Carpatho-Rusyn DNA Project- Background

Background

The Carpatho-Rusyn Heritage DNA Project welcomes all males and females of Carpatho-Rusyn heritage.
Carpatho-Rusyn describes a distinct group of people that live or once lived in portions of the Carpathian Mountain range. Their region is comprised of what is now South-Eastern Poland, Transcarpathia, Northwestern Slovakia, and a small pocket in Vojvoidina. Their region was ruled by the Austro-Hungarian Empire from 1772 until 1918. The portion of their region ruled by Austria was known as Galicia.
Starting in 1880 many Carpatho-Rusyn people immigrated to the United States and Canada. Carpatho-Rusyns in SE Poland (Lemkos) suffered various misfortunes. Some were sent to the Talerhof concentration camp during 1914-1917, and post WW-II most Lemkos in SE Poland were "voluntarily" relocated to Western Ukraine between 1944-1947 - the remaining Lemko population was forcibly removed between 1947-1948 and relocated to Western Poland during the Vistula Action. Carpatho-Rusyns in the other regions still reside on ancestral lands.
The many names by which Carpatho-Rusyns have called themselves or were called by others--Carpatho-Russian, Carpatho-Ukrainian, Rusnak, Ruthene, Ruthenian, Uhro-Rusyn--all relate to their traditional association with the East Slavic world of the Rus'.
The three popluation groups from the historical Carpathian Mountain region are Lemko, Boyko and Hutsul. To the west, the Lemkos lived in Lemkivschyna which included southern Poland and eastern Slovakia. Boykos lived in Boykivschyna a territory to the east of Lemkivschyna including some of eastern Poland and western areas of Ukraine along the Carpathian Mountains. Hutsuls lived in the Trans-Carpathian region southeast of Boykivschyna in an area called Hutsulschyna, which included southwestern Ukraine and northern Romania.
A map of the Carpatho-Rusyn homelands can be found at: http://carpatho-rusyn.org/setmap.htm
Wikipedia information on Rusyns: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rusyns

Project Stats