TOEFL Test Centers in Ukraine

Ukraine Overview

Ukraine is an Eastern European independent republic with the three million metropolis of Kiev as its capital. It is characterized in the south by fertile black earth and in the north by swamps and forests. The climate of the second largest country in Europe is continental. The Ukraine is a divided country linguistically and culturally. Ukrainian influences prevail in the west and center, Russian in the east and south. In the transition area between Latin and Byzantine cultures, the »borderland«, which is mostly dominated by Poland and Russia, only reached the border with the collapse of the Soviet Union 1991 permanent state independence with a presidential-parliamentary system of government. While the formerly strong heavy industry came to a standstill, the IT sector is booming, while other important economic sectors are agriculture and forestry. The Christianization of the Eastern Slavs by the Byzantine Church began in the first Eastern Slavic Empire with the center of Kiev. The forced collectivization of Ukrainian agriculture in the Soviet Union, which resulted in millions of starvation deaths, is still a difficult historical and political legacy in relations between Ukraine and Russia. The Chernobyl nuclear disaster 1986 led to the atomic contamination of large areas of land with far-reaching consequences for Europe as well. State unity is threatened after the “Maidan Revolution” in 2014, the second attempt at radical democratization after the “Orange Revolution” in 2004, by separatists in eastern Ukraine and the illegal annexation of the Crimean peninsula by Russia. Politically, Ukraine then oriented itself clearly to the west.

Culture

Cultural evidence in the area of ​​today’s Ukraine goes back to the Stone and Bronze Ages, including large burial mounds (Kurgane). In ancient times, the northern coast of the Black Sea was under the influence of the Greeks, who obtained grain from there. From pre-Christian times to the 15th century AD, equestrian peoples such as the Scythians and Tatars occupied the steppe areas between the rivers Dniester and Donets. The Scythians left finely crafted gold handicrafts.

Immigrant Slavs were won over to Orthodox Christianity in the 9th century AD. Evidence of this are the church and monastery buildings, especially the St. Sophia Cathedral and the Pechersk Lavra (Lavrakloster) in Kiev, which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and the icon painting. They were strongly based on the architecture and art of the Byzantine Empire. To this day, the Ukrainians in the south also feel connected to the culture of the Zaporozhian Cossacks.

With the political annexation of Ukraine to Russia in the 17th century, Russian influence increased. For example, writers like Taras Shevchenko (* 1814, † 1861) and N. Gogol and painters like Kasimir Malewitsch (1878, † 1925) are usually classified as part of the Russian »high culture«. At the same time, Shevchenko is venerated as a Ukrainian “national poet”. The Ukrainian language, which is written in Cyrillic, did not become a written and literary language until the 19th century.

In addition, a lively folk culture and tradition has developed. Evidence of this are painted Easter eggs (»pysanka«) and embroidery as well as wooden churches in the Carpathians and wooden houses, as they are today in the Museum of Folk Architecture and Customs in Pyrohiw. There are also many folk songs and instrumental music with violin, plucked lute and flute. In parts of today’s Ukraine, the Jewish culture of Eastern Europe, which was referred to by the Yiddish word »shtetl«, also developed into the 20th century.

Ukrainian and Ukrainian-language literature today is often devoted to controversial topics from recent Ukrainian history. Jamala won the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 with a song about the deportation of the Crimean Tatars (»1944«). Since the »Maidan Revolution« in 2014, a diverse youth and underground culture (e.g. the »Cxema« group) has developed in the big cities. International music festivals take place in Kiev, Lviv and Odessa. Popular sports are soccer (European championship 2012) and boxing (Klitschko brothers).