Ruthenia

1. Ruthenia or Carpato-Ruthenia is the name of a region in Central Europe comprising the southern slopes of the Carpathian Mountains. It is now part of the Ukraine. It takes its name from the Ruthenes[?] or Russniaks, a Slavonic people who were ancestors of the Ukrainians.

History

Before World War I Ruthenia was part of Hungary. It became part of Czechoslovakia after the Treaty of Trianon in 1920. Following Adolf Hitler's seizure of the country in 1939, Ruthenia briefly proclaimed its independence, before being annexed by Hungary. After World War II it was ceded to the Soviet Union. It became part of newly independent Ukraine in 1991.

2. Latinized form of Rus. Until modern times it was applied to territories inhabited by speakers of East Slavic languages (Russian, Ukrainian, Belorusian) or to territories of contemporary Ukraina only.