Ternopol Oblast

an oblast in the Ukrainian SSR. Formed on Dec. 4, 1939. Area, 13,800 sq km. Population, 1,176,000 (1975). The oblast is divided into 16 raions and has 14 cities and 15 urban-type settlements. The administrative center is the city of Ternopol’. Ternopol’ Oblast was awarded the Order of Lenin on June 5,1967.

Natural features. Ternopol’ Oblast, which is in the western part of the Ukrainian SSR, occupies the western sector of the Podol’e Upland. Elevations of 300–400 m prevail over most of the area, and the maximum elevation is 443 m. The Kremenets Hills traverse the oblast in the north, and to the south of the hills the oblast is transected by the Toltry Hills (417 m). The oblast has a temperate continental climate. The mean temperature in January, the coldest month, is –4.6°C in the south and –5.7”C in the north; the corresponding figures for July are 19.4° and 18.3°C. Precipitation averages 600–680 mm a year, most of it in the summer. The growing season lasts 160–165 days.

The biggest river is the Dnestr, which flows along the oblast’s southern border. Most of the rivers that drain the oblast from north to south are left tributaries of the Dnestr; they include the Zolotaia Lipa, Koropets, Strypa, Seret, and Zbruch. The rivers are used mainly to generate hydroelectric power and furnish water. There are many ponds. Chernozem soils predominate— typical loamy chernozems with moderate amounts of humus in the central and eastern parts of the oblast and podzolized chernozems, together with gray and light gray podzolized loamy soils, in the oblast’s western and southwestern parts.

Ternopol’ Oblast is located in the forest-steppe zone. Approximately 70 percent of the land is tilled; forests, which cover approximately 12 percent of the territory, have been preserved in the river valleys, in the Toltry Hills and Kremenets Hills, and along the water sheds. Most common are broad-leaved forests of hornbeam (50–90 percent), ash, elm, linden, and oak; forests of the beech family, with some hornbeam, elm, and linden, are found from the Dnestr valley to the northern border of the Podol’e Upland, and there are oak groves in the part of the upland nearest the Dnestr. Pine and oak-and-pine forests have developed on the sandy terraces of the Ikva and Viliia rivers.

The oblast’s forests are inhabited by the true fox, European hare, Old World badger, wild boar, and, to a lesser extent, by the roe deer. Otters live near the rivers and other bodies of water. The muskrat, coypu, and raccoon dog have become acclimatized. Birds include ducks, geese, cranes, herons, and birds of the suborder Limicolae. The rivers and lakes are inhabited by the domesticated carp, tench, and fish of the family Esocidae.

Population. As of 1970, Ukrainians constituted 96 percent of the population, Russians 2.3 percent, and Poles 1.3 percent. The average population density in 1975 was 85 persons per sq km. The central and southern parts of the oblast are the most densely populated. The urban population amounted to 27 percent in 1975. The oblast’s principal cities are Ternopol’, Kremenets, Chortkov, Buchach, Zaleshchiki, Zbarazh, Zborov, and Terebovlia.

Economy. During the years of Soviet power, Ternopol’ Oblast has been transformed from a backward agrarian region into an industrial and agricultural area. Gross industrial output increased by a factor of 21 between 1940 and 1974. In 1974 the food-processing industry accounted for 48 percent of total output, light industry 22 percent, machine building and metalworking 13 percent, the construction-materials industry 6 percent, and the lumber, woodworking, and pulp-and-paper industries 3.2 percent. The main source of electric power is the Dobrotvor State Regional Electric Power Plant in L’vov Oblast.

The food-processing industry is represented by sugar mills in Ternopol’, Borshchev, Khorostkov, Zbarazh, Kozova, Buchach, Lanovtsy, and Kremenets, distilleries in Khorostkov, Borshchev, and Zarubintsy, and milk plants, cheese plants, and creameries in Ternopol’, Chortkov, Borshchev, Terebovlia, and Berezhany. In addition, there are tobacco-curing barns in Kremenets, Borshchev, Monastyriska, and Iagol’nitsa, and canneries and vegetable-drying plants in Zaleshchiki, Skala-Podol’skaia, Pochaev, and Vishnevets. In 1974 the oblast produced 264,000 tons of granulated sugar, 45,900 tons of meat, 10,100 tons of animal fat, 66.8 million standard-size units of canned food, and 9,000 tons of confectionery.

Enterprises of the machine-building, electrical, and metalworking industries are concentrated in Ternopol’, the site of the Elektroarmatura Plant, of plants for mechanical repair and the repair of automotive vehicles, and of plants producing combines and public catering equipment. A repair plant for automotive vehicles is located in Chortkov.

The construction-materials industry is represented by the Stroiindustriia Combine and plants producing reinforced-concrete structural members and units in Ternopol’, by plants for cold-lay asphalt in Ostrov and Skala-Podol’skaia, by a chalk plant in Kremenets, a lime plant in Podvysokoe, and a glassworks in Berezhany, and by brickyards.

Major textile enterprises include the Ternopol’ Cotton Combine, one of the biggest in the Ukrainian SSR, clothing factories in Ternopol’ and Chortkov, a footwear factory in Terebovlia, an artificial-leather plant in Ternopol’, and a factory producing batting in Kremenets. In 1974 the oblast produced 81.8 million running m of cotton fabrics, 965,000 running m of silk fabrics, 86,000 items of knitted outerwear, and 2,061,000 pairs of leather footwear. The lumber and woodworking industries are represented by furniture enterprises in Berezhany, Ozeriany, Ternopol’, and Kremenets.

Agriculture is geared toward grain crops and sugar beets and animal husbandry for meat and dairy products. As of 1974, there were 366 kolkhozes and nine sovkhozes, and 77 percent of the oblast’s territory was used for agriculture. Hayfields and pastures cover 90,000 hectares (ha). In 1974, 966,200 ha were used for crop cultivation. Of the 438,900 ha devoted to grain crops that year, 174,800 ha were used for winter wheat, 170,700 ha for spring barley, 9,600 ha for buckwheat, 21,400 ha for maize (human food), and 37,700 ha for legumes. Of the 127,700 ha devoted to industrial crops, 118,600 ha were used for sugar beets and 100 ha for flax. In addition, 92,400 ha were under potatoes, 11,400 ha were under vegetables, and 294,900 ha were under feed crops. Fruits and berries covered 28,400 ha in 1974, and there were 60,300 ha of drained land. Animal husbandry specializes in meat and dairy products. In 1974 there were 892,400 head of cattle (including 327,800 cows), 571,500 swine, 157,800 sheep and goats.

There were 575 km of railroads in 1974. Ternopol’ Oblast is crossed by the Kiev-Zhmerinka-Ternopol’-L’vov-Chop and Kazatin-Temopol’-Ivano-Frankovsk lines. There were 5,400 km of roads in 1974, of which 4,400 km were paved. The main high ways are the Kiev-Vinnitsa-Ternopol’-L’vov and Dubno-Ternopol’-Chernovtsy routes. There is navigation on the Dnestr. Ternopol’ is linked by air with Moscow, Kiev, Odessa, Kharkov, Simferopol’ and other cities.

Education, cultural affairs, and public health. In the 1974–75 academic year, there were 1,073 general-education schools of all types, and enrollment totaled approximately 213,000. The 19 vocational and technical schools of the State Vocational-Technical Education System of the USSR had approximately 11,300 students, and the oblast’s 15 specialized secondary schools approximately 12,400 students. Ternopol’ Oblast has three higher educational institutions (medicine, pedagogy, and finance and economics) and a branch of the L’vov Polytechnic Institute, all of which are in Ternopol’. Enrollment in these institutions (1974–75) was approximately 11,500. As of 1975, the oblast’s 307 preschool institutions had more than 21,200 children. That same year there were 1,028 public libraries, with more than 10 million books and periodicals, and three museums—museums of local lore in Ternopol’ and Kremenets and the Pochaev Museum of Atheism. Ternopol’ is the site of the Shevchenko Theater of Music and Drama. There are 1,044 clubs, 979 motion-picture projection units and 42 extracurricular institutions, including five palaces of Pioneers, 22 houses of Pioneers, two stations for Young Naturalists, five stations for Young Engineers, seven children’s sports schools, and an oblast children’s excursion center.

Oblast newspapers include the Ukrainian-language Vil’ne zhyttia (The Free Life) and the Komsomol publication Rovesnik, both founded in 1939. The oblast receives the major programs of the Central Television Studio and the Ukrainian republic studio. Radio programs are relayed from Moscow and Kiev, and the oblast broadcasts its own radio programs 1.3 hours a day in Ukrainian and Russian.

As of 1974, there were 102 hospitals and a total of 12,300 beds, or 10.5 beds per 1,000 population. The oblast had 2,700 doctors, or one doctor per 434 population, five Sanatoriums, and five houses of rest.