Pre-Slavic Ukraine History

Study Notes

First evidence of humans in Ukraine dates back to 150,000 years ago.
The Cimmerians, skilled horsemen, brought the Iron Age to Ukraine, and their first written mention is in Homer's Odyssey.
The Scythians, nomads who spoke Persian, settled in Crimea and near the Black Sea, and were fierce warriors.
Many of the region's rivers, such as Dnipro, Donets, Dnister, and Danube, may have originated from the Scythian language.
The Sarmatians, another group of Persian-speaking people, traded with China and came from the east.

The Eastern Slavs originated in the Carpathian Mountains and spread in all directions.
Although they were ruled by other people, Slavic culture survived.
Kyiv was founded in 482.

People from Scandinavia (Sweden, Norway, and Denmark) came down the Dnipro River to control trade.
Kyiv became the capital of one of the most developed societies in Europe.
Oleh was the first confirmed ruler of Kyivan Rus in 879 CE.

Under his rule, Kyivan Rus became the largest state in Europe.
He converted to Christianity in 988 CE to marry the sister of the Byzantine Emperor.
He baptized the residents of Kyiv in the Dnipro River.
The Trident was depicted as his symbol of power.

Princes fought for control, leading to trade decline and the eventual fall of Kyiv to the Mongols in 1240.
The Kingdom of Galicia-Volhynia continued in the west, considered the first true Ukrainian state.

For 400 years, Ukraine was ruled by either Lithuania or Poland.
Ukraine developed separately from Russia.
Poland and Lithuania had different political systems and looked west towards Europe.
Lithuania expanded down the Dnipro and controlled Kyiv, being more tolerant.
Poland expanded into Western Ukraine (Ruthenia), leading to conflicts over Catholicism.
The two joined to create the Poland-Lithuania commonwealth.

The Cossacks lived on borders, with "Ukraina" meaning "on the borders".
They were allowed to be mostly independent and formed their own assemblies (Rada).
They led several uprisings against Polish rule, with Bohdan Khmelnytsky leading an uprising in 1648.

In the 1700s, Poland was divided among three major powers: Russia, Austria-Hungary, and others.
Russia got most of Ukraine, while Austria-Hungary got parts of Western Ukraine.
Russian rule was worse than Polish and Austrian, with less rights and Russian language schools.
Ukrainian culture continued to develop, with schools in Ukrainian language and publishing allowed in Austrian-ruled areas.

There was a surge in art, journals, and academic papers published in Ukrainian.
People in Western Ukraine began calling themselves Ukrainians instead of Ruthenians to show connection between Ukrainian-speaking people in both east and west.
The national anthem "Ukraine has not yet Perished" was written in 1862.
This eventually led to a political movement to create a culturally defined Ukrainian nation.

After World War I, several independent Ukrainian states declared between 1917 and 1920, but they were not able to defend themselves and eventually came under control of Poland or the USSR.
After World War II, Poland lost its parts of Ukraine to the USSR.
Ukraine rapidly became industrialized, and in 1954, Crimea was transferred from the Russian Republic to Ukrainian SSR.
A large independence movement began in the late 1980s.

A referendum was held on December 1, 1991, and was approved by 92%.
The Rada adopted it on August 24, and Ukraine began working towards building a stable, independent, and democratic state.
Leonid Kravchuk was elected as the first president of Ukraine.
The Constitution of Ukraine was signed in 1996.