After the Mongols in the 13th century and after the sack of Kyiv in 1240, the various fiefdoms of the princes and boyars of Kievan Rus were in various stages of disarray. Out of Volhynia came a leader. His name was Danylo Romanovych, son of the founder of what became known in history as the Galicia-Volhynia State. This is Western Ukraine, primarily the territory of the present oblasts of Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Volyn and Ternopil. This territory has never been Russian though for approximately four decades it was part of the former Soviet Union. It has had Polish, Lithuanian, Hungarian and Austrian influences, but it always had a mostly Ukrainian population.
Halychyna as Galicia is called in Ukrainian takes its name from its founding town of Halych, which exists still today some 30 kilometers north of the city of Ivano-Frankivsk. It's a quaint, classy, pretty town (see sidebar to the UO's cover story) of a reported approximately 12,000 population and it's the capital of its district. The town has pretty much been razed at times in its history, at least once by the pesky Mongols. King (Prince) Danylo as Romanovych was known did a lot of consolidating of territories in his life and his kingdom was a quite powerful medieval state. For a time he occupied Kyiv and even, I believe, defeated the rulers in Chernihiv. Of necessity, he paid tribute and was somewhat subservient to Batu Khan and his Mongols. Note that his 'hometown' is some 600 kilometers or so from Kyiv and Chernihiv Those people covered some territory in those days. To the west Danylo's kingdom extended to the Danube River.
Galicia is rich in history. The town of Halych itself is much older than the history of Galicia-Volhynia. Centuries before the arrival of the Romanovych's the place had been occupied by Slavic tribesmen. Probably this has a lot to do with the town being located at a wide point on the Dneister River, the principal river of the second largest river system in Ukraine. Only the Dnieper's is larger.
The capital of what is known as Galicia today is Lviv, a city of some 800,000 thousand or so people. Lviv was founded by King Danylo in 1253 and is named for Danylo's son Lev. Lviv's Austrian, more European flavor contrasts greatly with that of Kyiv.
In describing the present city (town) of Halych I would call it a 'jewel' of a town. I think it has great future tourist potential. Many American and Canadian Ukrainian Diaspora trace their history to this area, many of Jewish descent. They left at various times due to poverty and persecution. In fact, many of both the large and small towns had large, sometimes almost a majority, of their population pre 'The Great War'of Jewish heritage. In short supply too are those of Polish descent in the cities. These are mostly Ukrainian Christians of the Orthodox or Uniate variety that live in Galician' oblasts now.
I mentioned the tourist business...now I guess the favored term is the 'hospitality industry'. Galicia is full of mountains and skiing is an attraction. There are people of mountain extraction, principally the Hutsels with their own unique Ukrainian heritage. I guess there may be a few Boykos and even some leftover Lemkos.To the north I understand their are interesting and beautiful lakes though I have not visited (technically not in Galicia, but a part of the old Galicia-Volhynia province of King Danylo's time).
Galicia is quite a large area. At one time in history it was larger, but not really. During the Austrian-Hungarian period (1772 to 1918) Galicia extended past Krakow in Poland. Indeed, Krakow was said to be the capital of Western Galicia, Lviv of Eastern Galicia. But that was temporary artifice, having more to do with Poland's uncertain status on the world's stage at the time than the Ukrainian (Ruthenian) territory of King Danylo's times.
I find Galicia's history interesting. Definitely a place to visit and explore.
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