Lviv Oblast (Льві́вська о́бласть, ˈljwiu̯sjkɐ ˈɔblɐsjtj), also referred to as Lvivshchyna (Льві́вщина, ˈljwiu̯ʃtʃɪnɐ), is an oblast in western Ukraine. The capital of the oblast is the city of Lviv. The current population is
The region is named after the city of Lviv which was founded by Daniel of Galicia, the King of Ruthenia, in the 13th century, where it became the capital of Galicia-Volhynia. Daniel named the city after his son, Leo. During this time, the general region around Lviv was known as Red Ruthenia (Cherven' Rus').
The oblast's strategic position at the heart of central Europe and as the gateway to the Carpathians has caused it to change hands many times over the centuries. It was ruled variously by Great Moravia, Kievan Rus', Poland, was independent as the state of Galicia-Volhynia (circa 1200 to 1340), and then ruled by the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1340 to 1772), the Austro-Hungarian Empire (1772 to 1918), West Ukrainian People's Republic and Poland (1919 to 1939), when it was part of the Lwów Voivodeship of the Second Republic of Poland. The region's historically dominant Ukrainian population declared the area to be a part of an independent West Ukrainian National Republic in November 1918 — June 1919, but this endured only briefly. Local autonomy was provided in international treaties but later on those were not honoured by the Polish government and the area experienced much ethnic tension between the Polish and Ukrainian population.
The oblast was created as part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic on 4 December 1939 following the Soviet invasion of eastern Poland and annexation of Eastern Galicia and Volhynia.
It was occupied by Nazi Germany from 1941 to 1944 following the start of Operation Barbarossa, where most of the local Jewish population were killed. Following the end of World War II, the region remained in Soviet hands as was arranged in the Tehran and Yalta conferences. Local Poles were expelled and Ukrainians expelled from Poland arrived.
In 1959, Drohobych Oblast was incorporated into Lviv Oblast.