Right-bank Ukraine

Right-bank Ukraine is a historical region forming a part of Ukraine on the right (west) bank of the Dnieper, corresponding to Vinnytsia Oblast, Zhytomyr Oblast, Kirovohrad Oblast, and the western parts of Kyiv Oblast and Cherkasy Oblast. The region was ruled by the Khazar Khanate, Kievan Rus, Mongol Empire, Golden Horde, Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Kingdom of Poland during the Middle Ages, and right-bank Ukraine became a distinct region during "the Ruin" of the 17th century. During that time, the pro-Polish Pavlo Teteria ruled right-bank Ukraine in opposition to the Russian-controlled left-bank Ukraine. In 1667, the Tsardom of Russia incorporated left-bank Ukraine, while right-bank Ukraine remained part of Poland-Lithuania until the partitions of Poland in the late 18th century. Into the 19th century, while most of right-bank Ukraine's residents were Ukrainians, most of the land was owned by Roman Catholic Polish or Polonized Ukrainian nobility. The peasantry became Greek Catholic in the 18th century before reverting to Orthodoxy after the partitions. After the 1840s, right-bank Ukraine was divided into four guberniyas of the Russian Empire.