Ukraine - The Country - War in Ukraine - LibGuides at York University

Ukraine - The Country

A yellow field with blue sky

(Source: Pexels.com - CC0 No Attribution Required)

Introduction

Ukraine, with a population of approximately 43,745,640 (July 2021) is the second largest country in Europe after Russia. 77.8% of the population identifies as ethnic Ukrainian with the next largest ethnic group identifying as Russian at 17.3%. Ukrainian, the official language, is spoken by 67.5% of the population, and Russian is spoken by 29.6%. Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, is the largest urban centre with a population of 3.010 million, followed by Kharkiv with 1.423 million, and Odessa with 1.008 million. 71.2% of the land in Ukraine is designated as agricultural, with 69.9% of the population residing in urban centres.

Source: World Factbook - Ukraine

Country Profile

World Factbook - Ukraine

"The World Factbook is collected from – and coordinated with – a wide variety of US Government agencies, as well as from hundreds of published sources."

Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS), University of Alberta)

"Once completed, the Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (IEU) will be the most comprehensive source of information in English on Ukraine, its history, people, geography, society, economy, and cultural heritage. At present, the IEU team is working on phase 1 of the project: the creation of an Internet database containing the revised and updated contents of the five-volume Encyclopedia of Ukraine (University of Toronto Press, 1984-93) edited by Volodymyr Kubijovyc (vols. 1-2) and Danylo Husar Struk (vols. 3-5). Approximately fifty percent of this information is currently displayed on our site. At the same time, a considerable number of new articles (not contained in the published five-volume Encyclopedia of Ukraine) have also been made available. New entries are being edited, updated, and added daily."

The Encyclopedia include articles on Culture, Literature, Art and Architecture, among many other subjects relating to Ukraine.

MAPA: Digital Atlas of Ukraine

Built and supported by a team of scholars and professionals in the fields of history, demography, sociology, geography, and geographic information systems (GIS), at the Harvard University Ukrainian Research Institute and their partners. Includes Contemporary Atlas and Historical Atlas, each accompanied by research analysis on a wide range of topics.

Ukraine Agricultural Production and Trade (April 2022) (U.S. Department of Agriculture, Foreign Agricultural Service)

Fact sheet provides data regarding Ukrainian agricultural production and trade.

World Bank Data and Statistics: Ukraine

Includes a wide range of data and statistics.

Ukraïnica: The Primary Database of Ukrainian Studies (Harvard University and Ukrainian Institute, Kyiv)

A “database and syllabus-building tool meant to be a constantly growing resource where everyone participates as a contributor" and depends on "the community of scholars to expand the number of high-quality sources listed in the database.”

Books about Ukraine

Ukraine by Orest Subtelny
ISBN: 9781442685154
Publication Date: 2009-01-01
In 1988, the first edition of Orest Subtelny's Ukraine was published to international acclaim, as the definitive history of what was at that time a republic in the USSR. In the years since, the world has seen the dismantling of the Soviet bloc and the restoration of Ukraine's independence - an event celebrated by Ukrainians around the world but which also heralded a time of tumultuous change for those in the homeland. While previous updates brought readers up to the year 2000, this new fourth edition includes an overview of Ukraine's most recent history, focusing on the dramatic political, socio-economic, and cultural changes that occurred during the Kuchma and Yushchenko presidencies. It analyzes political developments - particularly the so-called Orange Revolution - and the institutional growth of the new state. Subtelny examines Ukraine's entry into the era of globalization, looking at social and economic transformations, regional, ideological, and linguistic tensions, and describes the myriad challenges currently facing Ukrainian state and society.
A History of Ukraine by Paul Robert Magocsi
ISBN: 9781442610217
Publication Date: 2010-06-18
First published in 1996, A History of Ukraine quickly became the authoritative account of the evolution of Europe's second largest country. In this fully revised and expanded second edition, Paul Robert Magocsi examines recent developments in the country's history and uses new scholarship in order to expand our conception of the Ukrainian historical narrative. New chapters deal with the Crimean Khanate in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and new research on the pre-historic Trypillians, the Italians of the Crimea and the Black Death, the Karaites, Ottoman and Crimean slavery, Soviet-era ethnic cleansing, and the Orange Revolution is incorporated. Magocsi has also thoroughly updated the many maps that appear throughout. Maintaining his depiction of the multicultural reality of past and present Ukraine, Magocsi has added new information on Ukraine's peoples and discusses Ukraine's diasporas. Comprehensive, innovative, and geared towards teaching, the second edition of A History of Ukraine is ideal for both teachers and students.
The Gates of Europe by Serhii Plokhy
ISBN: 0465094864
Publication Date: 2017-05-30
"An exemplary account of Europe's least-known large country" (Wall Street Journal) by an award-winning historian. Ukraine is currently embroiled in a tense fight with Russia to preserve its territorial integrity and political independence. But today's conflict is only the latest in a long history of battles over Ukraine's territory and its existence as a sovereign nation. As the award-winning historian Serhii Plokhy argues in The Gates of Europe, we must examine Ukraine's past in order to understand its present and future. Situated between Central Europe, Russia, and the Middle East, Ukraine was shaped by the empires that used it as a strategic gateway between East and West--from the Roman and Ottoman empires to the Third Reich and the Soviet Union. For centuries, Ukraine has been a meeting place of various cultures. The mixing of sedentary and nomadic peoples and Christianity and Islam on the steppe borderland produced the class of ferocious warriors known as the Cossacks, for example, while the encounter between the Catholic and Orthodox churches created a religious tradition that bridges Western and Eastern Christianity. Ukraine has also been a home to millions of Jews, serving as the birthplace of Hassidism--and as one of the killing fields of the Holocaust. Plokhy examines the history of Ukraine's search for its identity through the lives of the major figures in Ukrainian history: Prince Yaroslav the Wise of Kyiv, whose daughter Anna became queen of France; the Cossack ruler Ivan Mazepa, who was immortalized in the poems of Byron and Pushkin; Nikita Khrushchev and his protege-turned-nemesis Leonid Brezhnev, who called Ukraine their home; and the heroes of the Maidan protests of 2013 and 2014, who embody the current struggle over Ukraine's future. As Plokhy explains, today's crisis is a tragic case of history repeating itself, as Ukraine once again finds itself in the center of the battle of global proportions. An authoritative history of this vital country, The Gates of Europe provides a unique insight into the origins of the most dangerous international crisis since the end of the Cold War.