Red Ruthenia - Administrative Division (14th Century-1772)

Administrative Division (14th Century-1772)

In the 1340s, the Rurikid dynasty died out, and the area passed to King Casimir III of Poland. But the sister state of Volhynia, together with Kiev fell under Lithuanian control.

Thereafter, the region comprised a Polish possession divided into a number of voivodeships. This began an era of German eastward migration and Polish settlement among the Ruthenian population.Armenian and Jewish immigration to the region also occurred in large numbers. Numerous castles were built during this time and some new cities were founded: Stanisławów (Stanyslaviv in Ukrainian, now Ivano-Frankivsk) and Krystynopol (now Chervonohrad).

Ruthenia was many times subjected to incursions by Tartars and Ottoman Turkey in the 16th and 17th centuries, however they were driven out, devastated during the Khmelnytsky Uprising (1648–1654), the Russo-Polish War (1654–1667), and inconvenienced by Swedish invasions during The Deluge (1655–1660), and the Swedes returned during the Great Northern War of the early 18th century.

Historically Red Ruthenia consisted of three governorships: 1) the Ruthenian whose capital was Lviv, and part of which were the provinces of Lviv, Halych, Sanok, Przemyśl, and Chełm; 2) Bełz, which separated the provinces of Lviv and Przemyśl from the rest of Lviv governorship; and 3) the Podolian with its capital in Kamieniec Podolski.