Galicia (Eastern Europe) - People

People

In 1773, Galicia had about 2.6 million inhabitants in 280 cities and market towns and approx. 5,500 villages. There were nearly 19,000 noble families (see: Counts of Galicia and Poland), with 95,000 members (about 3% of the population). The serfs accounted for 1.86 million, more than 70% of the population. A small number were full-time farmers, but by far the overwhelming number (84%) had only smallholdings or no possessions.

No country of the Austrian monarchy had such a varied ethnic mix as Galicia: Poles, Ruthenians, Jews, Germans, Armenians, Czechs, Slovaks, Hungarians, Roma, etc. The Poles were mainly in the west, with the Ruthenians predominant in the eastern region ("Ruthenia"). At the turn of the Twentieth Century, Poles constituted 78.7% of the whole population of Western Galicia, Ukrainians 13.2%, Jews 7.6%, Germans 0.3%, and others 0.2%. Respective data for Eastern Galicia show the following number: Ruthenians 64.5%, Poles 21.0%, Jews 13.7%, Germans 0.3%, and others 0.5%.

The Jews of Galicia had immigrated in the Middle Ages from Germany. German-speaking people were more commonly referred to by the region of Germany where they originated (such as Saxony or Swabia). For inhabitants who spoke different native languages, e.g. Poles and Ruthenians, identification was less problematic, but widespread multilingualness blurred the borders again.

It is, however, possible to make a clear distinction in religious denominations: Poles were Roman Catholic, the Ruthenians belonged to Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church (now split into several sui juris Catholic churches, the largest of which is the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church). The Jews represented the third largest religious group. Galicia was the center of the branch of Orthodox Judaism known as Hasidism.