Galicia

Galicia, historic region, Poland and Ukraine

Galicia (gəlĭ`shə, –shēə, –ə), Pol. Galicja, Ukr. Halychyna, Rus. Galitsiya, historic region (32,332 sq mi/83,740 sq km), SE Poland and W Ukraine, covering the slopes of the N Carpathians and plains to the north and bordering on Slovakia in the south. It is drained by the upper Dniester, the upper Vistula, and the San, which divides Galicia into the western (Polish) and the eastern (Ukrainian) parts. The Polish section (area 13,226 sq mi/34,255 sq km) covers Rzeszów and the larger part of Kraków provinces; the Ukrainian section (area 19,106 sq mi/49,485 sq km) includes Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Tarnopol oblasts. Mainly agricultural, Galicia also has mineral resources, notably oil wells around Drohobych and Boryslav, in Ukraine, and in Rzeszów prov., in Poland.

Originally the duchy of Halych (Galich), it was united with the duchy of Volodymyr (see Volodymyr-Volynskyy) in 1188 and annexed by Casimir III of Poland in the 14th cent. With the first partition of Poland (1772) most of the region passed to Austria, which made it a crownland with the capital at Lviv (Lemberg) and named it Galicia. Austria enlarged its holdings with the third Polish partition (1795) and again in 1815. In 1846 an abortive Polish insurrection in Galicia served Austria as a pretext for annexing Kraków, an independent republic since 1815.

In 1848 Kraków and Lviv were centers of revolution against Austria, and in 1861 Galicia won limited autonomy, including representation in the Austrian parliament, where Galician deputies formed a powerful bloc. Polish, spoken in W Galicia, and Ukrainian, spoken in E Galicia, became official languages along with German; the Jews, a substantial minority, were refused recognition by the Austrian government. Galicia was the center of the branch of Orthodox Judaism known as Hasidism. The Austrians maintained an uncertain peace by playing off the three major ethnic groups. However, the growing Ukrainian nationalist movement resulted in demands for increased political and cultural rights, or even for independence, in E Galicia. The Polish independence movement also gained ground, but in World War I the Polish legions, organized in Galicia by Marshal Piłsudski, fought under Austrian command until 1917.

In 1918 the Poles, having proclaimed national independence, wrested W Galicia from Austria and fought the troops of the newly established Ukraine republic in E Galicia, forcing them to withdraw. The Paris Peace Conference (1919) assigned E Galicia to Poland pending a plebiscite scheduled for 1944. However, in a treaty (1920) with the Ukrainians, upheld by the Polish-Soviet Treaty of Riga (1921), Poland obtained full title to E Galicia. In 1939 most of E Galicia was incorporated into Ukraine, an act upheld by the Polish-Soviet Treaty of 1945. Nearly all the Jews in Galicia perished during World War II.

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Galicia, autonomous region, Spain

Galicia (gəlē`shə, –shēə; Span., gälē`thēä), autonomous region (1990 pop. 2,914,514), NW Spain, on the Atlantic Ocean, S of the Bay of Biscay and N of Portugal. Comprised of the provinces of A Coruña, Lugo, Ourense, and Pontevedra, the region gained autonomy in 1981, when it elected its first parliament. Galician (Galego), closely related to Portuguese, is the official language of the region; most inhabitants understand it, but only about half use it primarily.

The area is mostly mountainous, with several swift rivers, of which the Miño is the most important. Fishing, cattle and hog raising, and food processing are the main industries. An important naval base is at Ferrol and a petroleum refinery is at A Coruña. The region's mineral resources, chiefly iron and tin, were known to the Romans but are now little exploited. Much of the region's electricity is produced by wind farms.

Galicia was (5th–6th cent. A.D.) the center of the kingdom of the German Suevi. It was liberated (8th–9th cent.) from the Moors by the king of Asturias. Its people's strong spirit of independence was shown in the Middle Ages by the frequent rebellions of the feudal lords against the crown and again in the 19th cent. by the popular resistance to Napoleon I. The shrine of Santiago de Compostela, a center of culture in medieval times, remains a great place of pilgrimage. In the 19th cent., Galicia was the scene of a remarkable cultural and literary revival.

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Galicia

 Polish Galicja Russian Galytsiya

Historical region, eastern Europe. It included the northern slopes of the Carpathian Mountains and the valleys of the upper Vistula, Dniester, Bug, and Seret rivers. In 1199 eastern Galicia, situated near the principalities of Kiev and Volhynia, was taken by Prince Roman of Volhynia, who united Volhynia and Galicia. In 1349 the Polish king Casimir III annexed Galicia. When Poland was partitioned, beginning in 1772, the territory passed to Austria. Restored to Poland after World War I, eastern Galicia was taken by the Soviet Union in World War II and united to the Ukrainian S.S.R. After the war, eastern Galicia remained a part of the U.S.S.R. (after 1991, part of Ukraine), and western Galicia was attached to Poland.

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Galicia

 ancient Gallaecia

Autonomous community (pop., 2001: 2,695,880) and ancient kingdom, northwestern Spain. Covering 11,419 sq mi (29,575 sq km), Galicia is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean and Portugal, and its capital is Santiago de Compostela. Its name is derived from the Celtic Gallaeci, who lived there when the region was conquered by the Romans c. 137 BC. Taken by the Visigoths in AD 585, it next passed to the Moors and became part of the kingdom of Asturias in the 8th and 9th centuries. It lost much of its political autonomy after the unification of Castile and Aragon in 1479. The region was made an autonomous community in 1981. Agriculture, forestry, and fishing are economically important.

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Galicia

1. a region of E central Europe on the N side of the Carpathians, now in SE Poland and Ukraine

2. an autonomous region and former kingdom of NW Spain, on the Bay of Biscay and the Atlantic. Pop.: 1 969 000 (2003 est.)