Pale of Settlement
Jews in Europe were generally forced, by decree or informal pressure, to live in highly segregated ghettos and shtetls. In 1204 the papacy required Jews to segregate themselves from Christians and wear distinctive clothing. Forced segregation of Jews spread throughout Europe during the 14th and 15th centuries. In the Russian Empire, Jews were restricted to the so-called Pale of Settlement, the Western frontier of the Russian Empire which roughly corresponds to the modern-day countries of Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine. By the early 20th century, the majority of Europe's Jews lived in the Pale of Settlement.