HISTORY OF THE LANDSCAPE

“As part of Old Dacia, Bukovina was under the rule of the Moldavian Rulers at the so called Upper Country and under Stefan cel Mare (Stefan the Great) had reached great renown, through his brilliant victories against the enemies of Christianity and civilization(…)”( Imperial diploma form 9th December 1862, Frantz Joseph the 1st , Ruler of Austria, King Of Hungary)

A part of Bukovina (it’s North) is now a part of the Cernauti region from Ukraine. Territory inhabited by Romanians from oldest times, it was part of the principality of Moldavia, being afterwards enclosed by Austria in 1775. In 1849 it became Bukovina’s Ducat, merging afterwards with the other Romanian provinces in Great Romania in 15/28 November 1918, after Second World War, the North part was occupied by U.S.S.R. , becoming after its division, part of Ukraine (Cernauti region).

Until 1774 we cannot refer to about a proper history of Bukovina, because of its being a part of Moldavia. As a historic and state reality as name of country, Bukovina started existing throughout the Austro-Hungarian Empire, lasting 144 years, between 1774 and 1918.
At one with the debut of Austro-Hungarian administration, the name of Bukovina is officially adopted. However, the name is imposed gradually, older names where concomitantly used for some time: The Upper Country/The Moldavian Country, Plonina, Cordon/Cordun and Arboreasa. (this last appellative is reaffirmed by a group of Romanian students from Cernauti (Ciprian Porumbescu, Zaharia Voronca, Constantin Andreevici Morariu), which founded the society bearing the same name in 1875).

Until the 1940, members of many ethnics lived in Bukovina: Germans, Jews, Armenians, Lippovans, Guzuls, Polish etc., living together in a well-known harmony with the Romanian majority. Besides them, for some time, a Hungarian (Szekler) important minority existed, which was living in the Suceava river area. After the persecution of the Szeklers in 1764, thousands of Szeklers emigrated in Bukovina (ex.: Dornesti). In the 21st century the Hungarian government decided the colonization of Hungarians from Bukovina in The Kingdom of Hungary, in Voivodina, because Hungarian assimilation was very intense. In 1941, the Hungarians still remaining in Bukovina were colonized in localities near Voivodina and after 1945 in the Tolna county(Hungary).