Rusyn, Eastern Christianity, Colonization, Byzantine slavic rite

Rusyns are one of the many nationalities/ethnic groups of Slovakia, along with Slovaks, Hungarians, Germans, and Romanies. Rusyns are eastern Slavs, which means that their history, culture, and language are rooted in the medieval (Slovaks, by contrast, are western Slavs), although Slovaks and Rusyns have lived together on the same territory for nearly 600 years (and share some cultural traits). Traditionally, almost all Rusyns belong to the Byzantine/Greek Catholic or Orthodox Christian churches. The Rusyns have lived on the slopes of the Carpathian mountains since the Slavic migrations of the sixth century AD. Until the First World War, their territory was primarily within the Hungarian half of the Hapsburg Empire, with only a small part on the Austrian side. Rusyns have never had their own country.