Bucovina (Austrian: Bukowina) 1775

In the early 18th century the political status of Moldavia underwent changes. In 1711 the Moldavian ruler negotiated a treaty with Czar Peter I of Russia in which Russia guaranteed Moldavia’s territorial integrity. Later in 1711 Russia was defeated in a conflict with the Ottomans in Moldavia and the Ottomans appointed Phanariot rulers (Greeks from the Panar district of Istanbul) which curtailed the political autonomy of Moldavia and increased economic obligations to the Ottomans.

Bucovina: Romanian majority

In the late 18th century the Austrian Hapsburg, Prussian and Russian empires together had expansionist aims in Europe, first taking Poland in 1772. The peace treaty at the end of the Russo-Turkish war of 1768-74 required Russia to return Bessarabia and withdraw from Moldavia. Austria took advantage of the situation by using the pretext that Pocutsia had once held the northern regions of Moldavia, and following the partitioning of Poland, Pocutsia and Galicia were annexed to Austria. In 1774 Austrian troops took the northern counties of Cernăuti, Câmpulung and Suceava and in 1775 succeeded this part of Moldavia from the Ottomans.

Bucovina: German settlers

At first the lands were known as Austrian Moldavia, but soon were renamed Bukowina or Buchenland which means “Land of Beech Trees” in German, after the beech forests of Cosmin. From 1786 Bucovina was an administrative region of Galicia. In 1849 a degree of autonomy was given to Bucovina which lasted up to 1918 when it was returned to Moldavia. At the end of the Second World War the northern half of Bucovina was acquired by Russia and now is part of the Ukraine, and still has a strong minority of Romanian population.

Bucovina: Ukrainian migration

In 1775 the population was 63,700 Romanians, 8,400 Ukrainians, and 3,426 other nationalities. During the Austrian rule Ukrainians from Galicia, Catholic Hungarian Székely  from Transylvania (now referred to as csángó) plus Poles and Germans were settled in Bucovina taking the non-Romanian nationalities up to 25%. Most of the Germans, Hungarians and Jews have now returned to their homelands.

Bucovina Székely

Bucovina: Hungarian Székely 1776-1941

Five villages (Andrásfalva, Hadikfalva, Istensegíts, Fogadjisten, and Józseffalva) were founded for Hungarian-speaking settlers after the Hapsburg Empire acquired Bucovina from the Ottoman Empire in 1774. Most of the settlers were Roman Catholic Székely from Transylvania who nearly all came from the eastern Székely counties of Csík and Háromszék.

• 1776 – one hundred Székely arrived.
• 1784 to 1786 – more than two hundred families arrived.
• 1883 – Hungarian government moved Székelys to part of the Banat. This included the re-settlement the Székelys of Bucovina who received the confiscated homes and lands of the Serbs in southern. Bácska.
• 1905 to 1914 – about 600 people from the five villages emigrated to Canada.
• 1910 – census gave Hungarian population as 1.3% of the Bucovinian population.
• 1944 – Hungary evacuated the Banat territory and the Székelys moved to Transdanubia ending up in the former German villages in Tolna and Baranya counties.