Chernovtsy Oblast

part of the Ukrainian SSR. Formed on Aug. 7,1940. Located in the southwestern part of the Ukrainian SSR. Area, 8,100 sq km. Population, 887,000 (as of Jan. 1, 1977). Divided into ten raions, Chernovtsy Oblast has ten cities and nine urban-type settlements. The administrative center is the city of Chernovtsy. On Feb. 26, 1958, Chernovtsy Oblast was awarded the Order of Lenin.

Natural features. The southwestern part of Chernovtsy Oblast is situated within the Ukrainian Carpathians, with elevations rising to 1,565 m. The central part occupies the Carpathian foothills, with elevations to 537 m, and the northern part, between the Prut and Dnestr rivers, occupies an upland plain, with elevations to 515 m. The climate is temperate continental. The average January temperature on the plain is –4° to –5°C, in the foothills, – 5° to – 6°C, and in the mountains, – 6° to – 10°C. In July the corresponding temperatures are 20°–18°C, 19°–17°C, and 18°–10°C. Annual precipitation amounts to 450–700 mm on the plain, 600–800 mm in the foothills, and 800–1,400 mm in the mountains. The growing season lasts 211–216 days on the plain, 206–212 days in the foothills, and 136–180 days in the mountains.

The most important rivers are the Dnestr, the Prut (with its tributary the Cheremosh), and the Siret (a tributary of the Danube).

The soil cover of the plains is dominated by gray forest soils and podzolized chernozems. The foothills have soddy-podzolic soils, and the mountain areas, mountain-type brown forest and soddy-brown soils. Forests and shrubs, which grow primarily in the mountains, occupy 29 percent of the oblast; the principal trees are spruce, fir, beech, oak, and hornbeam.

The forests are inhabited by the reindeer, roe deer, wild boar, bear, lynx, fox, marten, squirrel, muskrat, and European hare. The bison, elk, fallow deer, mink, and, among the birds, pheasant have all become acclimatized in the oblast. The rivers abound in sterlet, Danubian salmon, trout, sheatfish, European bream, and chub.

Population. Ukrainians constitute (1970) 68.8 percent of the population, Rumanians 10 percent, Moldavians 9.3 percent, Russians 6.3 percent, Jews 4.4 percent, and Poles 0.6 percent. The average population density is 109.5 persons per sq km (as of Jan. 1, 1977). The plain is the most densely populated area. In 1977 the urban population accounted for 37 percent of the total.

The most important cities are Chernovtsy, Khotin, and Storozhinets.

Economy. During the years of socialist construction, Chernovtsy Oblast has been transformed from a backward agrarian region into one of the most developed industrial-agrarian oblasts of the Ukraine. The food-processing industry is represented by a meat-packing combine, a combine for the production of oils and fats, and a milk combine (Chernovtsy, Novoselitsa), sugar refineries (Chernovtsy, Kel’mentsy, Zarozhany), vegetable-drying plants, and canneries. Machine building is dominated by the production of equipment for the petroleum-refining industry and by electric power production. It is represented by a machine-building plant, a mechanical repair plant, and the Elektronmash and Chernovtsylegmash production associations. The largest light industrial enterprises are located in Chernovtsy, including the Voskhod cotton production association, a glove and knitwear production association, a hosiery production association, and the Trembita garment production association. The lumber and wood-products industries are quite developed and are represented by logging and the production of furniture, plywood, and splint-slab panels in Chernovtsy, Vizhnitsa, Beregomet, Storo-zhinets, Khotin, and Putila. There are also plants for the production of chemicals and rubber footwear. The construction industry is represented by the production of brick and tile products and re-inforced-concrete structural components and parts (Chernovtsy, Kostrizhevka, Storozhinets, Mamalyga, and Kel’mentsy). Various folk arts are also developed, including embroidery, rug weaving, and wood carving (Chernovtsy, Khotin, Vizhnitsa).

Agriculture specializes in the production of grain and industrial crops and in raising livestock for dairy and meat purposes. The oblast has (1976) 151 kolkhozes and 33 sovkhozes. Fifty-nine percent of the oblast’s total land area is occupied (1976) by agricultural lands, of which lands under cultivation account for 73 percent, hayfields for 7 percent, and pastures for 14 percent. The sown area totals 351,900 hectares (ha), of which 147,300 ha are under grains (winter wheat, 45,800 ha; spring barley, 29,700 ha; seed corn; 47,700 ha; legumes, 14,300 ha), 35,800 ha under sugar beets, 5,000 ha under long-staple flax, 24,000 ha under potatoes, 8,000 ha under vegetable crops, and 126,300 ha under fodder crops. Fruit growing is also developed (apples, plums, pears, cherries, walnuts). The Bukovina and Dnestr production-agrarian orchard sovkhoz associations have been created in the Soki-riany and Khotin Raions. Fruit, berry, and grape plantings occupy 33,100 ha. Reclaimed land suitable for farming totals 57,000 ha.

Livestock raising accounts for more than 50 percent of the gross agricultural output. In 1976 the oblast had 448,700 head of cattle (including 154,000 cows), 266,200 hogs, and 169,800 sheep and goats. New forms of interbranch and intrafarm cooperation in stock raising have been widely introduced; at present, nine interfarm livestock-raising enterprises for fattening cattle, pigs, and poultry are in operation. Pond fisheries are widespread. Beekeeping is also developed.

Chernovtsy Oblast has 466 km of railroad. The following railroad lines pass through Chernovtsy Oblast: Mostiska-L’vov-Ivano-Frankovsk-Chernovtsy-Vadul-Siret, Ivano-Frankovsk-Chernovtsy-Ungeny-Kishinev-Odessa, and Chernovtsy-Oknitsa-Zhmerinka-Kiev. Motor-vehicle roads total 3,000 km, of which 2,800 km are hard-surfaced (1976). The principal highways are Chernovtsy-L’vov, Chernovtsy-Kiev (by way of Ternopol’ and by way of Vinnitsa), and Chernovtsy-Kishinev-Odessa.

Education, cultural affairs, and public health. In 1914 there were 379 schools, with more than 71,000 pupils and students, in what is now Chernovtsy Oblast, as well as ten specialized secondary educational institutions, with 1,288 students, and the University of Chernovtsy, with an enrollment of 799. During the 1976–77 academic year, there were 478 general-education schools of all types, with 153,800 pupils and students, in the oblast, and 14 vocational-technical educational institutions, with 8,200 students, and 18 specialized secondary educational institutions with 15,000 students. More than 14,000 students were enrolled at the university, the medical institute, and a branch of the Kiev Institute of Commerce and Economics. There were 260 preschool institutions, providing care for 27,300 children.

The oblast has (as of Jan. 1, 1977) 579 public libraries, with 6.332 million books and journals, and three museums, all in Chernovtsy: a museum of local lore, the O. Iu. Kobylianskaia literary memorial museum, located in the house where the writer lived from 1928 to 1942, and the O. Fed’kovich literary memorial museum. The O. Iu. Kobylianskaia Musical and Dramatic Theater is located in Chernovtsy. There are also 490 clubs in the oblast, 479 motion-picture projection units, and 25 extracurricular institutions.

The following are published in the oblast: the oblast newspapers Radians’ka Bukovina (Soviet Bucovina; since 1940, in Ukrainian) and Zorile Bukovinei (Dawn of Bucovina; since 1941, in Moldavian) and the Komsomol newspaper Molodyi bukovynets’ (Young Bucovinian; since 1940, in Ukrainian).

Programs of the All-Union and republic radio, totaling 28.1 hours per day, are broadcast in the oblast, as well as programs of the oblast radio in Russian, Ukrainian, and Moldavian, totaling two hours. Programs of the Central and republic television, totaling 23 hours per day, are relayed; there are also local television programs in Russian, Ukrainian, and Moldavian, totaling 2.7 hours.

By Jan. 1, 1977, there were 75 hospitals in the oblast, with 9,600 beds (10.9 beds per 1,000 inhabitants) and 2,700 physicians (one physician per 324 inhabitants). The oblast has six sanatoriums. The principal tourist sites are the Carpathians and areas along the Cheremosh River. There are tourist centers in Chernovtsy and Vizhnitsa.