Note that Galicia should not be confused with the province in northern Spain of the same name.
It extended from the Biala River (minor tributary of the Weichsel) in the west to the Zbrucz (tributary of the Dniester in the east). From the Carpathians in the south, the land drops off to the north, passing over the Sarmatian Plain. At its largest, Galicia comprised approximately 78,000 square kilometers.
In the course of the later Napoleonic wars, Zamosz was to be detached from Austria as a new duchy centered at Cracow was established. It was to be subsquently annexed by Austria in 1846.
On the 1st of September in 1774, the Empress issued the first settlement patent. The second settlement patent was issued on September 17, 1781, by Emperor Josef II which also allowed emigration of foreigners. This patent was supplemented by the Toleranzpatent of October 13, 1781, which proclaimed religious toleration for Protestants. In the years to come, thousands of families emigrated into Galicia, mostly out of the Palatinate (Pfalz) and settled in newly-founded German communities or in the cities as craftsmen and artisans.
In 1918, after the First World War, Galicia was annexed to Poland as "Kleinpolen" (Malopolska [P], Little Poland [E]). After 1939 and the partition of Poland by Germany and Russia, East Galicia became part of Ukraine while West Galicia was a part of the provisional government of Warsaw. This division has remained to this day. A large part of the German population of East Galicia was, following negotiations, resettled out of the Russian area and into West Galicia. 1945 saw the end of the history of the settlement of Galicia by the so-called "Pfälzer Schwaben". Only a few remained, most of them having married into Polish or Ukrainian families and hoping to escape repression. Many who fled went to Germany and emigrated to the USA and Canada where their relatives had already begun to emigrate since the beginning of the 20th century.