until 1939 Historic administrative affiliation of the area: • 1199–1253:
Principality of Galicia-Volhynia • 1253–1434: Kingdom of Galicia-Volhynia • 1434–1569:
Kingdom of Poland: /
Grand Duchy of Lithuania: • 1566–1569: Kingdom of Poland: / Grand Duchy of Lithuania: • 1569–1672:
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, • 1672–1699: Poland-Lithuania, /
Ottoman Empire: • 1699–1772: Poland-Lithuania, • 1772–1795:
Habsburg monarchy: (
Austrian Partition) / Poland-Lithuania, • 1795–1804: Habsburg Monarchy: (
Austrian Partition) /
Russian Empire: (
Russian Partition) • 1804–1809:
Austrian Empire: (
Austrian Partition) / Russian Empire: (
Russian Partition) • 1809–1815: Austrian Empire: (
Austrian Partition) / Russian Empire: • 1815–1867: Austrian Empire: (
Austrian Partition) / Russian Empire: (
Russian Partition) • 1867–November 1918:
Austria-Hungary: (
Austrian Partition) / Russian Empire: (
Russian Partition) • November 1918–July 1919 -
West Ukrainian People's Republic (
de facto) • 1919 (
de facto; 1923
de jure)–1945:
Rzeczpospolita Polska: • 1944 (
de facto; 1945
de jure)–1991:
USSR,
Ukrainian SSR: • since 1991:
Ukraine: From the 12th century the area belonged to
Galicia–Volhynia until Galicia–Volhynia was incorporated into the
Kingdom of Poland and
Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 14th century. In 1569 Poland and Lithuania united into the
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. From the
First Partition of Poland in 1772 until the end of
World War I the area which would become Ternopil Oblast was mostly part of the
Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, a possession of the
Habsburg Monarchy,
Austrian Empire and finally
Austria-Hungary. In Ukraine today, there are three oblasts (provinces) that largely formed the eastern part of Galicia and Lodomeria until 1918.
Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast was entirely contained in the kingdom, as was the vast majority of
Lviv Oblast (only a few small areas and villages near
Sokal were not). The southern and central parts of Ternopil Oblast were within the kingdom while the northern parts (pre-2020 raions:
Kremenets,
Shumsk,
Lanivtsi and the northern half of
Zbarazh; post-2020: Kremenets Raion and small parts of
Ternopil Raion) remained with Poland Lithuania; from 1795 (
Third Partition) they belonged to the
Russian Volhynian Governorate (specifically the
Kremenetsky Uyezd). During the
Napoleonic Wars the area around Ternopil was annexed by Russia in the 1809
Treaty of Schönbrunn becoming the ; it was ceded back to Austria in 1815 (
Congress of Vienna). The Tarnopolsky Krai roughly covered the eastern two-thirds of the post-2022 Ternopil Raion and the Chortkiv Raion up to the
Strypa; in pre-2020 terms it corresponded with the cities of Ternopil and Chortkiv and the Borshchiv, Chortkiv, Husiatyn, Pidvolochysk, Terebovlia, Ternopil and Zalishchyky raions, the southern half of Zbarazh raion, the eastern and northern parts of Buchach raion and some eastern parts of Zboriv and Kozova raions. From 1917 the formerly Russian part came under the
Ukrainian People's Republic (
Ukrainian State April–December 1918; also claimed by the
Ukrainian People's Republic of Soviets/
Ukrainian Soviet Republic December 1917–April 1918 and the
Ukrainian SSR from March 1919); from 1918 the formerly Austrian part was controlled by the
West Ukrainian People's Republic (nominally part of the Ukrainian People's Republic from 22 January 1919) but ultimately the whole area fell to the
Second Polish Republic in 1921 following the
Ukrainian War of Independence,
Polish–Ukrainian War and
Polish–Soviet War. The formerly Austrian parts became part of the
Tarnopol Voivodeship, while the formerly Russian parts became part of the
Volhynian Voivodeship, specifically the . The southern pre-2020 raions of Ternopil Oblast were partially coterminous with
Galicia and Lodomeria's districts/counties and Interwar Poland's counties. The oblast was created during the
Second World War when both
Nazi Germany and later the
Soviet Union invaded Poland. Due to the Polish national policy in the area (
Pacification action), many people favored the Soviet invasion of
Eastern Galicia at first. However, soon thereafter, the Soviet security agencies started a
witch hunt among nationally oriented members of Ukrainian resistance who emigrated to Poland after the
Soviet-Ukrainian War as well as other reasons. Many of local population were exiled to
Siberia regardless of their ethnic background. On December 4, 1939, the voivodeship division in the
West Ukraine was abolished and replaced with the existing Soviet administrative division oblast. Ternopil Oblast (originally Tarnopol Oblast) was established based mostly on the Tarnopol Voivodeship and southern portions of the
Volhynian Voivodeship. During the invasion of the Soviet Union by
Nazi Germany, Ternopil became an object of fierce fighting between Soviet and German forces because of its importance as a rail transportation hub. During German occupation, the region (except for its Volhynian portion) became part of the
District of Galicia and transferred to administration by the
General Government. After the war, a destroyed residential section of Ternopil, near the river, was turned into an artificial lake rather than being rebuilt. Additionally, upon annexation to the Soviet Union's
Ukrainian SSR, most ethnic Poles in the region were forcibly relocated to Poland, whose national borders had shifted far to the west. The area of the former Polish voivodeship was expanded by adding territory in the north, though the westernmost parts were transferred to the
Lviv oblast. After 1945 Soviet authorities also encouraged ethnic Russians to settle in territories newly annexed to the Soviet Union, including the Ternopil oblast, though western Ukraine remained considerably less Russian than eastern Ukraine. As Ukraine achieved independence in the 1990s, western Ukraine remained the heartland of Ukrainian political and cultural nationalism, and the political affiliations of Ternopil voters reflected that viewpoint. In the first elections after independence, the
People's Movement of Ukraine was the leading party in the oblast. A majority of oblast voters supported the Ukrainian nationalist-oriented
Electoral Bloc Yuliya Tymoshenko in the
2002 Ukrainian parliamentary election. Over 88% of voters supported
Yulia Tymoshenko of the
All-Ukrainian Union "Fatherland" in the
2010 Ukrainian presidential election. By 2005, the population of the oblast had grown to roughly 225,000, consisting primarily of ethnic Ukrainians with a large Russian or
Russian-speaking minority. The city of Ternopil has important institutions of higher education, including two teacher's colleges, an international medical school with instruction in English, and one of three economics institutes in Ukraine. The religion of the majority is
Ukrainian Greek Catholic, though there is a notable Orthodox presence and a small Protestant minority. Many churches which were closed or destroyed under Soviet rule have rebuilt since independence. The local Jewish community, which was very large before 1939, disappeared in the
Holocaust and was not reestablished after 1945. There are no active synagogues in the oblast and only a few isolated individuals affiliating with the
Jewish faith. ==Points of interest==