The '''history of Ukraine''' spans back for over thousands of years. [[#Prehistory|Prehistoric]] [[Ukraine]], as a part of the [[Pontic–Caspian steppe|Pontic steppe]] in [[Eastern Europe]], played an important role in Eurasian cultural events, including the spread of the [[Chalcolithic]] and [[Bronze Age]]s, [[Indo-European migrations]], and the [[domestication of the horse]].<ref>Matossian ''Shaping World History'' p. 43</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= http://imh.org/history-of-the-horse/legacy-of-the-horse/the-domestication-of-the-horse/what-we-theorize-when-and-where-did-domestication-occur.html/ |title= What We Theorize – When and Where Did Domestication Occur |access-date= 12 December 2010 |work= International Museum of the Horse }}{{Dead link|date=December 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref name="cbc.ca">{{cite news |title= Horsey-aeology, Binary Black Holes, Tracking Red Tides, Fish Re-evolution, Walk Like a Man, Fact or Fiction |url= http://www.cbc.ca/quirks/episode/2009/03/07/horsey-aeology-binary-black-holes-tracking-red-tides-fish-re-evolution-walk-like-a-man-fact-or-ficti/|work= Quirks and Quarks Podcast with Bob Macdonald |publisher= [[CBC Radio]] |date=7 March 2009|access-date=18 September 2010}}(Link does not exist anymore)</ref>

 

 

In 14th and 15th centuries, majority of Ukrainian territories became part of [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Ruthenia and Samogitia]], while [[Galicia (Eastern Europe)|Galicia]] and [[Zakarpattia Oblast|Zakarpattia]] came under [[Kingdom of Poland (1320-1505)|Polish]] and [[Kingdom of Hungary (1301–1526)|Hungarian]] rule. [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania|Lithuania]] kept the local [[Ruthenians|Ruthenian]] traditions, and was gradually influenced by [[Ruthenian language]], [[Kievan Rus' law|law]] and [[Ruthenian culture|culture]], until Lithuania itself came under [[Polonization|Polish influence]], following the [[Union of Krewo]] and [[Union of Lublin]], resulting in two countries merging into [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth|Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth]], leaving Ukrainian lands under the dominance of [[Crown of the Kingdom of Poland|Polish crown]]. Meanwhile [[Southern Ukraine]] was dominated by [[Golden Horde]] and then [[Crimean Khanate]], which came under protection of the [[Ottoman Empire]], major regional power in and around [[Black Sea]], which also had some of its own directly-administrated areas as well.

 

 

During the [[Great Northern War]], Hetman [[Ivan Mazepa]] allied with [[Charles XII of Sweden]] in 1708. However, the [[Great Frost of 1709]] greatly weakened the Swedish army. Following the [[Battle of Poltava]] later in 1709, there was a diminishment in Hetmanate power, culminating with the disestablishment of the Cossack Hetmanate in the 1760s and the destruction of the [[Zaporozhian Sich]] in the 1770s. Following the [[Partitions of Poland]] (1772–1795) and the Russian conquest of the Crimean Khanate, the [[Russian Empire]] and [[Austrian Empire|Habsburg Austria]] were in control of all the territories that constitute present-day Ukraine for over a hundred years. [[Ukrainian nationalism]] developed in the 19th century.