Bukowina

Bukowina ('beech-land'), a province in the extreme east of the Austro-Hungarian empire, surrounded by Galicia, Russia, Moldavia, and Hungary. Area, 4035 sq. m.; pop. (1869) 513,404; (1890) 646,591, of whom 42 per cent. are Ruthenians, 32 Moldavians, and 13 Jews, while 70 per cent. belong to the Greek Church. It is traversed by offsets of the Carpathians, culminating at 6077 feet; gives rise to many rivers flowing towards the Black Sea; and abounds in wood, along with considerable mineral riches. Large numbers of cattle are reared, and also excellent horses. The Bukowina, according to many Austrian historians, was wrested from Transylvania in 1482 by Moldavia; but it had long before formed an integral portion of the latter state, whose fortunes it shared till, in 1775, it was ceded by the Turks to Austria. For a time it was united to Galicia, but in 1849 was made a separate 'crown-land,' or province, and is officially still a duchy. Czernowitz is the capital.