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An ancient city of Halicz ( Halych) was first mentioned in 981 when taken over Kievan Rus'. Volhynia’s early history coincides with that of the duchies or principalities of Halych (Galicia) and Volodymyr Volynskyi (Wlodzimierz Wolynski). These two successors of the Kievan Rus' formed Halych-Volynia between the 12th and the 14th century.
After the disintegration (c. 1340Events January 26 King Edward III of England is declared King of France June 24 The Battle of Sluys is fought between the naval fleets of the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of France. The former was under the command of Edward III of England and the l) of the Grand Duchy of Halych-Volodymyr, also called Galich-Vladimir Rus', the region was divided between PolandThe Republic of Poland a country in Central Europe, lies between Germany to the west, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south, Ukraine and Belarus to the east, and the Baltic Sea, Lithuania and Russia (in the form of the Kaliningrad Oblast exclave) t (Western Volhynia) and LithuaniaThe Republic of Lithuania ( Lithuanian Lietuva Polish Litwa, German Litauen, French Lituanie, Spanish Lituania, Estonian Lituania, Finnish Liettua) is a republic in Northeastern Europe. One of the three Baltic States along the Baltic Sea, it shares border (Eastern Volhynia). After 1569Events January 11 First recorded lottery in England. March 13 Battle of Jarnac Royalist troops under Marshal Gaspard de Tavannes surprise and defeat the Huguenots under the Prince of Conde, who is captured and murdered. A substantial proportion of the Hug Volhynia was a province of the Polish-Lithuanian CommonwealthThe Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (or The Republic of the Two Nations Rzeczpospolita Obojga Narodow in Polish; Latin: Regnum Serenissima Poloniae; Belarusian: ) was a federal monarchy- republic formed by the Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania. During those times in province settled down Poles and Jews. Roman and Greek catholic churches were established in the province.
After the Partitions of Poland in 1795 it became a province of Tsarist Russia. The first agricultural colonies of Mennonites are recorded by 1783. By the end of the 19th century Volhynia had over 200,000 German settlers, most of whom moved from Congress Poland. There was also a small number Czech settlers.
In 1921 after the end of the Polish-Soviet war, according to the treaty known as the Peace of Riga western Volhynia was returned to Poland as the Wolhynian Voivodship. See the map at Voivodships of Poland.
In 1935- 1938 Poles from Eastern Volhynia were deported in action of the first ethnic deportation in history of the Soviet Union. (see Polish minority in Soviet Union).
In 1939 all of Volhynia was annexed to the Soviet Union by the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact; the possession of which was confirmed as a result of World War II. German minority was tranferred to Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany subsequently to German-Soviet reconciliation. They were later subject of evacuation by Nazi authorities.
During World War II, Jews were murdered by Germans, while local Poles were massacred by Ukrainian chauvinists. However, some notable locals, did help Poles and Jews and became the subject of persecutions from the chauvinists as well.