Volhynian

The Volhynians were the East Slavic people of Volhynia, between the Western Bug and the Pripyat. The Primary Chronicle places the Dulebes, Buzhans and Volhynians there, and in 988 Vladimir the Great founded Volodymyr, which became the capital of the Rurikid Principality of Volhynia.

In 1199 Prince Roman the Great joined Volhynia with Halych to form the Kingdom of Galicia-Volhynia, which survived Mongol raids and succession wars until its collapse around 1340. Poland and Lithuania divided the region between 1352 and 1366. After the Union of Lublin in 1569 it became the Volhynian Voivodeship of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

At the First Partition of 1772 the Belz district passed to Austria, and the Third Partition of 1795 handed the rest to the Russian Empire, which dissolved the local Uniate Church and made the country a Russian governorate.