The Roots of Ukrainian Emigration: Preconditions, Main Forms and Vectors of Development of the First Foreign Groups  and Colonies of Ethnic Ukrainians

Teofil Rendiuk

The Roots of Ukrainian Emigration: Preconditions, Main Forms and Vectors of Development of the First Foreign Groups and Colonies of Ethnic Ukrainians

Teofil Rendiuk

Abstract

This study highlights the importance of investigating the unique phenomenon of Ukrainian emigration, which has a long history and global geographical scale. The relevance of the study is justified by the necessity of studying the sources of Ukrainian emigration, the over-time development of a powerful mass of immigrants from Ukraine, settled around the world, who have always supported the revival of the Ukrainian state and today play a substantial role in promoting its interests abroad. From a historical perspective, Ukrainian emigration ranks fifth in the world after Jewish, Greek, Armenian, and Chinese. Ukrainians were the first to emigrate to Europe and within modern Russia. In the middle of the 18th century, the first Ukrainian agricultural colonies appeared in the then Austrian Empire, when several thousand Transcarpathian Ukrainians moved to Bačka, Srem, and Slavonia − the regions of modern Serbia and Croatia − searching for work. But much more Ukrainian peasants moved to the Volga region, the Urals, and Siberia, where they established large Ukrainian settlements among local Russians. The purpose of this study is to investigate hitherto unknown questions about the motives of individual and group emigration in the early stages of the Ukrainian state in all its forms, the sources of the first Ukrainian agricultural colonies in Europe, ethnic Ukrainian settlements within tsarist Russia, North, South America, and Australia. The fundamental methodological framework of this study is a systematic approach and comprehensive analysis, which gave an opportunity to provide a holistic vision of the role and place of compatriots in the development of a powerful, nationally conscious, and influential Ukrainian diaspora. The results of the study allowed identifying the causes of individual and group emigration of Ukrainians, establishing the geography of their settlement in different countries, their role in the development of previously free territories, preservation of the native language and national culture. The practical value of this paper comes down to the fact that the given factual material, as well as the authors' opinions and conclusions, can be used to prepare studies on the history of Ukraine, certain foreign countries, and the Ukrainian diaspora

Keywords

motives, geography of emigration of Ukrainians, foreign settlements, diaspora

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Suggested citation

Rendiuk, Т. (2021). The Roots of Ukrainian Emigration: Preconditions, Main Forms and Vectors of Development of the First Foreign Groups and Colonies of Ethnic Ukrainians. Foreign Affairs, 31(5), 15-27. 10.46493/2663-2675.31(5).2021.15-27