VOLHYNIA

This article appears in Volume V28, Page 195 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: VIR-WAT

VOLHYNIA , a government of south-western Russia, bounded by the Polish governments of

Lublin

LUBLIN

and Siedlce on the W., Grodno and Minsk on the N., Kiev on the E. and Podolia and

Galicia

(Austria) on the S., with an area of 27,690 sq. m. A broad, flat spur of the Carpathiansthe Avratynsk plateauwhich enters from the west and stretches out eastward towards the Dnieper occupies its southern portion, reaching a maximum

elevation

ELEVATION

of 1200 ft.; another branch of the Carpathians in the west of the government ranges between 7 00 and 900 ft. at its highest points. Both are deeply grooved in places, and the crags give a hilly aspect to the districts in which they occur. The remainder of the government, which is quite flat, with an imperceptible slope towards the marshes of Pinsk, is known as the Polyesie (see MINSK).
The population in 1906 was estimated at 3,547,500. Some three-fourths of the population are Little Russians; the other elements are White and

Great

GREAT

Russians, Poles (5.2%), Jews (13.2%) and Germans (5.7 %). The government is divided into twelve districts, the

chief

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

towns of which are Zhitomir, the

capital

CAPITAL (i.e. capital stock or fund)
CAPITAL (Lat. caput, head)

, Dubno, Kovel, Kremenets, Lutsk, Novograd Volhynskiy, Ostrog, Ovruch, Vladimir Volhynskiy, Rovno, Staro-Konstantinov and Zaslavl. The conditions of peasant ownership differ from those which prevail in other parts of Russia, and of the total area the peasants hold approximately one-half; 42% of the total is in the hands of private owners, a considerable number of Germans having settled and bought land in the government.
Forests cover nearly 5o % of the area in the north (that is, in the Polyesie) and 15% elsewhere. Agriculture is well developed in the south, and in 1900 there were 4,222,400 acres (24%) under cereal crops alone. In the Polyesie the principal occupations are connected with the export of timber and firewood, the preparation of pitch, tar, potash and wooden wares, and boat-building. Lignite and coal, some graphite and

kaolin

KAOLIN

, are

mined

MINED

, as also amber, which is often found in big lumps. Manufacturing

industries

INDUSTRIES

are not very highly developed. The factories are confined to sugar works, distilleries, woollen mills, and candle, tobacco, glass, cloth and agricultural machinery works. Domestic industry in the villages is chiefly limited to the making of wooden goods, including parquetry. The exports of grain and timber, chiefly to Germany and

Great

GREAT

Britain, and of wool and cattle, are considerable.
Volhynia has been inhabited by Slays from a remote antiquity. In

Nestor

NESTOR
NESTOR (c. 1056-c. 1114)

's Annals its people are mentioned under the name of Dulebs, and later in the 12th century they were known as Velhynians and Buzhans (dwellers on the Bug). From the 9th century the towns of Volhynia-Vladimir, Ovruch, Lutsk and Dubno were ruled by descendants of the Scandinavian or Varangian

chief

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

Rurik, and the land of Volhynia remained
VOLLMAR 195
independent until the 14th century, when it fell under Lithuania: In 1569 it was annexed to Poland, and so remained until 1795, when it was taken possession of by Russia.

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