History:

The territory of Ukraine has had many names: Oriyana, Roxolania, Skyfia, Sarmatia, the country
of Anths and so on. In IV Century BC the name «Rus» appeared first, although only as meaning
the Kniaz and his warriors, but later as including a few provinces.

The name «Ukraine» was used unofficially instead of «Rus». It appeared when referring to
different parts of the country at various times. In 1650 French engineer and traveler, De Boplan,
published his book «Description of Ukraine», where by Ukraine he meant the regions of
Halychyna and Podilliya. His work made the name known in Western Europe. From
XVI century «Ukraine» referred to the Cossack lands around the Dnipro river and to the Cossack
state under Bogdan Khmelnytskyy, which is confirmed in works of other hetmans like
Ivan Mazepa and Pylyp Orlyk.

From XIX century the name «Ukraine» is widely used as referring to the territorial unit occupied
by Ukrainians. After the declaration of Ukrainian People’s Republic (1917), Ukrainian State
(1918), Western Ukrainian People’s Republic (1918) and Carpathian Ukraine (1939) the name
became established officially. Soviet Ukraine was named Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.
The historical name «Ukraine» was reestablished after the declaration of independence on
24 August 1991. On 28 June 1994, the name was recorded in the Ukrainian Constitution.

Ukraine is situated in the south-eastern part of Central Europe and has

its own territory, government, national emblem, flag and anthem. It
borders on Russia, Byelorussia, Moldova, Slovakia, Roumania, Hungary
and Poland on land and Russia, Georgia, Bulgaria, Roumania and
Turkey on sea.

The territory of Ukraine is mostly a level, treeless plain, calls "steppe".

There are the Crimean Mountains in the Crimean peninsula and the
Carpathians in the west, but they are not very high. Mixed forests of pine
and fir-trees, beeches, limes, oaks and elms cover the mountains, but the
thickest woods can still be found in the northern part of the republic, in
Volyn. Kiev and Cherkassy lie in the midst of Ukrainian southernmost
pine forest. The main Ukrainian river is the Dnieper. It is one of the
longest European rivers and one of the republic's main source of
hydroelectric power. The Dnieper and its tributary the Ross had been the
cradle of the Ukrainian and Russian people in time immemorial.

The climate of the country is moderate. Winter is rather mild, with no

severe frosts but with regular snowfalls everywhere except the south.
The rivers and lakes freeze in winter. The average winter temperature
varies -20 Centigrade in the north to -35 in the south. Summer is quite
hot and dry, with occasional showers and thunderstorms. The fertile
black soil is well watered in spring and autumn and gets plenty of
sunshine in summer.

Due to favorable climatic conditions, Ukraine is traditionally an

agricultural area. It grows wheat, maize, buckwheat and other corn, red
and green vegetables, all kinds of fruit, melons and berries.

Ukraine is one of the world's main centers of sugar production. It

produces sugar both for her own needs and for export.

The country is rich in natural resources, such as iron ore, coal, color
metal, oil, gas, mineral salts, clay and potential water power. It has
developed a varied industry, concentrated mostly in and around big
cities, such as Kiev, Zaporozhye, Dnepropetrovsk, Dnyeprodzerzhinsk,
Odessa, Kharkov, Lviv, Nickolayev and other. It produces planes and
ships, lorries and buses, motorcars and locomotives, computer and
electronic equipment, precision instruments and agricultural machines,
TV and radioset, chemicals and textiles and various consumer goods.
Odessa, Sebastopol, Nickolayev, Kherson and Kerch are main ukrainian
ports.

Ukraine natural resources:

Several tectonic structures are distinguished in the southwestern part of East European platform:
Ukrainian shield, Volyno-Podilska slab, Volynska and Dniprovsko-Donetska cavities and others.
Formation of Ukrainian Carpathians is still going on therefore these zones are likely to have
earthquakes approximately every 400 years. The coal base of Ukraine is Donbas (area — more
than 50 thousand sq. km) and the stocks are estimated to be 109 billion ton, with layers of 0,6–
1,2 m. Oil and natural gas are concentrated in the Dniprovsko-Donetskyy (about 80%) and
Prychornomorsko-Krymskyy regions and in Carpathian oil and gas province. Ukraine’s own
needs of oil are covered for 10–15% and for 25% of gas.

There are considerable resource of iron and other ores in different regions of Ukraine.

Ukraine is one of the natural resource leaders in Europe and the world. Such resources as
mountain wax, granite, graphite are among the richest. For ages Ukraine has been a producer of
various salts and has a rich base for metallurgical, porcelain, chemical industries, for production
of ceramics and building materials, sources of precious and semiprecious stones. Ukraine is
famous for its mineral water treatments (in Myrgorod, Svaliyava, Truskavets, Feodosya and
others) and medicinal mud.

The Soil:
There are nearly 40 types and subtypes of soils in Ukraine. Almost 45% of the whole area is
fertile farming land.

34% of Ukrainian land is formed by mixed zones of forests and plains (steppe), where the gray
forest soil is widespread. In the zone of plains, which forms 40% of all state land, the soil
coverage is relatively even and is dominated by chornozem (the black soil) — the most fertile in
the world and covering two thirds of Ukraine.

The area around the rivers Dnipro and Dnister is the only place in the world where the width of
the so-called “sweet” black soil line reaches 500 km. This soil is exceptional in providing very
high natural quality of the harvests and belongs to the national wealth. There are some other
types of soils in different areas of Ukraine (including the nutrient-rich riverbed soils) but in much
lesser amounts. In Ukrainian Carpathians the soils vary with altitude.