Chernivtsi

Chernivtsi (Romanian, Cernăuţi; German, Czernowitz), city in south-west Ukraine, capital of Chernivtsi oblast, a rail junction on the Prut River near Romania. Situated in the Carpathian foothills, the city, also called Chernovtsy, is an industrial centre in which chemicals, textiles, processed food, and machinery are manufactured. It is the site of a university and medical school. Well established by the early 15th century, Chernivtsi was an important city of Bukovina and was held by Austria from 1775 to 1918, when it was returned to Romania. From 1940, when it was annexed by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics along with northern Bukovina, until 1991, the city was part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. Population 259,858 (1999 estimate).