Subcarpathian Rusʹ, Zakarpattia, or Carpatho-Ukraine, is a region in the Carpathian mountain range located immediately to the east of present-day Slovakia and Hungary, bordering Romania on the south and extending to southeasternmost Poland to the north (see the dark green area in Map 1, below).
It is the traditional home of the Rusyns, a distinct ethnic group who also live in the Lemkovina region of northeastern Slovakia and southeastern Poland, and who speak Rusyn, or Carpatho-Rusyn, an East Slavic language akin to Ukrainian (on which, see Rusyn/Carpatho-Rusyn Language and Literature).
This region has had an involved administrative history in modern times. Subcarpathian Rusʹ formed part of Hungary until 1919, when it became an autonomous region of Czechoslovakia known as Ruthenia (see the pale-green region labelled “Sub-Carpathian Rusʹ“ within the red rectangle on the right-hand side of Map 2 below). Ruthenia continued to be part of Czechoslovakia until 1939, when it fell under Hungarian control. Hungary kept control of the region until 1944, when it passed into Soviet hands.
Map 2. Ruthenia within Czechoslovakia, 1928-1938
In 1945, the territory of Ruthenia was ceded to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, where it was formed into the Zakarpatsʹka oblastʹ, which continues to be the westernmost province of Ukraine to this day (See the red-colored area in Map 3).
Map 3. Zakarpatsʹka oblastʹ within Ukraine
(Source: https://europebetweeneastandwest.wordpress.com/tag/republic-of-carpatho-ruthenia/)
The access points for Ruthenia/Zakarpatsʹka oblastʹ follow below. Note that the authority file contains headings for specific jurisdictional entities. There is no general heading for non-jurisdictional Subcarpathian Rusʹ, a historical-geographical area that -- much like Silesia -- includes territory in several modern countries.
Ruthenia (Czechoslovakia)
• Descriptive usage: refers to Subcarpathian Rusʹ as an administrative region forming part of Czechoslovakia between 1919 and 1939.
• Subject usage: can be used as a subject heading for works on the administrative region that was formerly part of Czechoslovakia and today is contained in the Zakarpatsʹka Oblastʹ in the Ukraine. [Note that the authority record in the
NAF incorrectly states that the Prešovský kraj in Slovakia was contained in the territory of Czechoslovak Ruthenia. This kraj forms part of the geographical-cultural region of Subcarpathian Rusʹ in which the Rusyns live, but lay outside of the boundaries of Ruthenia as jurisdictional unit.] The subdivision form is Ruthenia (Czechoslovakia).
Zakarpatsʹka oblastʹ (Ukraine)
• Descriptive usage: refers to Subcarpathian Rusʹ as an administrative region forming the westernmost province of Ukraine from 1945 to the present.
• Subject usage: can be used as a subject heading. The subdivision form is Ukraine--Zakarpatsʹka oblastʹ.
See also:
Authorized Access Points, Subject Headings, and MARC Codes for Czechoslovakia, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia;
Rusyn/Carpatho-Rusyn Language and Literature
Revised: Oct. 3, 2015.
