Red Ruthenia Ruś Czerwona (Polish) Червона Русь (Ukrainian) |
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Historic Region | |
Red Ruthenia (without Podolia) on contemporary borders |
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Region | Central and Eastern Europe (parts of southeast Poland and western Ukraine) |
Red Ruthenia, Red Rus (Latin: Ruthenia Rubra or Russia Rubra; Ukrainian: Червона Русь, Chervona Rus, Polish: Ruś Czerwona, Russian: Червоная Русь, Chervonaya Rus) is a historic term used since the Middle Ages for Western Ukraine or sometimes southeastern Poland or Right-bank Ukraine.
First mentioned in a 1321 Polish chronicle, Red Ruthenia was the portion of Rus' incorporated into Poland by Casimir the Great during the 14th century.
From the 14th century, after the disintegration of Rus', Red Ruthenia was contested by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (the Gediminids), the Kingdom of Poland (the Piasts), the Kingdom of Hungary and the Kingdom of Ruthenia. After the Galicia–Volhynia Wars, for about 400 years most of Red Ruthenia became part of Poland as the Ruthenian Voivodeship. The historic Red Ruthenia, reaching Przemyśl and Sanok in the southwest, has been primarily inhabited for nearly a millennium by Ruthenians – a term which, in this context, refers to both ethnic Ukrainians and Rusyns.