Going to Galicia in Ukraine Trivia Quiz

Answer: Odessa

Galicia was a historical and geographical region under the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, a kingdom that existing from the 16th century to the close of the 18th century. It spanned the current day areas of southeastern Poland and Western Ukraine. The modern areas of Lviv, Ternopil, and the Ivano-Frankivsk oblasts cover the erstwhile Galicia.

Odessa (or Odesa) is a major seaport in south-west Ukraine, on the shores of the Black Sea. It is not considered part of Galicia.

Answer: Halychyna

The Ukrainian name for the region is Halychyna. It is derived from a city called Halych which was the first capital city of the region. Galicja is the Polish name for Galicia. There are names similar to either Halychyna or Galicia for the region in other European languages including Halic in Czech and Galizien in German.

Answer: Crow

The Ukrainian name for Galicia is Halychyna which comes from the city named Halych (Galic in Latin). This is derived from the Ukrainian word 'halka' for the crow. This explains the unusual feature of a crow on the region's coat of arms, a bird not commonly featured in heraldry.

Some sources also claim that the city (and therefore the region) gets its name from the Greek word 'hals' for salt. Halych used to be a major exporter of salt in earlier times. Salt mining is no longer carried out in the region.

Answer: Spain

The historical region of Galicia in Eastern Europe is not to be confused with the Spanish autonomous community of the same name. The two are not related in any way despite sharing the name.

The Spanish Galicia is located in the north-western part of the Iberian Peninsula, along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. It was named after the Gallaeci, a Celtic tribe. The Eastern European Galicia is also considered to have derived its name from a Celtic tribe. Other similar named places with Celtic origins are Gaul, the former name of France, and Galatia, in central Anatolia, in Turkey.

Answer: False

Ukraine has coastlines on the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. Apart from Ukraine, five other countries, namely, Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, and Turkey all border the Black Sea. Galicia, however, is tucked away in the northwest of Ukraine and has no coastline.

Answer: His son

Lviv developed into a major economic centre in the 14th century. It was not only the centre of the Red Ruthenia, but also of the region of Galicia. It remains the largest city in Western Ukraine in present times.

Danylo Romanovych was an important historical figure of the region. He was the first King of Ruthenia and also the Prince of Galicia. He named Lviv after his eldest son, Leo.

Red Ruthenia or Red Rus' was the collective name for the south-western principalities of Peremyshl and Belz. There is a significant degree of overlap between this region and the historical Galicia.

Answer: False

The Ternopil Oblast is one of only two oblasts in West Ukraine that does not have an international border. Instead it borders five other oblasts including Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast.

Ternopil is famous for its cave complexes. The oblast is home to over a hundred discovered caves, with scientists postulating that many more are yet to be discovered. The largest of these is a gypsum cave called Optymistychna. It was discovered only in 1966. Optymistychna is the longest gypsum cave in the world, the longest cave in Eurasia and the sixth longest worldwide!

Answer: Ukranian poet

Oblast refers to an administrative division. The Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast is located in Western Ukraine. Its administrative centre is a city of the same name.

The region was historically known as Prykarpattia, a Ukrainian term meaning located at the foothills of the Carpathians. After World War I, it became part of the Soviet Union was known as the Stanislav Oblast. In 1962, it was renamed after the Ukrainian writer and poet, Ivan Franko.

Born in Galicia in the Ukrainian village of Nahuievychi, now part of the Lviv Oblast, Franko is an influential figure in the region's history. He is considered to have authored the first detective novel in the Ukrainian language. However, his achievements are not restricted to writing and poetry. He was also an economist and political activist, and was one of the founders of a nationalist movement in western Ukraine.

Answer: Austrian

In 1772, the Austrian Empire annexed the region of Galicia from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. This was part of the First Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (also known as the First Partition of Poland), a series of three partitions that eventually ended the Commonwealth. With the Commonwealth in decline, the three dominant powers of Central Europe - Russia, Prussia, and Austria, divided its territory amongst themselves.

In 1804, Galicia formally became a crownland or royal domain of the Austrian Empire.

This status continued under the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary, until the monarchy itself was dissolved in 1918 after World War I.

Answer: Oil

Sizeable reserves of oil were discovered in Galicia in the mid-19th to early 20th century. In 1867, the first oil well was developed at Kleczany, in western Galicia. Within the next decade, a railway line was built linking the cities of Drohobych and Boryslav, located near the oil reserves. By 1909, this region was producing 4% of global oil output.

It was the major source of domestic oil production for the Central Powers during World War I.