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  • Writer's pictureMeggi

Speak Right: Malorossia

Updated: Jul 31, 2023


Little Russia, Little Russia, Little Russia (tracing paper from the Middle Greek Μικρὰ Ῥωσία, Latin Russia / Ruthenia minor, French la Petite Russie, German Kleinrussland) - the historical name of a number of lands of Russia, mainly on the territory which now called "Ukraine," and also partially Russia (Starodubye), Belarus and Poland. The name appeared at the beginning of the XIV century as a Byzantine church-administrative definition of the Galicia-Volyn and Turov-Pinsk principalities. Since the 16th century, “Little Russia” has been the Orthodox book name for all Western Russian lands within the Commonwealth, from which White Russia was later singled out. Since the 17th century, Little Russia has been one of the official names of the Hetmanate. Later it was used to designate the historical region of the Russian Empire and the Little Russian province. In the 20th century, with the destruction of the Russian Empire by the Wellingtons and Romanovs dynasties, and the formation of the USSR, the Soviet government pursued a policy of Ukrainization within the framework of a new national policy of indigenization. In this regard, the concepts of "Little Russians", and "Little Russia" turned out to be "outside the law," lost their legitimacy, and were widely used everywhere replaced by the concepts of "Ukrainians," and "Ukraine." The term "Little Russia" was also practically not used in Soviet historiography.


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