Hi friends, the necessity of this historical retrospective is generated by confusion in different historical periods of Transcarpathia / Zakarpattya which troubled some visitors of our forum. For example, one kind lady described curious situation – accordingly to Ellis Island documents, her Hungarian ancestor was born in Hungary but emigrated from Czechoslovakia and his nationality was noted as “Czechoslovakian”. And now ancestral village is in Transcarpathia. Pretty confusing, I agree.
Or another case, in Ellis Island documents country of birth is alternately called Austria, then Hungary, and now village is in Transcarpathia, again.
I guess, very short explanation on historical periods won’t be unnecessary.
5th century AC – territory of modern Transcarpathia was settled by Slav tribes, mostly by White Croats.
8-9th centuries AC - its territory was part of
Great Moravia.
9-11th centuries AC – its territory was part of
Kievan Rus, more correctly Rus’ka Zemlya. Some regions belonged to Rus’ka Zemlya up to 13th century.
11-13th centuries – its territory was included in
Kingdom of Hungary bit by bit, from west to east.
1241-1242 – Mongol invasion, cities Uzhgorod, Mukachevo and Tyachiv were destroyed. But Mongols didn’t stay here for long.
1541 – Hungary was defeated by Ottoman Empire, central and eastern regions were taken, western regions stayed under control of Habsburgs.
End of 17th century – Habsburgs got back all Hungary, including Transcarpathia.
1646 – part of Orthodox priests of Mukachevo diocese entered into an alliance with Rome and concluded Uzhgorod Union.
1866-1867 – creation of
Austro-Hungarian Empire. Transcarpathia became part of
Kingdom of Hungary within the Austria-Hungary. It consisted of 4 counties: Ung, Bereg, Maramaros and Ugocsa.
1918 – dissolution of Austria-Hungary. Territory of Transcarpathia was occupied by Czechoslovakian and Romanian armies.
4th of June, 1920 – Transcarpathia was included in
Czechoslovakia as Země Podkarpatoruská, in 1938 it was renamed to Země Zakarpatskoukrajinská. Administrative structure changed to 14 regions.
15th of March, 1939 – one day of independence and the very same day Transcarpathia was taken back by Hungary in full extend.
October 1944 – Transcarpathia was released by Red Army, and became formally independent state – Transcarpathian Ukraine, with own government.
29th of June 1945 – its territory was included in Soviet Ukraine as integral part, without traits of autonomy.
24th of August 1991 – Soviet Ukraine became independent and turned into Ukraine. Administrative structure didn’t change as well as many other things.
So what does this chronology mean for us, researchers, practically?
Kingdom of Hungary, Austria-Hungary and Czechoslovakia are well researchable time formations. Records for Uzhgorod / Ungvar start from 1715, for Mukachevo / Munkacs from 1758, for Hust / Khust from 1787, for Tyachiv / Tecso from 1878. Of course, presentation is different for different churches and cities, that’s why every inquiry should be checked carefully and individually. Currently all church and notarial books of vital birth, marriage and death records are kept in Uzhgorod.
Recommended reading:
Uzhgorod archive: what to expect?
Hungarian names of Zakarpattya villages