The early history of Bukovina is very similar to that of Galicia. Groups of Slavic people entered the region around the 6th century, it was part of Kievan Rus' from around the 10th century, and then part of the Kingdom of Galicia-Volhynia. Around 1350 the region came to be part of a border district of the Kingdom of Hungary known as Moldavia, founded by Romanian noblemen. The district became an independent principality around 1360. The northern parts of Moldavia (including northern Bukovina) changed hands between Poland and Moldavia several times, but the border always returned to the Dniester river, north of modern Chernivtsi.
Moldavia would swear allegiance and pay tribute to the Ottoman Empire around 1450 and the Ottomans would gain more control over the region in the following years. During the Russo-Turkish War (1768-1774) the Russian army occupied the region and following the war Bukovina was given to the Habsburgs as a reward for having aided the Ottomans during the war. Thus in October 1774 Bukovina became part of the Austrian Empire first as a closed military district (1775-1786), then as part of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria (1787-1849) and finally as a separate crownland. In 1860 it was briefly amalgamated with Galicia but would become a separate province again the following year.
According to the 1775 Austrian census the province of Bukovina had a total population of 86,000 of which the vast majority (85%) were Romanians. During the 19th century the policies of the Austrian Empire encouraged the influx of many immigrants from Galicia and the Romanian population decreased with the Ukrainian population passing it by 1880 (42% Ukrainian, 33% Romanian). Reflecting this shift the Ruthenian language was recognized alongside the Romanian language in 1843. During World War I several battles were fought in Bukovina among the Austro-Hungarian, German and Russian armies which resulted in the Russian army being driven out in 1917. With the collapse of Austria-Hungary in 1918 both the local Romanian and Ukrainian populations claimed the region. The Austrian governor of the province handed power to the Executive Committee formed from a constituent assembly. In turn the Committee called a General Congress of Bukovina where 74 Romanians, 13 Ruthenians, 7 Germans and 6 Poles were elected. Unsurprisingly the Congress voted for union with the Kingdom of Romania. Though the Ukrainian population attempted to incorporate northern Bukovina into the short-lived West Ukrainian People's Republic the attempt was defeated by Polish and Romanian troops and Romanian control of the province was internationally recognized in 1919.
During the interwar period Romanian authorities directed Rumanization policies at the Ukrainian population including closing all Ukrainian schools and limiting Ukrainian enrolment in the university of Chernivtsi. Following the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact the Soviet Ultimatum demanded from Romania the northern part of Bukovina. In June 1940 the Romanian government evacuated the region and the Red Army moved in. In 1941 the Romanian Army re-occupied Northern Bukovina and held it until 1944 when the Soviets re-established control. During this time the German population of the region emigrated en masse to Germany and the Jewish population left, some voluntarily, many not. The period between 1930 when the last Romanian census took place and 1959 when the first Soviet census occurred major shifts in the demographics of the region occurred. The Romanian population dropped by 75,752, the Jewish population dropped by 46,632 while the Ukrainian and Russian populations increased by 135,161 and 4,322 respectively.
Today the region of northern Bukovina is part of Ukraine while the southern portion remains part of Romania.