Ternopil Oblast
Ternopil Oblast (,
translit. Ternopil's'ka oblast; also referred to as Ternopilshchyna') is an
oblast (province) of
Ukraine. Its
administrative center is
Ternopil.
The area of the oblast is 13,800 km².
Before
World War I, the area of the oblast was ruled by
Austria-Hungary; after that war
Poland assumed the governing of the area, as part of the
Tarnopol Voivodship (prior to
World War II). The capital was 40%
Polish, 20%
Ukrainian and 40%
Jewish before World War II, when the population was 35,000.
After World War II, most Poles were relocated to Poland. In 2005, the population had grown to roughly 225,000, mostly Ukrainian with a large
Russian or
Russian-speaking minority and an invisibly small Jewish community. The religion is mostly
Greek Catholic (Uniate) with active Orthodox and Protestant minorities. Many churches, large and small, have been built every year since the collapse of the
Soviet Union in 1991. The city has important institutions of higher education, including two teacher's colleges, an international medical school with instruction in English and one of three economics institutes in Ukraine.
One of the major battles in the Soviet Union was fought to control Ternopil because it is a rail transportation hub. After the war, the destroyed residential section near the river was turned into an artificial lake instead of being rebuilt.
The current estimated population is 1.1 million people (as of
2004).
Although the city continues to grow rapidly, heavily supported by remittances from workers abroad, many abandoned buildings in rural areas of the oblast and even in the city give mute evidence that the economy is mixed.
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Raions of the Ternopil Oblast |
The Ternopil Oblast is administratively subdivided into 17
raions (
districts), as well as 1 city (
municipality) which is directly subordinate to the oblast government:
Ternopil, the administrative center of the oblast.
*
Subdivisions of Ukraine
