Little Russia
Historic and geographic term for Ukraine / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Little Russia (Russian: Малороссия/Малая Россия, romanized: Malorossiya/Malaya Rossiya; Ukrainian: Малоросія/Мала Росія, romanized: Malorosiia/Mala Rosiia), also known in English as Malorussia, Little Rus' (Russian: Малая Русь, romanized: Malaya Rus; Ukrainian: Мала Русь, romanized: Mala Rus), Rus' Minor[citation needed] (from Greek: Μικρὰ Ῥωσία, romanized: Mikrá Rosía), and the French equivalent Petite Russie, is a geographical and historical term used to describe Ukraine. Since 1334, Yuri II Boleslav, the ruler of the Ruthenian Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia, signed his decrees Natus dux totius Russiæ minoris,[1] but the expression μικρὰ Ρωσσία is found as early as 1292, in the Byzantine writer Codinus.[2] The distinction between "Great" and "Little" Rus' probably originated among Byzantine, Greek-speaking clerics who wanted to separate the two Ruthenian ecclesiastical metropolises of Halych and Moscow.[3]
Little Russia Малая Русь | |
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Region of the Russian Empire | |
A fragment of the “new and accurate map of Europe collected from the best authorities...” by Emanuel Bowen published in 1747 in his A complete system of geography. The territory around Voronezh and Tambov is shown as “Little Russia”. White Russia is located north-east of Smolensk, and the legend “Ukrain” straddles the Dnieper river near Poltava. | |
Today part of | Belarus Russia Ukraine Moldova |
The specific meaning of the adjectives "Great" and "Little" in this context is unclear. It is possible that terms such as "Little" and "Lesser" at the time simply meant geographically smaller and/or less populous,[4] or having fewer eparchies.[3] Another possibility is that it denoted a relationship similar to that between a homeland and a colony (just as "Magna Graecia" denoted a Greek colony).[3]
The name "Little Rus'" went out of use in the late 15th century as distinguishing the "Great" and "Little" was no longer necessary since the Muscovite Rus' church was no longer tied to Kyiv/Kiev; in this period, the term Rus', including the Greek-influenced spelling "Rossiia", was used to refer to modern Belarus and Ukraine by their inhabitants. However, with the rise of the Catholic Ruthenian Uniate Church in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Orthodox prelates attempting to seek support from Moscow revived the name using Greek-influenced spelling: "Malaia Rossiia" ("Little Russia").[3] Then "Little Russia" developed into a political and geographical concept in Russia, referring to most of the territory of modern-day Ukraine, especially the territory of the Cossack Hetmanate. Accordingly, derivatives such as "Little Russian" (Russian: Малоросс, romanized: Maloross)[lower-alpha 1] were commonly applied to the people, language, and culture of the area. A large part of the region's elite population adopted a Little Russian identity that competed with the local Ukrainian identity. The territories of modern-day southern Ukraine, after being annexed by Russia in the 18th century, became known as Novorossiya ("New Russia").[5]
After the collapse of the Russian Empire in 1917, and with the amalgamation of Ukrainian territories into one administrative unit (the Ukrainian People's Republic and then the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic), the term started to recede from common use. Today, the term is anachronistic, and many Ukrainians regard its usage as offensive.[6][7]