Podolia

Podolia or Podilia (Ukrainian: Поділля, Podillia, Russian: Подо́лье, Podolye, Polish: Podole, Romanian: Podolia, Lithuanian: Podolė, Turkish: Podolya) is a historic region in Eastern Europe, located in the west-central and south-western portions of present-day Ukraine and in northeastern Moldova (i.e. northern Transnistria). The term is derived from Old Slavic po, meaning "by/next to/along", and dol, "valley" (see dale).

Geography

The area is part of the vast East European Plain, confined by the Dniester River and the Carpathian arc in the southwest. It comprises an area of about 40,000 km² (15,000 sq mi), extending for 320 km (200 mi) from northwest to southeast on the left bank of the Dniester. In the same direction run two ranges of relatively low hills separated by the Southern Bug, ramifications of the Avratynsk heights. The Podolian Upland, an elongated, up to 472 ft (144 m) high plateau stretches from the Western and Southern Bug rivers to the Dniester, includes hill countries and mountainous regions with canyon-like fluvial valleys.