Podolia

Podolia or Podillia is a historic region in Eastern Europe located in the west-central and southwestern parts of Ukraine and northeastern Moldova (i.e. northern Transnistria).

Podolia is penetrated by Southern Buh river and bordered by the Dniester River to the south. It features an elongated plateau and fertile agricultural land covering an area of 40,000 square kilometres (15,000 sq mi). The two main rivers serve as important trade channels. Podolia is known for its cherries, mulberries, melons, gourds, and cucumbers.

The region has a rich history, dating back to the Neolithic, with various tribes and civilizations occupying it over time. It became part of the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia, the Golden Horde, the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Ottoman Empire, the Habsburg monarchy of Austria, and the Russian Empire. In the 20th century, Podolia underwent various political changes, with both the Second Polish Republic and the Soviet Union controlling parts of it at different times.

Podolian culture is renowned for its folk icon-painting tradition, with red, green, and yellow colors dominating the art. These iconic works can be collected in the Vinnytsya Art Museum and the Museum of Ukrainian Home Icons in Radomysl Castle.

The name Podolia or Podillia derives from Proto-Slavic *po lit. 'by, next to, along' and *dolъ lit. 'valley, lowland' (cf. English dale, Dutch dal, German Tal). It shares this same root meaning with Podil, the Lower City of Kyiv. As with many Proto-Slavic nouns, such as домъ (domŭ "home, house"), the vowel /o/ shifted to /i/ in Ukrainian (дім dim), but not in Belarusian (дом dom), Polish (dom), or Russian (дом dom). Therefore, most languages render the toponym as Podol-, but inside Ukraine itself, it is Podil-. The letters -ia derive from the grammatical convention in Latin toponymy to add the suffix -ia to the names of countries or regions. The extra -л- (-l-) in written Ukrainian is added for proper pronunciation.

The area is part of the vast East European Plain, confined by the Dniester River and the Carpathian arc in the southwest. It comprises an area of about 40,000 km² (15,000 sq mi), extending for 320 km (200 mi) from northwest to southeast on the left bank of the Dniester. In the same direction, the Southern Bug separates two ranges of relatively low hills. The Podolian Upland, an elongated, up to 472 ft (144 m) high plateau stretches from the Western and Southern Bug rivers to the Dniester. It includes mountainous regions with canyon-like fluvial valleys.

Podolia lies east of historic Red Ruthenia, i.e. the eastern half of Galicia, beyond the Seret River, a tributary of the Dniester. In the northwest, it borders on Volhynia. It is primarily made up of the present-day Ukrainian Vinnytsia Oblast and southern and central Khmelnytskyi Oblast. The Podolian lands also include parts of the adjacent Ternopil Oblast in the west and Kyiv Oblast in the northeast. In the east, it consists of the neighbouring parts of Cherkasy, Kirovohrad and Odesa Oblast, as well as the northern half of Transnistria.

Two large rivers, with numerous tributaries, drain the region: the Dniester, which forms its boundary with Moldova and is navigable throughout its length, and the Southern Bug, which flows almost parallel to the former in a higher, sometimes swampy, valley, interrupted in several places by rapids. The Dniester forms an essential channel for trade in the areas of Mohyliv-Podilskyi, Zhvanets, and other Podolian river ports.