Carpatho-Rusyns live in the very heart of Europe, along the northern and southern slopes of the Carpathian mountains. Their homeland, known as Carpathian Rus', is situated at the crossroads where the borders of Ukraine, Slovakia, and Poland meet. Aside from those countries, there are smaller numbers of Carpatho-Rusyns in Romania, Hungary, Yugoslavia, and the Czech Republic. In no country do Carpatho-Rusyns have an administratively distinct territory. The symbol above--a red bear facing blue and gold stripes--was first adopted as the official emblem of the Czechoslovak province of Subcarpathian Rus', on March 30, 1920. It fell into disuse after 1938, but was adopted as the official symbol of the Transcarpathian oblast of Ukraine, on December 18, 1990. Since then it has also been adopted by the World Congress of Rusyns and by most Carpatho-Rusyn organizations worldwide.

Geography and Economy
Three-quarters of the Carpatho-Rusyns in Europe are found within the borders of Ukraine, specifically in the Transcarpathian region (historic Subcarpathian Rus'). In Slovakia, Carpatho-Rusyns live in the northeastern part of the country, in an area popularly known as the Prešov Region. On the northern slopes of the Carpathians, they had traditionally lived in southeastern Poland, in an area known as the Lemko Region. After World War II, the Lemko Rusyns were deported to Ukraine and other parts of Poland. Among those who remained in Poland, a few thousand eventually managed to return to their Carpathian homeland, although most continue to reside in scattered settlements in the southwestern part of the country (Silesia). Finally, there are several Carpatho-Rusyn villages just south of the Tisza River in the Maramureş region of northcentral Romania, and a few scattered settlements in northeastern Hungary.

Beyond the Carpathian homeland, Rusyns live as immigrants in neighboring countries. The oldest immigrant community, dating back to the mid-eighteenth century, is in the Vojvodina (historic Bačka) and Srem regions of former Yugoslavia, that is, present-day northern Serbia and far eastern Croatia. In the Czech Republic, Carpatho-Rusyns reside primarily in northern Moravia and the capital of Prague, where most immigrated just after World War II. The largest community outside the homeland is in the United States, where between the 1880s and 1914 about 225,000 Carpatho-Rusyns immigrated. They settled primarily in the industrial regions of the northeastern and north-central states where most of their descendants still live to this day. Smaller numbers of Carpatho-Rusyns immigrated to Canada and Argentina in the 1920s and to Australia in the 1970s and 1980s.

Carpatho-Rusyns do not have their own state. At best they function as a legally recognized national minority in all but one (Ukraine) of the European countries where they live. As has historically been the case with stateless minority groups, Carpatho-Rusyns have been reluctant to identify themselves as such or have simply not been recorded by the governments in the countries where they have lived. Therefore, it is impossible to know precisely the number of Carpatho-Rusyns in any country. A reasonable estimate would place their number at 1.6 million persons worldwide.

Continue to Page 2

Return to Documents & Articles index