Bieszczady Mountains


Bieszczady Mountains is a mountain range that runs from the extreme south-east of Poland and north-east of Slovakia through to western Ukraine. It forms the western part of the Eastern Beskids, and is more generally part of the Outer Eastern Carpathians. The mountain range is situated between the Łupków Pass and the Vyshkovskyi Pass. The highest peak of Bieszczady is Mt Pikui in Ukraine. The highest peak of the Polish part is Tarnica.

Term

The term Bieszczady was introduced into English from Polish. In Poland, the term usually refers to the Polish part of the Bieszczady region, while in wider sense it can also refer to the entire region. In Slovakia, the Bieszczady region is known as Beščady, while Slovak part of the region is called Bukovec Mountains. In Ukraine, the Bieszczady region is also known as Beščady, while various parts of the region often have two or more name variants, usually containing the word Beščady in combination with some other terms. Historically, the terms Bieszczady or Beščady have been used for hundreds of years to describe the mountains separating from the old Kingdom of Hungary into Poland. In 1269, they were known by the Latin name "Beschad Alpes Poloniae".
A colloquial Polish term referring to Bieszczady is Biesy, because folk etymology connects the origin of the mountains to demonic activity. The true etymology of the name "Bieszczady" is unknown. It may be related to Middle Low German beshêt, beskēt, meaning watershed.
in the direction of Połonina Caryńska and Tarnica peaks, and Ustrzyki Górne.

Division

Since there exist many variants of divisions of the mountain ranges and names for the Eastern Beskids, several divisions are given in the following:
Division 1:
Division 2:
Division 3:
In an old Ukrainian division, what is defined here as the Bieszczady in a wider sense corresponds to the western part of the Mid-Carpathian Depression and to the westernmost part of the Polonynian Beskids.

History

Settled in prehistoric times, the south-eastern Poland region that is now Bieszczady was overrun in pre-Roman times by various tribes, including the Celts, Goths and Vandals. After the fall of the Roman Empire, of which most of south-eastern Poland was part, Hungarians and West Slavs invaded the area.
The region subsequently became part of the Great Moravian state. Upon the invasion of the Hungarian tribes into the heart of the Great Moravian Empire around 899, the Lendians of the area declared their allegiance to the Hungarians. The region then became a site of contention between Poland, Kievan Rus and Hungary starting in at least the 9th century. This area was mentioned for the first time in 981, when Volodymyr the Great of Kievan Rus took the area over on the way into Poland. In 1018 it returned to Poland, 1031 back to Rus, in 1340 Casimir III of Poland recovered it.
Bieszczady was one of the strategically important areas of the Carpathian mountains bitterly contested in battles on the Eastern Front of World War I during the winter of 1914/1915.
Up until 1947, 84% of the population of the Polish part of the Bieszczadzkie Mountains was Boyko. The killing of the Polish General Karol Świerczewski in Jabłonki by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army in 1947 was the direct cause of the replacement of the Boykos, the so-called Operation Vistula. The area was mostly uninhabited afterward. In 2002, then president Aleksander Kwaśniewski expressed regret for this operation.
In 1991, the UNESCO East Carpathian Biosphere Reserve was created that encapsulates a large part of the area and continues into Slovakia and Ukraine. It comprises the Bieszczady National Park, Poloniny National Park and the Uzhansky National Nature Park. Animals living in this reserve include, among others, black storks, brown bears, wolves and bison.

Hiking trails

The mountain was used as a round in the 2014 International Hill Climb Cup.

Literature