History
The history of the country begins from ancient times. People settled in the territory of Ukraine in the early Palaeolithic. The first large and highly developed settlement on the territory of Ukraine was Tripoli. But in 7 B.C. on the same territory settled Scythians. A few hundred years ago on this territory begun to emerge powerful state - Kiev Russ. It united together many eastern tribes, its territory stretched from the Baltic and Black Sea to Volga River and Tisza. "Ukraine" as a geographical name mentioned for the first time in the chronicles of the XII century.
During the reign of Vladimir the Great and Yaroslav the Wise, Kiev Russ reached its highest development lever in all spheres of social life, especially in the cultural. In 988-89 happened the most significant event - christening of Kiev Russ by Vladimir the Great. At that time the population of Kiev was about 50 thousand citizens (population of London, for example - 20 thousand), there were about 400 churches and 8 markets. Pechersk Lavra is the center of Christianity and church art in Russia was founded in 1051.
In XII-XIII centuries Russia became weaker as a result of strife and the invasion of Mongol-Tatar. Part of the land went to the Moscow kingdom, another part to the Lithuanian principality. In XIII-XIV on the west of Ukraine formed the Galitsko-Volynian Principality.
Zaporizhzhya Sich had a very large impact on the development of Ukraine and in the course of history in general. Ukraine appeared on the political map of Europe due to the continuous struggle for independence and victory in the national liberty war in 1648-1654. Peter Sagaydachny, Bohdan Khmelnytsky, Ivan Mazepa are the most outstanding hetmans and policies of that period. However, a pact signed in 1654 between Ukraine and Russia, made Ukraine depend on Russia for many centuries.
In the second half of XIX century P. Kulish posed Ukrainian Grammar - kulishivka. This grammar is the basis for modern orthography; ethnographer Chubynsky wrote the words of national anthem of Ukraine " Sche ne vmerla Ukrainu ni slava ni volya "(Ukraine is still alive) (1862); M. Hrushevskij worked on the historical concept of the Ukrainian language and struggled for independence of Ukraine.
The Revolution of 1917 destroyed the Russian Empire. During the Civil War (1917-1920) Bolsheviks concentrated all power in their hands, and reorganized the management to the Soviet model. Hundreds of factories which were destroyed during the Civil War and the First World War were restored in few years. This process ranked Ukraine among the number of highly industrialized countries. But at the same time, the 30-ies were the bloodiest in the history of Ukraine. The Government of Stalin - Koganovich - Molotov - Postusheva caused the salvation in 1932-1933 (according to different versions there were 3-10 million deaths, mostly in Eastern Europe). Also many victims sacrificed to Collectivization (forcibly took away all the products from the villagers), great terror - 1937-1938 (people massively removed, killed, shot), the Second World War and postwar repression.
In august 24, 1991 in Ukraine were radical changes - it gained independence. According to the results of the referendum - 90% of Ukrainian citizens prefered to live in independent Ukraine. Leonid Kravchuk became the first president, Leonid Kuchma was elected in 1994, who was re-elected in 1999.
On the way of Ukraine there were many obstacles and challenges that had to be solved in the short term: the new nation had to re-construct itself, the creation of new legislation, the creation of new system of public security and defense, made new diplomatic relations with other countries.
In 1996 with adoption of new Constitution of Ukraine stopped hyperinflation and introduced a new currency - the Hryvnia. Ukraine is the first country in the post-Soviet territory, which established diplomatic relations with the EU. In 1997 signed an alliance with NATO. During the last eight years, Ukraine sent its peacekeepers to the Balkans, Ukraine acts as a guarantor of peace in Moldova. Also Ukraine is a member of the Council of Europe and the United Nations Security Council.
Currently Ukraine parliament-presidential republic. The parliament (Verhovnaya Rada) consists of 450 deputies who re-elects every 4 years.
Last November (2004) / December (2005): the beginning of a powerful opposition protests against the falsification of the 2 nd round of elections. There were calls to hold a third round of elections on 26 December. The Orange Revolution led by Viktor Yushchenko - versus the "winner" Viktor Yanukovych. January 11 Central Election Commission announced that Yushchenko had received 51, 99% versus 44.2% for Yanukovych.
History
