Chapter XII: Book II: Anthropogeography (7)

The present condition of commerce in the Ukraine is still very primitive; first, because of the generally low grade of culture; second, because of the very primitive traffic conditions of Eastern Europe.

The first mark of the primitive condition is probably the existence of countless annual fairs in the Ukraine—a relic of medieval trade conditions. The number of annual fairs in the Russian Ukraine exceeds 4000, altho it is far out of proportion to the great number of annual fairs in Great Russia. But out of twenty-two grand annual fairs of Russia, eleven fall to the Ukrainian territory—four in Kharkiv, two in Romny, one in Poltava, Kursk, Kolevez, Yelisavet and Sumy, respectively. In addition, there are the once famous Kiev “kontrakti” (now declining), and the smaller annual fairs in Berdichiv, Zitomir, Dubno, etc. The greatest exchanges of goods take place in the Yordan fair in Kharkiv (January 20th), and the Elias fair (August 2nd) in Poltava. Here the wholesale dealers sell their goods to the retailers (Ofenyi—Russians from the Governments of Vladimir and Slobozani—Russian sectarians, colonists from the Chernihiv country, Jewish retailers who sell in the right half of the Ukraine), who buy or supplement their stock of goods during the annual fairs. In these wholesale transactions, the so-called prassoli—Russian barterers—also engage, dealers who travel all year thru the villages of the Ukraine, exchange the wool, bristles and flax of the peasants for hardware, and sell the collected raw materials to the wholesalers. In this annual fair system, the Ukrainians have, until recently, played an important part as paid drivers, who drove the goods on their oxcarts from fair to fair. These drivers at one time formed a sort of class of their own—the “chumaki”—and even engaged independently in the trading of the Crimean salt and the dried fish of the Sea of Azof. The railroads have put an end to the former importance of the chumaki, yet the scanty length of the Ukrainian railway system prevents this carting industry from disappearing altogether. In the eighties of the past century there were counted in the districts of Poltava, Kharkiv and Chernihiv, 210,000 chumaks; in the year 1897, in Kherson, Katerinoslav, Tauria and Don, about 100,000 of these hired drivers.

The fair system of Ukrainian trade is carried on not only by means of great annual fairs, which, by the way, are decreasing in importance year by year, but also by means of an enormous number of smaller annual fairs in the cities, towns, and even villages of the Russian Ukraine, which take care of the retail trade. In the Austrian Ukraine the annual fairs (as for instance, the once famous fairs of Tarnopol, Ulashkivtzi, Czernowitz) have lost all significance since the modernization of the country’s commerce.

World-commerce has, until very recently, left the Ukraine almost untouched. This is one of the reasons why the primitive forms of commerce were able to last so long in the Ukraine. Until recently, world-commerce has taken the Ukraine merely for a producing and exporting country of raw materials, and left the supplying of local demands to the traditional forms of trade. Only within the last decades has the modern commercial organization begun slowly to take in the Ukraine. The exchanges in Kiev, Kharkiv, Odessa, Kreminchuk, Mikolaiv, Tahanroh, Rostiv, the chambers of commerce in Lviv and Brodi, are organizing the export of raw materials from the Ukraine, and the flooding of the country with the products of foreign industry is becoming more and more intensive.

In spite of all we have mentioned, the significance of the Ukraine in the internal commerce of Russia and in world-trade is very great. The natural resources of the country, its situation on the threshold of Asia and the Mediterranean world, its property of being a direct hinterland of the Black Sea, give to the Ukraine a commercial importance with which that of any other individual district of European Russia, the Baltic lands and Poland not excepted, can never compare.

In the internal commerce of Russia, the Ukraine figures, first of all, as purveyor of foodstuffs, and in Austria-Hungary the Austrian Ukraine plays the same part on a small scale. To represent these relations in figures encounters great difficulties, and the figures can be only approximate. In 1895 the Ukraine exported over 1.5 million metric hundredweights of grain to Lithuania and White Russia, about 1.7 million metric hundredweights to Poland, and about 0.9 million metric hundredweights to Central Russia. In 1905, two Ukrainian districts alone, Poltava and Kharkiv, exported over 0.7 metric hundredweights of grain to Central Russia. These figures must be much greater today. And the grain exportation of the Austrian Ukraine to the interior of Austria must be relatively as great. As a matter of fact, Galicia produces one-third of the total Austrian output of oats and wheat, and almost half the output of potatoes.

Quite as important is the Ukraine’s exportation of live-stock. In the years 1902–1904, the Ukraine exported 80,000 head of cattle to Central Russia, and the part played by Galicia as purveyor of live-stock for slaughter is well-known. Equally important is the exportation of small cattle, poultry, eggs and butter. The exportation of wool from the Southern Ukraine plays an important part in the internal commerce of Russia. The Polissye, Carpathian and Caucasus regions furnish great quantities of lumber for exportation. The mineral products of the Ukraine are used for the greater part outside the country—Caucasian and Carpathian petroleum, the iron ore of Krivi Rih, the salt, the manganese, the coal of the Donetz Plateau. Of the entire yield of coal of the Donetz basin in 1905, barely one-third was used up in the factories of this region; the other two-thirds were to serve the advancement of Central Russian industry. All these products are the object of an active export trade.

In comparison with the exports, the imports of the Ukraine cannot be very large. The imports embrace, almost exclusively, products of foreign manufacturing. In view of the general poverty and the very limited wants of the Ukrainian peasantry, these imports must be small, since home industry still covers the greatest part of the demand.

The part of the Ukraine in the external commerce of the Russian State is very important, while the Austrian Ukraine plays a very subordinate part in this respect. The ten central regions of the Ukraine furnish over 60% of the total grain export of Russia. In the customs districts of the Ukrainian part of the western border of Russia, 28.6 million rubles’ worth of goods was exported, 14.3 million rubles imported. The customs districts of the Pontian and Azof coast within the borders of the Ukraine passed 245 million rubles in exports, 64.8 million rubles in imports. Over the borders of Russian Ukraine passed 33% of the Russian exportation and only 11% of the importation. This shows us how much the Ukraine contributes to the balance of trade in favor of Russia.

Traffic in the Ukraine is very slightly developed. Altho the natural conditions for traffic are very favorable, the historical fortunes of the country took such a course that we cannot wonder at the present state of intercourse. The Ukraine was for a long time under the domination of Poland, which never cared for the condition of the roads; then the country fell under the rule of Russia, which to this day stands upon a very low level as far as traffic conditions are concerned. The Austrian Ukraine has the greatest number and the best roads, but they are found especially in Bukowina and Northern Hungary. For in Galicia, where most of the roads are under the management of the autonomous Polish authorities, the condition of the roads is sad enough.

The overwhelming majority of Ukrainian highways are unpaved. All that the Russian geographer, Krassnov, has said in general about the highways of Russia, applies in its fullest extent to the unpaved, unmacadamized roads of the Ukraine. These roads are among the worst in the world. In the summer they are enveloped in clouds of dust; in the spring and fall, as well as in rainy weather, they are strips of bottomless mud, in which even the light farm-wagon sinks to its axles. Wherever it is at all possible, vehicles drive across the fields along the roadway. Worst of all are the ways in the vicinity of and within villages and small towns. Drains and bridges are either unknown, or else there are not enough of them. The kind of roads just described are known in the entire right half of the Ukraine by the traditional name of “Polish roads.” Still worse are the cane and corduroy roads of the Polissye; riding over these a long time becomes a positive torture to the traveler. In the Hutzul country most of the roads are ordinary bridle-paths (plai), accessible only to foot passengers and bridle-horses.

In Galicia, only villages and hamlets are connected by unpaved roads; in the Russian Ukraine even large cities. Not a single macadamized road leads to cities like Poltava, Kreminchuk, Katerinoslav, Rostiv, Kherson. That such negligence of the government should cause the Ukrainian peasantry incalculable damage, and actually hinder trade and commerce, is obvious at once.

Macadamized roads are very scarce in the Ukraine as a whole. The Austro-Hungarian part of the Ukraine, altho in this respect it is far behind the cultural countries of Europe, possesses a greater absolute number of macadamized roads than the Russian Ukraine, which is ten times as large in area. All cities and towns of the Austrian Ukraine are connected by macadamized roads. Eight such roads meet at Lemberg, seven in Czernowitz, six each in Peremishl, Ternopil, Kolomia, Buchach, Horodenka, etc. In the Russian Ukraine, on the other hand, the only macadamized roads that deserve the name, are the road from Homel to Kiev, the road from Kiev to Berestia (by way of Zitomir, Novhorod-Volinsky, Rivne, with branches to Dubno and to Kremianetz, Lutzk, Kovil), the road from Tomashiv to Lublin, the road from Starokonstantiniv to Kamenetz, the road from Kursk to Kharkiv, and the mountain-road in the Yaila Mountains in Crimea. The remaining “great tracts” and “post-roads” (altho they sometimes figure as macadamized roads) are in such a miserable condition, that even in the large cities they look more like moraines than streets in a civilized city.

Quite analogous conditions prevail, also, in the railroad traffic of the Ukraine. In this respect, too, the Austrian Ukraine surpasses the Russian Ukraine by far, despite the backward condition of the former. Galicia, for instance, has 5 kilometers of railroad for 100 square kilometers of surface, the Russian Ukraine barely 1 kilometer. Besides the loose mesh of the railway-net of the Ukraine, there is the additional disadvantage that its lines tend toward foreign centers, and consider the local needs of Ukrainian traffic only in rare cases. Galicia, separated from the rest of Austria-Hungary by the natural boundary of the Carpathians, has had to develop an independent system of railways, with the main junction at Lemberg. In the Russian Ukraine all the main lines were built only for the convenience of the Moscow center and the Baltic ports. Hence, there is no direct railway line between Kiev and Odessa, for instance, or to Kharkiv, while there exist almost straight line connections between Romen and Libau, between Sevastopol and Kharkiv and Moscow. Besides that, strategic factors were the deciding ones in the building of the railroads (particularly in Western Ukraine), and the economic life of the country often has had to suffer for it.

A third disadvantageous aspect of the Russian Ukrainian railway system is its tariff regulations, the purpose of which is to concentrate the greatest possible amount of traffic on the railroads of Central Russia and the Baltic provinces, and thus redound to their advantage. As a result of this tariff policy of the Russian Government, it happens that it is sometimes cheaper to transport goods from the Ukraine to the most distant Baltic ports, than to the adjacent ports of the Black Sea. Thus, the tariff rates for grain from Romen to Libau (1077 versts) are 21 kopeks per pud, from Romen to Mikolaiv (429 kilometers) 18 kopeks. It costs more money and trouble to transport coal from the Donetz region to the Black Sea ports than to the ports of the Baltic, which, of course, are far more distant. Naturally Pontian navigation suffers above all from this cause, but all Ukrainian trade in general suffers likewise.

As a result of the loose web of the net of railroads, and the destination of all the railroad lines in the Ukraine to foreign centers, there are almost no important railway centers in the Ukraine. The only center of European proportions is Lemberg, where nine main and local lines meet. Striy, Stanislaviv, Kolomia and Ternopil are smaller junctions, with five converging lines. In the Russian Ukraine, only Berestia and Kharkiv deserve the name of railway junction, in the strict sense of being a point of intersection of at least two main lines; the same is true of Poltava and Rostiv. The dependence of the Ukrainian railway lines upon foreign centers is the cause of the fact that frequently very important crossings lie beyond large towns, near to some miserable little village, as for example, Sarni, Bakhmach, Kosiatin, Zmerinka, etc. The only concentrated district of the Ukrainian railroad system with numerous local junctions, lies in the Donetz Plateau.

We shall now enumerate several railroads of the Ukraine which are most important for the traffic of the country. The Ukraine is connected with the Black Sea by means of seven main lines: Lemberg-Odessa, Znamenka-Mikolaiv, Kharkiv-Sevastopol (with a branch to Kerch), Katerinoslav-Berdiansk, Donetz Plateau-Mariupol, Donetz Plateau-Tahanroh, Katerinodar-Novorossysk. Direct railroad connections with Roumania exist via Tiraspol to Yassy, and from Lemberg by way of Czernowitz to Bukarest. The following lines lead into Hungary: Stanislaviv-Sihot, Lemberg-Mukachiv, Lemberg-Uzhorod-Peremishl-Uihely. The connection with Austrian-Poland (Western Galicia) is formed by the Lemberg-Cracow and Stanislaviv-New-Sandetz lines, the connection with Russian-Poland by the lines of Kovel-Lublin-Warsaw and Berestia-Sidletz-Warsaw. The lines of Berestye-Bilostok, Rivne-Vilna, and Romen-Minsk-Libau lead north to White Russia, Lithuania and the Baltic. The Ukraine is connected with the north and northeast (Great Russia) by the lines of Kiev-Kursk, Kharkiv-Moscow, Kupiansk-Penza-Samara, and Donetz Plateau-Voroniz. Eastward, the railroad lines run from the Donetz region and Katerinodar to the bend of the Volga, and from Rostiv along the Caucasus to Baku.

In the Ukraine itself, the main lines of the railroads should run in a direction west and northwest to east and southeast. Hence, the main paths of traffic should be the following lines: Czernowitz-Odessa, Berestye-Rivne-Berdichiv-Uman, Kovel-Kiev-Poltava-Donetz region-Rostiv, Fastiv-Katerinoslav, Novosibkiv-Sumi-Kharkiv-Donetz Plateau, etc. As a result of the railroad policy of the Russian Government, the north and south lines, which lead directly or indirectly to the Muscovite centers, are held to be more important, as for instance, the following: Berestye-Minsk-Moscow, Lemberg-Rivne-Vilna, Novoselitza-Kiev-Kursk, Vapniarka-Cherkassi-Piriatin, Mikolaiv-Kreminchuk-Romni, Balta-Kreminchuk-Kharkiv-Kursk, etc. Of greatest importance are, also, the industrial railroads which connect the iron mines of Krivi Rih with the coal-fields of the Donetz region, via Katerinoslav.

The waterways of the Ukraine were at one time the main roads of trade and commerce. The great cultural mission of the Ukrainian waterways is familiar from history; thru the course of long centuries they were the only convenient thorofares thru the difficult forest regions and the pathless steppes of the Ukraine. Traffic on the Ukrainian waterways was, in former times, much more important than at present, not only because of the lack of other convenient pathways, but also because of their former greater length and capacity. Deforestation has decreased the normal level of the rivers; mill-dams have cut off the once navigable stretches of water.

The Ukraine possesses almost no artificial waterways. The only ones in existence—the Orginski Canal (Yassiolda-Vihonivske ozero-Shchara, 54 kilometers of canal, 124 kilometers of connected watercourses) and the Dnieper-Buh Canal (Pina-Mokhavez, 81 kilometers of canal, 134 kilometers of connected watercourses)—were built back in the days of Polish rule. They are antiquated, shallow and neglected, so they can serve only occasionally, and then only for log-floating.

The total length of Ukrainian waterways exceeds 7000 kilometers, which is just as much as the length of the waterways of Austria or of England, but only one-tenth that of European Russia. In this figure, sections of rivers are included which are navigable only for smaller river vessels.

The statement of the navigability of individual rivers of the Ukraine is contained in the section which deals with the rivers of the Ukraine (v. p. 70 ff.).

The most important waterway of the Ukraine is the Dnieper system. The main river is navigable in its entire Ukrainian section by the largest river vessels. In the entire Russian river system the Dnieper system constitutes 11% of the length, 10% of the total navigable length, 16% of the length navigable by steamship-lines. The rapids section, however, as a result of the incomprehensible negligence of the Russian Government, is, to this day, accessible only to the smaller ships and rafts, and then only for sailing downstream. The canals built by the Government in the Porohi (1843–1856) are so badly placed that navigation, to this day, must still keep largely to the natural ancient “Cossack paths.” In the years 1893–1895, investigating engineering commissions determined that it was possible, without great cost, to make the Porohi section completely navigable. But the thing never went any further than that. At the beginning of the 20th Century, English engineers worked out a plan for the complete regulation of the Pohori section and the construction of a waterway, accessible even to sea-going ships, which should connect the Baltic with the Black Sea by means of the Dvina and the Dnieper. The realization of this plan, which would be of the very greatest importance to the Ukraine, is still distant, and there is no hope that the Russian Government will attack it very soon.

Thus, the rapids hinder Dnieper navigation to this day, and not least for the reason that the insurance companies will not insure vessels for the rapids section. For this reason, the river fleet of the Dnieper is separated into two parts. Above the rapids (in 1900) 208 steamboats and 1002 other ships, below the rapids (together with the inlets of the Boh) 148 steamboats and 1203 other ships were plying. The number of steamboats increased threefold above the rapids and doubled below the rapids during the last sixteen years of the last century. The total horse power in 1900 was over 16,000. In 1906 the number of steamers of the Dnieper region was 382, the number of other ships 2218.

The Dnieper ships, propelled by sails and oars, which carry lumber, grain, fruit and other goods, are of various types. The largest are called “honchaki,” and have a tonnage of up to 1400; then come the “barzi” and “barki” (900–1300 tons), “berlini” (800–1140 tons), which are the most useful, “baidaki” (650 tons), “trembaki,” “laibi,” “dubi” (130–160 tons), “lodki” (80 tons), “galari” (50 tons), and “chaiki” (30 tons). The tonnage of the river fleet of the Dnieper (not counting steamers), in 1900, was approximately 500,000 tons, hence not much less than the tonnage of the present Austro-Hungarian merchant-marine.

Besides this, the Dnieper and its tributaries are navigated by a great number of rafts. In 1910 the number of them was 15,676.

Of the river harbors of the Dnieper system, Kherson carries on the greatest exchange of goods (10 million q. in 1910). Then follow Kiev (5.3 million q.), Katerinoslav (3.1 million q.), Cherkassi (2.1 million q.), Niznodniprovsk (1 million q.), Chernihiv (0.6 million q.), and Pinsk (0.5 million q.).

Navigation on the Don, as a result of the small volume of water, is much slighter than the Dnieper navigation, despite the absence of rapids. In 1900, the number of steamboats on the Don was 189, with 10,000 horse-power (in 1906 it was 382); the number of other ships 488, with 200,000 tonnage (in 1906 only 471 ships). The main river-harbor is Rostiv, which handles goods to the amount of 7.5 million q. annually.

A good deal smaller still is the navigation of the Dniester. Here, in 1900, there were only 9 steamers, with 200 horse-power (16 steamers in 1906), and 187 ships of other kinds with a tonnage of 22,000 tons (277 of them in 1906). The harbors of the main stream are Benderi (handles 0.7 million q. of goods) and Maiaki (0.5 million q.). On the Kuban River 69 steamers (counting in those of the Kura) and 131 other ships plied in 1906.

In general, river navigation in the Ukraine is on a very moderate scale. The negligence of the Russian Government and the low grade of culture limit the development of Ukrainian interior navigation. Thru the regulation of the Dnieper rapids and the connection of the river systems of the Dnieper and Dniester with the Baltic waters, by means of practicable canals, the waterways of the Ukraine could attain a wonderful importance.

Having come to the end of our description of Ukrainian traffic, we must still devote some attention to Ukrainian sea-navigation. Its present condition is as lamentable as the general condition of Ukrainian traffic. Of course, there is no doubt that the Black Sea has many qualities unfavorable to the development of navigation—its seclusion, the lack of good harbors, and an abundance of dangerous storms. Yet, what are these disadvantages against modern engineering? To assign all the blame to the low grade of Russian industry, as the Russian publicists are in the habit of doing, will not do. The causes of the slight development of Pontian navigation should be sought in the low cultural conditions of the ruling Russian nation and in the indolence of the government, which is not properly encouraging this navigation. The Russian steamers do not enjoy a good reputation on the Black Sea. Pontian coastwise navigation, which at the beginning of the 19th Century had a splendid start, and was carried on predominantly by Ukrainians, has not been able to develop properly under the heavy fist of the government. Today, conditions on the Black Sea are such, that the transportation of a unit by weight of goods from one Pontian harbor to another, costs just as much as the transportation of the same unit from the same port to England.

The number of steamers which sail the Black Sea under the Russian flag was, in 1901, only 316, with a tonnage of 187,000 tons, that is, 42% of the number and 52% of the tonnage of the entire steamship fleet of Russia. In 1912 the figures were 410 steamers, 223,000 tons, the percentages being 42% and 47%. The number of sailing vessels in 1901 was 635, with a total tonnage of 47,000, and in the year 1912 there were 827 sailing vessels, with over 53,000 tons. The development of Pontian navigation is thus going a very slow, if not a retrogressive course.

The Russian Black Sea steamers maintain a more or less regular service between the most important Black Sea ports—Odessa, Mikolaiv, Kherson, Sevastopol, Rostiv, Novorossysk, etc. From Sevastopol a line goes to Constantinople, from Odessa one to Alexandria and Vladivostok.

Despite this miserable condition of Pontian navigation, from a European point of view, it still has greater significance than navigation on other seas of Russia. Near the end of the past century, 70% of the total oversea exportation of Russia by weight, and 65% by value, went thru the harbors of the Ukrainian coast. To be sure, in 1896, only 7.5% of the ships which visited these ports sailed under the Russian flag. In the year of 1911 it was not much different; of the outgoing ships only 11.4%, and of the incoming ships only 13.9% carried the Russian flag!

Among the Black Sea ports, Odessa, now, as ever, takes first place. The imports of Odessa, in 1911, amounted to 19.2 million q., the exports 26.2 million q. This, by the way, is an example of the great preponderance of exportation over importation. In other ports the disparity is even greater. Thus, the imports of Mikolaiv amount to only 2.3 million q., the exports 22.8 million q. For Tahanroh the respective figures are 1.9 and 19.5, for Novorossysk 1.5 and 18.3, for Mariupol 3.1 and 16.2, for Kherson 1.1 and 11.3, for Feodosia 0.6 and 4.8, for Rostiv 2.1 and 2.4, for Berdiansk 0.3 and 3.9, for Eupatoria 0.8 and 2.9, for Akerman 0.4 and 2.0.

These figures once more bring before our eyes the ruinous effect of the economic policy of the Russian Government upon the Ukraine. The natural resources of the Ukraine are exported in enormous masses, without consideration of the needs of the Ukrainian population; the imports are to a great extent directed to other far distant coasts of the Russian Empire, and Great Russia gets the advantage of them, while the Ukraine is flooded with the inferior goods of Central Russian industry. If we consider, further, that an annual customs balance of 200 million rubles goes to the central government from the Ukraine, an amount which is then used for the development of the central provinces, we become able to understand under what unfavorable conditions the economic life of the Ukraine must develop, and how dearly its progress must be paid for.

THE DISTRICTS AND SETTLEMENTS OF UKRAINE

For centuries robbed of its political independence, the Ukraine today simply vegetates, instead of living in a state of full development. The fatal results of its lack of independence are visible in every aspect of the material and spiritual life of the country.

The present political-administrative division of the Ukraine is also a result of the want of political independence of this nation. This division corresponds neither to the natural nor to the anthropogeographical conditions, and to a great degree represents only entirely antiquated, now worthless remnants of the statesmanship of former centuries.

Even the state boundaries are very unnaturally drawn in the Ukrainian territory. The Austrian crown-province of Galicia embraces parts of Rostoche, Volhynia, Podolia, Pokutye, while other parts of this natural territory lie outside the state border, in Russia. The topography and the people are the same on both sides of the cordon; only the state authorities and the ruling races are different. The Carpathian boundary between the Austrian and Hungarian parts of the Ukraine, to be sure, seems a good natural boundary, but in reality it would be that only if it ran along the southern foot of the range. For the Carpathian region of the Ukraine, as a result of its easy communications constitutes not only a physico-geographical, but also an anthropogeographical unit. On both sides of the border live the same Lemkos, Boikos and Hutzuls.

More glaringly still does the unnaturalness of the present political division of the Ukraine stand out, when we view the administrative units in the framework of the states which at present dominate the Ukraine. In Hungary, the Ukrainian part of the land is united into one great whole, together with Slavonia, Transylvania, Alföld, Banat, etc. All is centered in Budapest. Even the boundaries of the autonomous countries are so constructed that, besides a piece of Ukrainian territory, they embrace an equally great or even greater, but, at any rate, heavily peopled piece of a foreign national territory, e.g., of the Roumanian, Magyar, Slovenian. As a result of this scattering allotment, the Ukrainians of Hungary possess no political influence.

The same is the case in the Austrian parts of the Ukraine. Galicia proper, which is inhabited by Ukrainians, the nucleus of the ancient Ukrainian Kingdom of Halich, which, in its physico-geographical aspect, is wholly a part of Eastern Europe, is welded together with the so-called Western Galicia, properly a part of Little Poland (grand-duchy of Cracow), which is inhabited entirely by Poles and belongs physically to Central Europe, both halves constituting together one administrative unit. The result of this unnatural union is the bitter racial struggle of century-long duration between the Poles and Ukrainians, a struggle which is still going on without prospect of peace, and is very unfavorable for the beneficial development of the land. The Ukrainians are fighting for equal rights and against Polonization; the Poles, in the name of their state tradition, for their hegemony in the land and for the forcible assimilation of the Ukrainians. The only remedy which presents itself would be the division of the present crown-province of Galicia into two crown-provinces, an eastern Ukrainian, and a western Polish province. The present crown-province of Bukowina also consists of parts of Pokutye, Pidhirye and the Ukrainian Carpathians, together with a part of the Roumanian Carpathian foothills. This circumstance again brings about a national struggle between the Ukrainians and the Roumanians.

The greatest portion of the country, the Russian Ukraine, also suffers from an unnatural political division. The Ukrainian territory is divided into several great administrative districts, or groups of governments. Parts of the Ukrainian national territory lie in the Vistula Governments in Western, Southwestern, Southern and Little Russia and Caucasia. The boundaries of the individual governments everywhere are drawn without consideration for natural and ethnographic conditions. In this way the border districts of the unbroken Ukrainian territory have been united with parts of foreign racial territories into artificial administrative units, as, for example, the Governments of Lublin and Sidlez (the present Government of Kholm), Grodno, Minsk, Kursk, Voroniz, Don region, Stavropol, Bessarabia, etc. This circumstance being a result of the poor development of constitutional life in Russia, has no great significance now, but may in the future become as unfavorable for the Ukraine as is the similar condition today in Austria-Hungary.

The anthropogeography of today in describing a land, very seldom takes such artificial divisions into consideration. Then there is the additional circumstance that these divisions, as is obvious, have no physico-geographical value. In like manner, the division of Russia “according to natural and economic characteristics,” by Arseniev, Semyonoff, Richter, Fortunatov, etc., are worthless for geographical purposes. The most suitable of any of them is that of Richter, which gives the Ukrainian territory an independent position. A good division also comes from M. Drahomaniv, but it is not suitable for a geographical description.

For all these reasons we shall keep to the natural districts which we described in Book I. Such a division is the only justifiable one in a country which, like the Ukraine, has no political independence.

The Carpathian region constitutes the first natural district of the Ukraine. It is populated by three Ukrainian mountain-tribes—the Lemkos (from Poprad to the Oslava), the Boikos (together with Tukholzians, from the Oslava to the Limnitzia) and the Hutzuls (from the Limnitzia to the Roumanian ethnographic border). The population is everywhere thinly strewn, especially in the Boike country. The agriculture of the region is not sufficient at any point to nourish even the sparse population. The Lemkos and Boikos carry on a little farming (oats, potatoes), the Hutzuls only along the edge of the mountains. Cattle-raising, with dairying, forestry and lumbering, and among the Hutzuls their fine home industry as well, constitute the main sources of sustenance of the mountain dwellers. Every year a large percentage of the population goes out for seasonal migrations.

The settlements of the Ukrainian Carpathians all have the character of villages. The Lemko and Boiko villages usually form long rows of farms, which extend along the valley bottom. The Hutzulian villages, on the other hand, consist of separate farms which lie scattered on valley sides, valley plains, and even valley spurs. The huts are everywhere built of wood, and covered with shingles or boards; only among the Boikos, sometimes, with straw. The very practical block houses, adapted to the climate, which are built by the Hutzuls, look very neat.

There are no cities in the Carpathian region, but only small towns, inhabited for the most part by Jews, and bristling with dirt. The Lemko country (Lemkivshchina) has only one larger town, Sianik (11,000 inhabitants), with railway-car factories. Also noteworthy, on the Hungarian side, are the little towns of Svidnik and Strupkiv, on the Galician side the resorts of Krinitzia, Zeghestiv, Vissova, Rimaniv. In the little towns of the adjacent Polish (New Sandetz, Gorlice, Gribov, Dukla) and Slovenian territory (Bartfeld) the Lemkos supply their needs in industrial products and grain.

In the Boiko country (Boikivshchina) the towns are little centers for the retail trade and the lumber industry, as for instance, Turka on the Striy (11,000 pop.), Lisko on the San, Stari Sambir on the Dniester, and Skole on the Opir (match manufacture). The village of Smorze is noted for its cattle fairs, Sinevidsko for its fruit trade. Along the Opir valley lie numerous summer resorts (Tukhla, Slavsko).

In the Hutzul country, too, there are many summer resorts, particularly in the valley of the Prut (Dora, Yaremche, Mikulichin, Tatariv, Vorokhta). The Hutzuls make their purchases in the little towns which lie at the exit of the main passes of the range—in Nadvirna (saw-mills), Delatin (salt-works), in Kossiv, noted for its mild climate, its flourishing home industry and fruit-culture and its salt-works, in Kuti, where tanning and furriery flourish, and in Viznitza (saw-mills and lumber industrial school). In the center of the Hutzul country lies the large Hutzulian village of Zabye. There are noted mineral springs in Burkut and Pistin. On the southern slope of the range lies the only city of the Hutzul country (21,000 pop.) and the town of Hust (10,000 pop.), both important as trade centers of the Hungarian Hutzul country.

In the southern sub-Carpathian zone the Ukrainian territory extends forward but a slight distance. The economic conditions of the mountain range suddenly give way to agriculture and vine-growing. All the cities of the region lie on the borders of the Ukrainian territory at the points of exit of important railroad lines and highroads out of the mountains. Such is the position of Uzhorod (17,000 pop.) and Mukachiv (17,000 pop.) where the products of the plain and the mountains are exchanged.

The Galicia-Bukowina sub-Carpathian hill country (Pidhirye) forms a gentle transition from the mountains to the plain. With the great wealth of forest and meadow and a not very fertile soil, agriculture begins to predominate but slowly as we depart from the limits of the mountain district. Besides, the great abundance of salt and petroleum demands many hands. The villages of the Pidhirye are as a rule, not large; the huts are regularly covered with straw. Here we find the rather unattractive type of the Galician cities and towns. Their chief characteristic is unfathomable mud or unfathomable dust on the streets, depending on the season of the year. Only the suburbs inhabited by the Ukrainian city-farmer population appear at all friendly, with their orchards and their little white-painted houses. The center of the city is regularly taken up by the Jews. Their houses, as a rule, defy all ideas of cleanliness and hygiene, and, amid bristling dirt, the retail trade surges thru miserable booths and shops. Almost nowhere in the Galician cities do we find wholesale trade or industry on a large scale, in the European sense. The Christian middle-class does not exist, and the educated class of the city population is represented by officials (usually Poles, and, in decreasing proportions, Ukrainians).

On the western borderlands of the Ukraine, in this region, lies the city of Yaroslav on the San (25,000 pop.), a railway junction in an important strategic position. Founded by the ancient Ukrainian princes of Kiev, Yaroslav was once famous for its annual fairs. Near it, on the San, lies Radimno with its rope industry. But the most important city on the San is Peremishl (57,000 pop.), at once one of the oldest cities of Galicia and the one-time capital of the Ukrainian dynasty of the Rostislavids. Peremishl owes its importance to its position as a bridge city at a point where important roads from the west and northwest cross the San to the east and south. It lies at the important junction of the Galician main railroad line, with the important Lupkov line coming from Hungary, and is accordingly, as a result of its position, a first-class fortress, which closes the San valley and cuts off access to the adjacent Carpathian passes. The commercial standing of the city is considerable; here, too, a Greek-Catholic bishopric has its seat, and here there exist numerous Ukrainian cultural and economic societies.

In the sub-Carpathian Dniester region, which is traversed lengthwise by the Galician Transversal Railroad, lie a number of important cities. On the Dniester we find Sambir (21,000 pop.) at the crossing of the railroads, with a lumber industry of some size. On the Tismenitza Railroad lies Borislav (15,000 pop.), but recently a little Boike village, now, together with the adjacent towns of Tustanovichi (12,000 pop.) and Skhidnitza, the center of petroleum and ozokerite production. A forest of artesian wells, factory chimneys, petroleum reservoirs, have sprung up amid the famous “Borislav mud,” among miserable dirty houses which shelter so many millionaires and hungry wretches, so much happiness and misery, crime and immorality. The refineries for the petroleum that is gained here are located mostly in the adjacent Drohobich (39,000 pop.), the seat of the petroleum speculators. Salt works also are found in this city, still greater ones in the adjacent Stebnik, where enormous deposits of salt have been discovered, but thus far not been exploited. Truskavetz is a well-known watering-place.

On the Striy lies the important railroad junction of Striy (33,000 pop.), with a mill, lumber and match industry, the seat of the Ukrainian dairymen’s association and other Ukrainian organizations; at the mouth of the Striy the ancient town of Zidachiv. On the sub-Carpathian Transversal Railroad toward the east, lie the following: the watering-place Morshin, Bolekhiv with salt-works and match factories Dolina with salt-works and saw-mills, Kalush with saltpeter-mining and salt-works. Stanislaviv (over 60,000 pop.), situated at the junction of the two Bistritza rivers, is an important railway center in which the Lemberg-Czernowitz Railroad meets the Transversal railroad, the South Polish Railroad and the Hungarian branch railroad to Marmarosh. The city has an important industrial and commercial activity, and is the seat of the Greek-Catholic bishopric. Stanislaviv has inherited the former importance of Halich, the one-time capital of the Ukrainian Kingdom of the same name, which, at its highest development, reached the Polissye swamps on the north, the Dnieper on the east, the Black Sea and the Danube delta on the south. At that time (11th and 12th Century), Halich equalled or surpassed in size, wealth and commercial importance, most of the capitals of Western Europe. After a thousand years of Polish dominion it is now a miserable town in a beautiful location, important geographically for its traffic advantages. A side-line here branches off from the main railroad into Podolia. Attempts are being made to enliven Dniester navigation, which begins here and in Zuravno at the mouth of the Svicha. Not far from Stanislaviv lie Tovmach, Tismenitza (10,000 pop.) with a leather industry, and Ottinia with a machine industry of some size.

In the Galician Prut region, Kolomia (45,000 pop.) is the most important city, at the junction of sub-Carpathian and Pokutian railroad lines, with an important commerce and pottery industry. Further to the east, on the Prut, lies Zabolotiv with a tobacco factory and Sniatin (12,000 pop.) with an active commerce and agricultural production. Dzuriv and Novoselitza have lignite mines. In the sub-Carpathian country of the Bukowina, the capital city, Czernowitz, developed in one century from a miserable village to a city of 93,000 inhabitants. Czernowitz has some industry and considerable commerce. Important railroads lead from here, via Novoselitza to Russia, and via Itzkany to Roumania. Czernowitz is the seat of the most eastern German University (but several professors lecture in Ukrainian), a Greek-Catholic metropolitan, and numerous Ukrainian organizations. In nearby Sadahora, well-frequented annual fairs take place. The cities carrying on a lively trade, Seret, Storozhinetz (10,000 pop.), Radivtzi (17,000 pop.—the city with the great breeding-stud), and Suchava (12,000 pop.), all lie on the boundary of the Ukrainian and Roumanian-speaking populations. Katshka possesses large salt-works.

The Rostoche, which embraces a part of Northern Galicia and the southern part of the Government of Kholm (eastern borderlands of the Governments of Lublin and Sidletz), is, for the most part, an agricultural country, altho the forest areas, which are still rather large, have retained their once flourishing lumber industry. The villages of this region are large, but consist, as a rule, of scattered hamlets and lone farms. There are not many cities in the Rostoche region, but on its southern border we find one of the most important in the Ukraine, the ancient royal city of Lviv (Lemberg, 220,000 pop.).

The importance of the geographical position of Lemberg is in the fact that it lies at the point of the easiest passage from the low country of the Buh to the west, and into the Carpathian country across the Ukrainian group of plateaus, which is narrowest here. Lemberg commands all the more important roads of the Western Ukraine, and, after their union, leads them westward. Lemberg is the greatest railroad center of all the Ukraine; nine railroads as well as eight highroads converge here from all parts of the continent. The thing that has contributed most to the remarkable growth of Lemberg in the last half-century, besides the railroads, is its position as the capital of Galicia, that largest of the Austrian crown-provinces. Founded about the middle of the 13th Century by the Ukrainian princes of Halich, Danilo and Lev, Lemberg, about the middle of the 14th Century, fell under Polish rule. Here industry and commerce flourished in the 15th and 16th Centuries, thanks to the German middle-class of the city; then Lemberg declined irresistibly until it came under Austria’s dominion as a little town, from which time on, it flourished again. At present Lemberg is the trade center of Ukrainian-Galicia and shows some industrial progress (brick-kilns, breweries, alcohol distilleries, railroad shops, etc.). As a result of recent rapid development, the character of the city is almost wholly modern; the number of historical landmarks is not large. Lemberg is the seat of three archbishops, a University with several Ukrainian chairs, a technical and a commercial college, as well as many trade schools and intermediate schools. Lemberg is also one of the chief centers of Ukrainian cultural life, and the seat of many important Ukrainian societies and institutions.

In the Galician Rostoche region there are besides Lemberg, only small towns: Zovkva, Yavoriv (10,000 pop.), with lumber industry, Rava (11,000 pop.). At the railroad junction, Nemiriv with mineral springs, Potilich with a considerable pottery industry. Mosti veliki, the large village of Kaminka voloska (10,000 pop.), Belz, formerly a Ukrainian royal residence. On the Buh lie the following: the old town of Busk, Kaminka strumilova, Sokal, at the point where more active river navigation begins.

In the Kholm Rostoche, the most important city is Kholm (20,000 pop.), founded, like Lemberg, by Prince Danilo, now a Jewish city carrying on a lively trade in the agricultural products of this fertile region, and the capital of the Government of the same name. Tarnohorod and Tomashiv are notorious for their smuggling, Bilhoray is known for its sieve industry, Hrubeshiv and Zamostye (12,000 pop.) for their trade in foodstuffs.

A country of similar anthropogeographical character is the adjacent plain of Pidlassye. This country embraces the northern part of the Government of Kholm and the southern part of the Government of Grodno. Fertile stretches of land, with large villages, here alternate with large wooded areas (the virgin forest of Biloveza) and swamp areas, in which small villages and hamlets predominate. The most important city of the Pidlassye is the fortress of Berestia (57,000 pop.) on the Mukhavetz, the eastern base of the fortress quadrangle of the Vistula region and an important railroad center, where five lines meet with the Dnieper-Buh Canal. Besides its very considerable commerce, Berestye has great historical reminiscences of the union of the orthodox church with Rome, accomplished here in 1596. On the left bank of the Buh lie the commercial cities of Vlodava and Bila (13,000 pop.), on the Mukhavetz lies Kobrin (10,000 pop.), and in the neighborhood of the Bilovez Forest, the ancient Kamenetz-Litovsky and Bilsk.

The neighboring Ukrainian country in the east is the Ukrainian Polissye. It embraces the southern part of the Government of Minsk, on the right shore of the Zna and the Pripet, and the northern lowland region of the Governments of Volhynia and Kiev. As a result of the decided preponderance of forest and swamp, agriculture must retire to the background, and confine itself only to the small number of higher and more fertile places. There are not such great obstacles to cattle-raising, but forestry and lumber-floating play the most important part. The most important city of the Polissye is Pinsk (37,000 pop.), situated on the navigable Pina, where the Dnieper-Buh Canal and the Dnieper-Niemen Canal connect with the Pripet system. Here begins the regular steamship navigation of the Pripet, here there are large saw-mills, match factories, shipyards, beer and mead breweries and tobacco factories, and here active commerce and lumber-floating flourish. Another important river port is Davidhorodok on the mouth of the Horin, the people of which carry on ship-building and river-navigation and engage in sausage-making and cheese-making. Farther down the river is the antique Turiv, a former royal city, now a miserable little town with a population of farmers and timber-floaters. The equally antique town of Mosir (12,000 pop.) has retained a greater significance, with a good river harbor, ship-building industry and match-making. The last important port on the Pripet is Chornobil.

In the Volhynian Polissye, Kovel (17,000 pop.), situated on the navigable Turia, is, above all, an important railroad center, which carries on a considerable trade in agricultural products and wood. Another important railroad center is Sarni on the Sluch. The antique town of Orruch on the Norin is rich in swamp-ores and pottery-clay.

The natural district of Volhynia embraces only the Volhynian Plateau, together with the wide river plains, which penetrate far into the heart of the Plateau. To Volhynia, then, belongs the southern part of the present Government of Volhynia, as well as a small strip of the Government of Kiev, on the left bank of the Teterev. Here agriculture forms the main occupation of the people. Forestry and lumbering become less important. With regard to the manner of settlement, Volhynia still has a suggestion of the adjacent regions in the west and north, with their small villages, hamlets and single farms. In the east it begins to assume the genuine Ukrainian character, with large villages and country towns. The cities and towns of Volhynia are, as a rule, not large, inhabited chiefly by Jews, dirty and neglected, surpassing in this respect even the typical Galician villages and towns. On the Galician side there is only one city worthy of mention, namely Brodi (18,000 pop.), which carries on a considerable trade in agricultural and animal products, as well as some lively smuggling. On the Russian side the following may be enumerated, from west to east: Volodimir volinsky (10,000 pop.), formerly a royal city, now a miserable Jewish town with some lumber and grain trade and smuggling. Lutzk, Dubno and Rivne form the Volhynian triangle of forts directed against Austria. Lutzk (32,000 pop.) is an old royal city at the junction of roads which cross the navigable Stir at this point, and carries on a considerable trade, as well as a cloth and leather industry of some dimensions; Dubno (14,000 pop.), on the Ikva, is known for its once famous annual fairs; Rivne (39,000 pop.) carries on a considerable trade with grain, live-stock, alcohol, etc. Along the Austrian border lie: Berestechko on the Stir, memorable for the unhappy battle fought by Khmelnitsky against the Poles (1651); Radiviliv, opposite Brody, the main seat of smuggling; Pochayiv, a famous place of pilgrimage, and simultaneously a den of smugglers.

Kremianetz (18,000 pop.) on the Ikva, a strong fortress in the days of the Ukrainian princes, now carries on a considerable grain trade. On the Horin, at the point where that river becomes navigable, lies Ostroh (15,000 pop.), with many ruins, the former residence of the Princes of Ostrohsky, who founded an academy here in the 16th Century, and made of Ostroh an important spiritual center of the Ukraine of that time. Zaslav (13,000 pop.), likewise on the Horin, was once the residence of the Princes of Zaslavsky. Both cities carry on some trade in grain today. On the Sluch lie the cities of Starokonstantiniv (17,000 pop.), founded by the Princes of Ostrohsky, with considerable export of grain and cattle, and Novhorod-Volinsky (Zviahel, 17,000 pop.), rich in marsh-ore and pottery-clay. Korez (10,000 pop.) is famous for its porcelain clay. Just on the border of Volhynia lies its administrative center, Zitomir (93,000 pop.). This old city lies at the edge of the forest and agricultural regions, carries on a considerable trade in grain and wood, salt and sugar, and has an important clothing, leather and tobacco industry. Downstream, on the Teterev, lies the little commercial city of Radomishl (11,000 pop.).

Podolia’s natural territory embraces the most eastern part of Galicia and almost the entire Government of Podolia, besides the northern borderlands of Kherson. Podolia is a purely agricultural region; its manufacturing is limited to home industry, besides some mills, distilleries and sugar factories. The Podolian villages are large as a rule, lie in rows in the cañon valleys, while, on the height of the plateau, usually only single farms and hamlets are seen. The huts are almost all built of loam and covered with straw. City settlements are rare and small, all insignificant emporiums for agricultural and animal products.

On the western edge of Galician-Podolia lie Horodok (13,000 pop.), on a large pond formed by the Vereshitza, and Lublin, with sulphur baths; on the Hnila Lipa, the antique city of Rohatin; on the Zlota Lipa, Berezani (13,000 pop.), with a large pond; on the Koropetz River there are Pidhaitzi and Monastiriska, with a tobacco factory; on the Stripa River, Zboriv, memorable for the decisive victory of Khmelnitsky over the Poles and for the treaty of 1649 following, which allowed the Ukraine almost complete autonomy—within the framework of the Polish state. Downstream, on the Stripa, lies the commercial city of Buchach (14,000 pop.). On the northern boundary of Podolia, already in the Buh region, lie Zolochiv (13,000 pop.) and Sassiv, with a paper and pottery industry. On the Sereth, and in its district, lie Zbaraz, memorable for the victory of Khmelnitsky (1648); Ternopil (34,000 pop.), the most important railroad center and commercial city of Podolia, with a large grain, cattle and alcohol trade; Terebovla, a former Ukrainian prince’s residence; Chortkiv, a center of Podolian local railroads. On the Sbruch, the only town worth mention is the border town and border station of Pidvolochiska-Volochiska. In the Dniester cañon there is only one important place. Salishchiki, with considerable fruit-culture. All the cities of Galician-Podolia are bridge cities, and lie at convenient crossings over the left tributaries of the Dniester. All these crossings were once guarded by castles, about which cities were later developed.

In Russian-Podolia the number of cities and towns is still smaller. The capital of the Government of Kamenetz Podilsky (50,000 pop.), lies on the Smotrich, and was at one time an important border-fortress against the Turks. To this day the city has no railroad connections, hence its commercial importance is very slight. The adjacent Zvanetz is memorable because of the Khmelnitsky campaign (1653). On the Dniester, whose entire valley is covered with fruit orchards and vineyards, lies the important river port of Mohiliv (33,000 pop.), with considerable lumber, grain and fruit trade; Ushitza with a fruit trade; the river part of Yampol on the Dniester rapids. In the region and the valley of the Boh lie Proskuriv (41,000 pop.), a genuine village-city with considerable trade; Pilavtzi, memorable because of the complete defeat suffered there by the Poles (1648); Meziboz, in an important strategic position against the Austrian border; Letichiv and Khmelnik (11,000 pop.), surrounded by orchards; on the Shar R., Litin (10,000 pop.); on the Rivi the once famous Bar (11,000 pop.), now a miserable town; further downstream on the Boh, Vinnitza (48,000 pop.), once a Cossack city, memorable because of a defeat of the Poles (1651), now a lively commercial city. The former capital of the palatinate of Bratzlav is now entirely insignificant, likewise the new Olhopil on the Savranka. The only commercial city of any importance in Southern Podolia is the muddy Balta, which, in its famous annual fairs, trades in grain, cattle, bacon and skins, but especially pumpkins and melons, and has a soap and candle industry of some importance. The adjacent city of Ananiiv (17,000 pop.) also carries on considerable trade in agricultural products.