians comprised 17 to 19% of the “Russian” population in the Governments of Erivan, Kutais, Daghestan and Kars, 7,5% in Tiflis and 5% in Yelisavetpol and in Baku each.
Thru the Volga and Caucasus lands, the tide of Ukrainian emigrants reached Russian Central Asia. The establishment of Ukrainian settlements in this region only began toward the end of the past century and has continued to this day. In the year 1897 the Ukrainians already comprised 29% of the “Russian” population in the province of Sir Daria and 23% in the province of Akmolinsk. In the Provinces of Transkaspia, Siemiriechensk, Turgai, Samarkand and Ferghana, the Ukrainians comprised 10% to 20% of the “Russian” population; in the Province of Siemipalatinsk, 5%.
But Ukrainian colonization in Siberia appears on the largest scale of all. In a long line of thousands of kilometers, Ukrainian language islands and detached colonies stretch along the southern border of this land of tomorrow. [[127]]The highest percentages of Ukrainians are found among the “Russian” population of the coast province near Vladivostok (over 29%) and the Province of Amur (over 20%), the greatest absolute numbers in the southern districts of the Governments of Tomsk, Tobolsk and Yeniseysk.
Besides these colonies and language islands in Eurasia, we find settlements of considerable size in America. More than half a million Ukrainians are scattered in small groups over the spacious area of the United States. They are, for the most part, mine and factory workers, who usually return, with the earnings they have saved, to their fatherland. Pennsylvania is especially rich in Ukrainian emigrants, who sometimes take root here, but usually lose their nationality in the second generation. Agricultural colonies have been established by the Ukrainians in Canada. Here we find Ukrainian language islands of some size in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, and smaller groups of settlements in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia. The number of the Ukrainians in Canada exceeds 200,000, and the steady character and compactness of the settlements preserve the Ukrainian element from rapid denationalization. The same kind of agricultural colonies have been established by the Ukrainian peasants in Brazil. They are located chiefly in the State of Parana, also in detached groups in Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and São Paulo, as well as in the adjacent lands of Argentina. These rapidly increasing settlers, about 60,000 in number, form an important cultural element here among the indolent Luso-Brazilians.
But we do not desire, in this small work, to write a geography of the Ukrainian colonies. All are branches severed from the mother-tree, which, considering the low grade of culture of the settlers, must sooner or later be assimilated by the foreign race. Only the Asiatic colonies [[128]]have some (though rather slight) prospects of preserving their national individuality into the remote future. The constant addition of new arrivals from the home country, as well as the higher culture of the Ukrainian people as opposed to the Russian masses, will preserve the Ukrainian colonists in Asia from rapid denationalization.
What is the total number of Ukrainians, and how many of them live in the compact Ukrainian national territory?
The answer to this question is not easy—for the same reasons which do not permit us to draw accurately the boundaries of the Ukrainian country. The political subjugation of the Ukraine on the one hand, and the size of the nation and its territory on the other, cause the ruling governments to falsify the statistics, thus concealing the true state of affairs. To a great extent, also, the ignorance of the organs performing the census bear the blame for the unreliability of the statistics collected in Ukrainian territory. The Ukrainians are either simply registered as members of another (usually the ruling) nationality, or forced, by various means, to deny their inherited nationality.
In Hungary entire villages are sometimes set down as Magyar, Slovak or Roumanian, altho their population is wholly, or for the most part, Ukrainian. In the Bukowina, too, a great many Ukrainians are registered as Roumanians. In Galicia, all Roman-Catholic Ukrainians are regularly entered as Poles, altho, as a rule, they have not even a mastery of the Polish language. Nevertheless, the Austro-Hungarian statistics allow the possibility of determining very closely the true condition. The Russian census of 1897, which gives us the sole materials for statistics on a racial basis in the Ukraine, was carried out greatly to the disadvantage of the Ukrainian element. In the cities, only the smallest minority of the Ukrainians are registered [[129]]as such, all the rest being counted as Russians. The same has been the case in all the Ukrainian colonies and language islands scattered thru the great space of the gigantic Russian Empire. Even so, we are omitting from consideration those Ukrainians who, because of lack of national consciousness or for fear of persecution, have denied their nationality.
Despite all these shortcomings of the official statistics, we shall make their statements the basis of our calculations. Only the most marked falsifications or errors can be considered and corrected. As the basis of our calculations, we shall take the figures of the census in Austria and Hungary of the year 1910, as well as the Russian calculations of the same year. As the latter lack any statement as to the relative proportions or percentages of the nationalities, we must apply the percentages of the enumeration of 1897 to the totals of 1910. This process, of course, gives us only approximate values, but it is the only available method.
We shall begin our statistical view of the Ukrainian lands with Northeastern Hungary. Here the Ukrainians inhabit a compact territory of over 14,000 square kilometers. The greatest part of it lies in the Carpathian Mountains and includes the northern three-quarters of the County of Marmarosh, the northeastern half of the County of Ungh, the northern borderlands of the Counties of Semplen and Sharosh, and the northeastern borderlands of the County of Zips. The total number of Ukrainians in Hungary was 470,000 in 1910, a number which, because of the insufficient Hungarian statistics, may be confidently raised to a half a million, if we consider the fact that even the doctored Greek-Catholic figures of the eighties gave approximately the latter number. The percentages of the Ukrainians in different counties, according to official reckoning, are as follows: In Marmorosh 46%, Uhocha 39%, Bereg 46%, [[130]]Ungh 36%, Sharosh 20%, Semplen 11%, Zips 8%. In the east the Roumanians form small scattered language islands, in the west the Slovaks. Amid the Ukrainian population, scattered, but in considerable numbers, live Jews; in the cities, Magyars and Germans besides. The Ukrainians inhabit all the mountainous, sparsely settled parts of the counties, hence the percentage of them is small, despite the extent of the country they inhabit. The Ukrainian people in Upper Hungary consist almost exclusively of peasants and petty bourgeois. The lack of national schools causes illiteracy to grow rampant. The upper strata of the people are three-fourths denationalized; the common people are stifled in ignorance, and in the consequent poor economic conditions, which the Hungarian Government is vainly trying to relieve.
In the Bukowina the Ukrainians, over 300,000 in number (38% of the total population of the land), inhabit a region of 5000 square kilometers, situated mostly in the mountainous parts of the country. The Ukrainians inhabit the following districts: Zastavna (80%), Vashkivtzi (83%), Viznitza (78%), Kitzman (87%), and Chernivtzi (55%), half the District of Sereth (42%), a third of the District of Storozhinetz (26%), besides parts of the Districts of Kimpolung, Radautz and Suchava. Amid the Ukrainian population a great many Jews are settled, scattered, and in the cities many Germans, Roumanians, Armenians and Poles besides. The degree of education and the economic state of the Bukowina Ukrainians are incomparably better than those of the Ukrainians of Hungary. From the rural population a numerous educated class has sprung, which has taken the lead of the masses in the economic and political struggle.
In Galicia (78,500 square kilometers, 8 million inhabitants) the Ukrainians, 3,210,000, that is 40% of the total population (with 59% of Poles and 1% of Germans) occupy a compact space of 56,000 square kilometers, in [[131]]which they comprise 59% of the population. These figures are taken from the census of the year 1910, which, because of its partisan compilation, is perhaps unique among the civilized states of Europe. For not only are all the Jews (who speak a German jargon) listed as Poles, but also all the Ukrainians of Roman-Catholic faith, of whom there is more than half a million, and 170,000 pure Ukrainians of Greek-Catholic (united) faith. Basing our calculations, not on these statistics of the vernacular, but on the statistics of faith, which, too, are not unobjectionable, we obtain the following results: For the Greek-Catholic Ukrainians 3,380,000 (42%), for the Roman-Catholic Poles 3,730,000 (47%), and for the Jews 870,000 (11%). According to religious convictions, then, Ukrainian East Galicia would contain 62% of Ukrainians, over 25% (1,350,000) Poles, and over 12% (660,000) Jews. As a matter of fact, the number of Ukrainians in Galicia, according to the investigations of Dr. Okhrimovich, should be raised to at least 3,500,000, and, adding the Roman-Catholic Ukrainians of East Galicia, the number is 4,000,000. We shall retain the figure 3,380,000, however, but for the following view of the districts, the percentages will be taken from the much more justly compiled census of the year 1900. The greatest percentage of the Ukrainian population, that is 75–90%, is found in the Carpathian Districts of Turka, Stari Sambir, Kossiv, Pechenizin; the sub-Carpathian Districts of Bohorodchani, Kalush, Zidachiv; the Pocutian Districts of Sniatin and Horodenka, besides the District of Yavoriv in the Rostoche. The percentage of Ukrainians vacillates between 67 and 75% in the Districts of Lisko, Dobromil, Striy, Dolina, Nadvirna, Tovmach, Salishchiki, Borshchiv, Rohatin, Bibrka, Zovkva and Rava. More than three-fifths of the population (60–66%) is made up of Ukrainians in the Districts of Drohobich, Sambir, Rudki, Mostiska, Horodok, Kolomiya, [[132]]Sokal, Kaminka, Brody, Sbaraz Zolochiv, Peremishlani, Berezani, Pidhaytzi, Chorytkiv, and Husiatin; 50–60% Ukrainians are found in the Districts of Chesaniv, Peremishl, Sianik, Ternopil, Skalat, Terebovla, Buchach and Stanislaviv. In only two districts the percentage of Ukrainians falls below 50%: in the districts of Lemberg (49%) and Yaroslav (41%). In the city of Lemberg the Ukrainians comprise only one-fifth of the population, and in other larger cities of East Galicia, too, their percentage is not great. Consequently, the total percentages of the Ukrainians in the districts are influenced very unfavorably thru the addition of the city population. Besides, the East Galician cities, inhabited chiefly by Jews and Poles, are the chief centers of the Polonizing efforts. Only in the most recent times is the percentage of Ukrainians in the larger cities of East Galicia becoming greater, as a result of the continued flocking in of the Ukrainian rural population. In the fifty smaller cities of East Galicia, on the other hand, the Ukrainians comprise absolute majorities, e.g., Yavoriv, Horodenka, Tismenitza.
In West Galicia only the District of Horlitzi (Gorlice) has more than 25% Ukrainians, the remaining four (Yaslo, New Sandetz, Krosno, Hribov) only 10–20%.
The Ukrainian population of Galicia consists nine-tenths of peasants and petty bourgeois. From them a numerous educated class has sprung in the past century, which has taken the political and cultural leadership of the masses. For this reason, too, national consciousness has advanced most among the Ukrainians of Galicia.
In the compass of the Russian State the Ukrainians occupy a compact national territory of almost 775,000 square kilometers. The actual size of this territory will be accurately determined only when we possess an accurate ethnographic map of the Ukraine. Until then the size of the various Ukrainian sections can only be estimated. [[133]]
The following statistical information is taken from the calculation of 1910, the percentage of Ukrainians from the Russian census of 1897. But the Pinchuks, in the Government of Minsk, were counted as belonging to the Ukrainians by the common opinion of all Russian and non-Russian ethnographers, altho the official statistics have designated them as White Russian.
We shall begin at the western border region, at the Kholmshchina (Kholm land), which was recently organized by the Russian Government as an independent Government apart from Russian Poland, and includes the eastern areas of the Governments of Lublin and Sidletz. In the Government of Lublin (16,800 square kilometers, 1,500,000 inhabitants) the Ukrainians comprise 17% of the population (250,000), in the Government of Sidletz 14% (140,000). The region inhabited by the Ukrainians in both Governments together, amounts to 10,000 square kilometers. Poles and Jews inhabit not only the cities in the Kholm country, but to a great extent villages as well, and comprise a considerable percentage of the population near the western border of the Ukraine. The percentage figures of the Ukrainians and Poles (in parentheses) are in the various districts of the Government of Lublin: Hrubeshiv 66 (24), Tomashiv 52 (37), Kholm 38 (38), Bilhoray 22 (68), Zamostye 9 (83), Krasnostav 6 (83); in the districts of the Government of Sidletz: Vlodava 64 (20), Bila 48 (38), Konstantiniv 22 (55), Radin 5 (87). In these districts the Jews comprise 5–13% of the population, the Germans 14% in the District of Kholm. The number of Ukrainians in the generally Polish-Jewish cities is not insignificant, even comprising the absolute majority in Hrubeshiv.
In the Government of Grodno (38,600 square kilometers 1,950,000 inhabitants), the Ukrainians comprise 23% of the population and inhabit the districts of Berestia (81% Ukrainians), Kobrin (83%), Bilsk (42% relative majority), [[134]]and the border of Pruzani (7%), altogether 14,000 square kilometers, with a Ukrainian population of 440,000. The Poles and White Russians comprise 2–3% in the first two of these districts, the Poles 37% in the District of Bilsk, the White Russians 79% in Pruzani, the Jews 9–11% in all districts.
In the Government of Minsk (91,000 square kilometers, 2,800,000 inhabitants), the Ukrainians (Pinchuks) comprise 14% of the population. They inhabit the entire District of Pinsk and the half of the District of Mosiv, situated on the right bank of the Pripet River, altogether 17,000 square kilometers, with a Ukrainian population of 390,000.
The Government of Volhynia (71,700 square kilometers, 3,850,000 inhabitants) is a central Ukrainian region. The Ukrainians (2,700,000) here comprise over 70% of the population, the Jews 13%, the Poles over 6%, the Germans about 6%, the Russians 3%, the Czechs 1%. These foreign peoples live scattered, or as colonists, and chiefly in the cities of Volhynia, in all of which (Kremianetz excepted) they are more numerous than the Ukrainians. In the country it is different. The percentages of Ukrainians in the districts of Volhynia are very high: Kovel 86%, Ovruch 87%, Ostroh 85%, Zaslav 82%, Kremianetz 84%, Starokonstantiniv 80%. Somewhat smaller are the percentages in the following districts: Zitomir 73%, Dubno 73%, Volodimir Volinsky 68%, Rivne 65%, Lutzk 62%.
In the Government of Kiev (51,000 square kilometers, 4,570,000 inhabitants) the Ukrainians comprise over 79% (3,620,000) of the population. This percentage takes into account the city population, of which the majority are Jews and “Russians.” In the districts, as Chihirin, Svenihorodka, Uman, Tarashcha, the percentage of Ukrainians exceeds 90%, in Radomishl 80%. The chief foreign element are the Jews (12%), then the Russians [[135]](over 6%), and the Poles (2%). In the city of Kiev the Ukrainians comprise more than one-fifth of the population, as much as the Jews and Poles together. An absolute Ukrainian majority exists in the cities of Vassilkiv, Kaniv, Tarashcha, Zvenihorodka and Chihirin. In Berdichiv, Cherkassi, Uman, Lipovetz, Skvira and Radomishl the Jews predominate.
The Government of Podolia (42,000 square kilometers, 3,740,000 inhabitants) has over 81% of its population Ukrainian (3,030,000). In some districts the percentage is much higher, as for example in the District of Mohiliv, 89%. The Jews are the largest foreign element (12%) then the Russians (3%), and the Poles (2%), who live principally in the cities. Only the smaller Podolian cities, e.g., Olhopol, Yampol, Stara Ushitza, Khmelnik, have a Ukrainian majority. In Haisin, Vinnitza, Litin and Bar the number of Ukrainians equals the number of Jews; in Kamenetz, Balta, Bratzlav, Letichiv, Mohiliv and Proskuriv the Jews predominate.
The Government of Kherson (71,000 square kilometers, 3,500,000 inhabitants), just as the three last discussed, is part of the compact Ukrainian national territory, altho the population of this region appears much more mixed. The Ukrainians (1,640,000) here comprise barely 54% of the population. The chief cause of this is the fact that in the large cities of this Government, Jews and Russians predominate, and then there are a great many Roumanian, German and Bulgarian colonies. Despite this, however, the Ukrainians constitute an absolute majority in most of the districts (e.g., the District of Alexandria 88% of Ukrainians, Yelisavet 73%, Kherson 70%, Ananiiv 63%), a relative majority in the rest (Odessa 47%, Tiraspol 38%). The Russians comprise more than 21% of the population, the Jews 12%, the Roumanians over 5% (District of Tiraspol 27%), the Germans nearly 5%, the Bulgarians [[136]]and Poles 1% each. Odessa is a city of many languages. Russians and Jews predominate; the Ukrainians comprise barely one-eleventh of the population, besides which there are Germans, Roumanians, Bulgarians, Poles, Greeks, French, English, Albanians, etc. In Mikolaiv the Ukrainians are only one-thirteenth of the population, in Kherson one-fifth, in Yelisavet one-fourth. In the following cities the Ukrainians possess an absolute majority over the Russians: Alexandria, Ananiiv, Bobrinetz, Vosnesensk, Olviopol, Ochakiv, Berislav, Dubosari.
The Government of Bessarabia (46,000 square kilometers, 2,440,000 inhabitants) has only its northwest tip and its coastal region within Ukrainian national territory. The Ukrainians (460,000) comprise barely 20% of the population of this Government, which consists principally of Roumanians. The territory inhabited by the Ukrainians amounts to 10,000 square kilometers. The Ukrainians comprise an absolute majority only in the District of Khotin (56%), along with 25% Roumanians and 13% Jews. In the District of Akerman the Ukrainians make up 24% of the population, the Bulgarians the same, the Germans and the Roumanians 18% each, the Turks 4%. The Ukrainians settle on the sea-coast and the Dniester. In the District of Ismail there are 17% Ukrainians, 47% Roumanians, 11% Bulgarians, 9% Turks, 3% Germans; in the District of Soroki 17% Ukrainians, 67% Roumanians, 11% Jews. In other districts of Bessarabia there are much fewer Ukrainians; in the district of Biltzi 12%, Benderi 9%, Orhiiv 6%, Kishinev only 2%. In the cities Jews, Russians and Roumanians predominate. The Ukrainians possess an absolute majority only in Akerman, a relative majority in Ismail and Kilia.
In our survey of the Ukraine on the left Dnieper bank we shall begin with the border regions, coming gradually to the central parts. [[137]]
In the Government of Kursk the Ukrainians (670,000) comprise over 22% of the population and inhabit the following districts: Putivl (55% Ukrainians), Hraivoron (61%), Novo Oskol (56%), and the southern parts of Sudga (44%), Rilsk (33%), Korocha (35%), Bilhorod (24%). Besides that, the Ukrainians are scattered in large and small language islands over the Districts of Oboian (12%), Stari Oskol (9%), and Lhov (5%). The area of the compact Ukrainian territory in the Government of Kursk may be estimated at 12,000 square kilometers. The only neighbors and co-inhabitants of the Ukrainians here are the Russians, who, even in many cities of the purely Ukrainian territory, comprise majorities. However, there are a number of Ukrainian cities in the Kursk country. Miropilia has 98%, Sudza 65% Ukrainians, Hraivoron and Korocha are half Ukrainian.
In the next following border region, the Government of Voroniz (65,000 square kilometers, 3,360,000 inhabitants), the Ukrainians inhabit the Districts of Ostrohosh (94% Ukrainians), Bohucha (83%), Biriuch (70%), Valuiki (53%), and the southern parts of Pavlovsk (43%), Bobrovsk (17%), Korotoiak (17%), Novokhopersk (16%). Ukrainian language islands are found chiefly in the District of Semliansk (4%). The total percentage of Ukrainians in the Government of Voroniz is 36%, their number over 1,210,000, the surface they inhabit 29,000 square kilometers. The only neighbors of the Ukrainians here are the Russians, who also comprise the majority in all cities. Only in Biriuch, Bohuchar, Ostrohosh, do the Ukrainians predominate.
In the Government of the Don Cossack army (164,000 square kilometers, 3,500,000 inhabitants) the relation of the Ukrainians to the population is similar to that in the Governments of Kursk and Voroniz. Just as the Ukrainian districts there border on the adjacent central Ukrainian [[138]]lands of Poltava and Kharkiv, so the Ukrainian parts of the Don country touch the central Ukrainian lands of Kharkiv and Katerinoslav. The Ukrainians (980,000) comprise 28% of the population of the Don country and inhabit 45,000 square kilometers. Most thickly populated by Ukrainians are the southern districts: Tahanroh (69%), Rostiv (52%), the western half of the Donetz District (40%). The statistics show far less Ukrainians in the Districts of Cherkask (23%) and Sal (31%). In the Districts of Don I (12%), Don II (4%), Ust Medvedinsk (11%), Khoper (7%), the Ukrainians form language islands in the midst of a Russian population. In the District of Sal the relative majority is credited to the Kalmucks (39%), but beyond that only Russians are the neighbors of the Ukrainians. But all this data is not unobjectionable. It has long been an established fact that the lower “Don Cossacks” are for the most part of Ukrainian nationality. At the same time we see, from the official census of 1897, that none of the Don Cossacks were counted as members of the Ukrainian nation. In the cities of the Don country the number of Ukrainians is very small, e.g., in Rostiv hardly greater than one-fifth. Only the city of Osiv (Azof) is predominantly Ukrainian.
The Kuban country (92,000 square kilometers, 2,630,000 inhabitants) has a relative Ukrainian majority (over 47% = 1,250,000), along with 44% Russians and 9% Caucasus races.
In this land the purely Ukrainian country embraces over 56,000 square kilometers. Three of the districts have an absolute Ukrainian majority: Yask (81%), Temriuk (79%), and Katerinodar (57% Ukrainians, 27% Russians, 11% Circassians). In the Caucasian District there are 47% of Ukrainians and as many Russians, in the District of Maikop 31% Ukrainians, 58% Russians, 6% Circassians, 2% Kabardines, in the Labinsk District [[139]]28% Ukrainians, 77% Russians, in the District of Batalpashinsk 28% Ukrainians, 39% Russians, 13% Karachaians, 5% Abkhasians, 4% Kabardines, 3% Nogaians, 2% Circassians. It should be observed, however, that perhaps nowhere have so many Ukrainians been entered as Russians in the census as in these very Caucasian lands. For this reason the entire Kuban country may be considered Ukrainian territory, except the chains of high mountains.
In the Government of Stavropol (60,000 square kilometers, 1,230,000 inhabitants) the Ukrainians comprise 37% (450,000). They inhabit a region of nearly 22,000 square kilometers in the west and south of the Government, where the border of the Ukrainian settlements, which reaches the Caspian Sea, begins. The District of Medveza has 48% Ukrainians (in the west), the District of Stavropol 13% (in the extreme south), the District of Olexandrivsk 40%, Novotvihoriiosk 54% (chiefly in their southern halves). The neighbors here are Russians and Nogaians.
In the Terek region (69,000 square kilometers, 1,183,000 inhabitants) the Ukrainians officially comprise only 5% of the population (50,000), altho it is generally known that an appreciable part of the Terek Cossacks belongs to the Ukrainian nation. A large percentage of Ukrainians (14%) is found only in the District of Piatihorsk; outside of that the Ukrainians are united in a narrow seam of settlements extending to the Caspian Sea. 29% of the population in the Terek region is Russian; the absolute majority is made up by various Caucasian races (Kabardines, Tatars, Ossetians, Ingushians, Chechenians, Avaro-andians, Kumikians, Nogaians).
The small Government of the Black Sea (7000 square kilometers, 130,000 inhabitants) has only 16% Ukrainians who live, 10,000 in number, in the northwestern part of the extended coast region. In the District of Tuapse there are 27% Ukrainians; in the District of Sochi 8%. Their [[140]]neighbors are Russians, who do not form an absolute majority at any place, then Armenians, Circassians, Greeks, Turks, etc.
The most important border country in the south, however, is, without doubt, the Government of Tauria (60,000 square kilometers, 1,800,000 inhabitants). The Ukrainians here comprise the relative majority of the population (42%—790,000), with 28% Russians, 13% Crimean Tatars, over 5% Germans, about 5% Jews, about 3% Bulgarians, about 1% Armenians, etc. The Ukrainians comprise an absolute majority in the Districts of Dniprovsk (76%), Berdiansk (64%), and Melitopol (57%), and large minorities in the Districts of Eupatoria (27%) and Perekop (24%), the northern parts of which they inhabit. The entire mainland part of the Government and the northern part of the Crimean peninsula, consequently belong, without doubt, to the compact Ukrainian national territory, while the number of Ukrainians in the southern regions of Crimea appears much smaller (District of Feodosia 13%, Simferopol 10%, Yalta 2%). The chief foreign element in Tauria is composed of Russians (Dniprovsk 16%, Melitopol 32%, Berdiansk 18%, Perekop 24%, Eupatoria 17%), and Tatars (Yalta 71%, Simferopol 51%, Feodosia 45%, Eupatoria 40%, Perekop 24%). To the extent that the Tatars emigrate to Turkey, however, the settled area and the number of the Ukrainians of Tauria constantly increase, so that the time does not seem far off when the Ukrainian element will have gained the entire Crimean peninsula for its national territory. Besides, one must entertain strong doubts concerning the actual number of the Russians mentioned in the statistics, for the Rittich map of 1878 gives almost no Ukrainians in Tauria, and calls even the mainland parts of Tauria Russian. And twenty years later came the just-mentioned figures of the official statistics. We may then, confidently [[141]]consider the entire Government of Tauria a Ukrainian district, with considerable colonization by foreign-speaking people. The most important of the foreign settlers are without a doubt the Germans. They are 24% of the population in the District of Perekop, 12% in Eupatoria, 8% in Berdiansk, 5% in Melitopol; the Bulgarians make up 10% of the population in Berdiansk.
Next to be considered, after these borderlands, are the four central regions of the Ukraine which lie on the left bank of the Dnieper. In the Government of Katerinoslav (63,000 square kilometers, 3,060,000 inhabitants) the Ukrainians 2,110,000 in number, comprise 69% of the total population, with 17% Russians, 5% Jews, 4% Germans, 2% Greeks, 1% each of Tatars, White Russians and Poles. Detached districts of the land have very high percentages of Ukrainians, e.g., District of Novomoskovsk 94%, Verkhnodniprovsk 91%, Olexandrivsk 86%, Pavlohrad 83%. In the large cities the number of the foreign elements is very great, hence, the District of Katerinoslav has 74% Ukrainians, and when the city is counted in, only 56% Ukrainians, with 21% Russians, 13% Jews, 6% Germans, 2% Poles. The smallest percentage of Ukrainians is found in the southeastern districts of the region, where populous settlements of foreign elements exist. The District of Bakhmut, for instance, has 58% Ukrainians with 32% Russians, the District of Slavianoserbsk 55% Ukrainians besides 42% Russians, the District of Mariupol 51% Ukrainians besides 20% Greeks. In the City of Katerinoslav the Ukrainians comprise barely one-seventh of the population, while in Olexandrivsk, Verkhnodniprovsk, Novomoskovsk and Bakhmut, they predominate over the Russians, and are equal to them in Slaviansk and Pavlohrad.
In the Government of Kharkiv (54,000 square kilometers, 3,250,000 inhabitants) the Ukrainians make up 70% of the total population, or 2,275,000. As a result of [[142]]considerable Russian colonization (28%), forming several language islands in the midst of Ukrainian territory, the percentage of Ukrainians in several districts varies appreciably (e.g., Smiiv 66%, Vovchansk 75%, Starobilsk 84%, Kupiansk 87%). But we note for the first time, here, the remarkable fact that in all the district cities the Ukrainians are much more numerous than the Russians. Only in the capital city, Kharkiv, are they in the minority, and comprise little more than one-fourth the population.
The Government of Poltava (50,000 square kilometers, 3,580,000 inhabitants) may be considered the heart of the Ukraine. The Ukrainians here comprise 95% of the population, or 3,410,000, beside 4% Jews and 1% Russians. The percentage in detached districts varies between 88% (District of Konstantinohrad) and 99% (District of Sinkiv). The Russians and Jews live principally in the cities, where they are always second to the Ukrainians, however, except in the city of Kreminchuk, where the Jews comprise the majority.
In the Government of Chernihiv (25,000 square kilometers, 2,980,000 inhabitants) the Ukrainians comprise 86% of the population (2,450,000), beside 5% White Russians, 5% Jews, and 4% Russians. With the exception of the northern districts, Suraz (Ukrainians 19%, White Russians 67%, Russians 11%), Novosibkiv (Ukrainians 66%, Russians 30%, White Russians 2%), and Starodub (Ukrainians 75%, Russians 22%), all the districts of the region have from 88% (Horodnia) to 99% (Krolevetz) of Ukrainians. All the district cities, except Novosibkiv, Starodub, Suraz and Mhlin, have an absolute Ukrainian majority; the capital, Chernihiv, only a relative one.
The number of Ukrainians within the compact national territory in Russia, then, amounts to almost 28½ millions. Excluded in this estimate are the Ukrainians of the Government of Astrakhan (190,000), Saratov (220,000), Samara [[143]](150,000), Orenburg (50,000), as well as the Ukrainians of all Asiatic-Russian lands, whose number is not placed too high at 500,000. We may therefore estimate the number of Ukrainians in the entire Russian Empire as 29½ millions.
This figure, which was gained thru a critical survey of the statistical material of the individual administrative units of Russia, is approached with remarkable closeness by the figure which may be gotten in another, more general way. In the year of 1897 the number of Ukrainians in the Russian Empire was 22,400,000; that is, 17.4% of the total population of 129,000,000. Applying the same percentage to the numerical estimate of 1910, we get 28,900,000 Ukrainians in a total Russian population of 166,000,000. Adding the Pinchuks (390,000) who, in the official statistics were erroneously counted as White Russians, we receive for the number of Ukrainians of Russia (1910) 29,300,000.
Now, adding up all the Ukrainians of the globe, we receive (for 1910) an amount of 34½ millions; 32,700,000 of it in the compact Ukrainian country. This figure is a minimum value, for in calculating it the intentional errors of the official statistics were taken into the bargain. Nevertheless, this figure shows us that the Ukrainians occupy the sixth place, numerically, among the nations of Europe, the five above them being the Germans, Russians, French, English and Italians. Among the Slavic races they stand in the second place.
How this great numerical strength of the Ukrainian nation can be brought into harmony with its political and economic weakness we shall try to show in the sections following. Now let us turn briefly to the density of population of the Ukraine.
The 850,000 square kilometers of solid Ukrainian national territory are inhabited by approximately forty-five million people (1910), of whom, according to official estimates, 73% are Ukrainians. The general density of [[144]]the Ukraine, consequently, amounts to 53 inhabitants to the square kilometer. The Ukraine is also the transition from the thickly populated countries of Central Europe to the thinly-peopled northeast and east of the globe. This transition may easily be followed out within the Ukraine also. The western border regions are the most thickly settled. Galicia has a density of 102, the Government of Lublin 90, the Government of Kiev 90, Podolia 89, Bukowina 77, Poltava 72. We see a wide zone of dense population, then, extending along the 50th parallel of latitude, from the Carpathians to the Dnieper. To the north of it, the first more thinly peopled zone extends: Sidletz 69, Grodno 51, Minsk 39, Volhynia 54, Chernihiv 57, Kursk 65, Voroniz 51. On the south of the thickly peopled zone lies the second more sparsely settled zone: Bessarabia 53, Kherson 49, Tauria 31, Katerinoslav 48. Most thinly settled, however, are the eastern borderlands of the Ukraine: Kuban 28, Don and Stavropol each 21, Chornomoria and the Terek region each 17.
Within these extensive regions, too, the density of population varies greatly. Sometimes districts very close together have a widely different density. These differences, however, are largely only seeming differences and are caused by the city populations. Thus, for example, the marked density of the Districts of Stanislaviv (184), Ternopil (161), Peremishl (160), Kolomia (156), is caused by the presence of the populous cities of the same names. Therefore the Pokutian District of Sniatin (147) seems very thickly settled, because of the smallness of the district cities. The average density of Ukrainian East Galicia is only 98; in the mountainous Districts of Dolina and Kossiv it only attains 45. The same conditions exist in Russian Ukraine. The District of Kharkiv has a density of 164 inhabitants to the square verst; the District of Kiev 152. Considering only the rural population, however, [[145]]these figures sink to 81 and 75 respectively. Therefore, the District of Kaniv with its 117 inhabitants to the square verst, (113, or not reckoning in the inhabitants of the cities), appears to be the best-populated district of the Russian Ukraine. Many districts besides, in Podolia, Kiev, Poltava, Kharkiv and South Volhynia (without counting the cities), have a density of 75 and 100, while other districts of the same region vary between 50 and 75. In the forest swamp regions of Northern Ukraine the density figure falls a great deal. The District of Ovruch, in Northern Volhynia, attains a density of only 29; the Polissian Districts of Pinsk and Mosir 26 and 17 respectively. The steppe country of Southern Ukraine is likewise very thinly settled in places. The density of population of most of the districts of Southern Ukraine varies between 30 and 50, but the Districts of Eupatoria and Perekop, for example, have only 11 inhabitants per square verst, the second Don District 12, the Sal only 6, the District of Batalpashinsk in the sub-Caucasian country only 17.
From these figures we see that the Ukraine, as regards its density, is a genuine Eastern European land. But in comparing its density of population with that of the Russian Empire, or even of Russia in Europe, we perceive that the Ukraine is the most thickly settled part of the giant Russian Empire, after Poland. Even the most thinly settled southeastern border regions have a greater population to the square kilometer than Russia’s average (25 per square kilometer). Almost one-fourth of the enormous human reservoirs of Russia are found on Ukrainian territory. And yet the Ukraine, despite its great size, is only one-twenty-ninth of the giant Russian Empire.
From these figures we see, furthermore, that trade, industry and commerce have, to this day, been unable to influence the density of population of the Ukraine. The Ukraine has remained in the original stage of development, [[146]]in which only the age of settlement and the fertility of the soil form the basis for increase in the density of population. The history of the Ukraine has, to this day, influenced the country’s density of population. The former central districts of the old Ukrainian state of Kiev and Halich are still the most thickly settled; the southern and eastern border regions, which have suffered most from the 500 years of the Tartar scourge, the most thinly settled. This is the reason that Galicia, one of the poorest regions of the Ukraine in natural resources, where industry and trade are so little developed, is at the same time the most thickly populated region.
Similarly primitive, and betraying a low grade of culture, is the relation between the city and country population of the Ukraine. Only a very insignificant fraction of the population inhabits the cities and towns of the Ukraine. In Galicia (1910) only 14½% of the population lives in places whose population is more than 5,000; only 9½% in cities of over 10,000. Similar conditions prevail in Russian Ukraine. Very rarely does the city population exceed 10% of the total number of people, usually keeping below this percentage, which is typical for all of Russia. Podolia has only 7% city population, Volhynia 8%, Chernihiv 9%, Poltava 10%, Kuban 11%, Katerinoslav 12%, Kiev 13%, and Kharkiv 14%. Only the regions colonized within the last century in Southern Ukraine, with their large cities, have a large percentage of city population (Tauria 20%, Kherson 29%).
More glaringly still does the low grade of culture of the Ukraine stand out when we give the percentage of the Ukrainian population in the cities of the Ukraine. Only in Galicia do 14% of the Ukrainian people of the country live in the cities. In the Government of Kharkiv only 10% of the Ukrainians of the district belong to the city population, in Kherson only 9%, in Kuban 8%, in Chernihiv [[147]]7%, Poltava 6%, Tauria 5%, Kiev and Katerinoslav each 4%, in Podolia 3%, and in Volhynia actually only 2%. It is true that, especially in the cities, the official estimates were “made” very unfavorably to the Ukrainian element, but, nevertheless, they show clearly enough that the Ukrainian people, clinging to their agrarian state, have left the cities, those centers of cultural and economic life, in the hands of foreign elements. Only within very recent years have these conditions begun to improve. The foreign-speaking cities are gradually coming to be Ukraine-ized, and the very rapidly growing percentage of Ukrainians in Galicia and the Russian Ukraine justify us in hoping that the Ukrainian element, in its continuous stream from the surrounding country, will, in time, absorb the foreign-speaking elements which now command the cities of the Ukraine. [[148]]