Little Russia

Little Russia, sometimes Little Rus’ (Russian: Малая Русь or Малороссия; Ukrainian: Мала Русь), is a historical political and geographical term in the Russian language referring to most of the territory of modern-day Ukraine before the twentieth century. Accordingly, derivatives such as "Little Russian" (Russian: малорyсский) were commonly applied to the people, language, and culture of the area. After the collapse of the Russian Empire, and with the amalgamation of Ukrainian territories into one administrative unit the word was phased out of circulation and when used took on a derogatory connotation denoting those Ukrainians with little or no national consciousness. The term retains currency among Russian monarchists and nationalists who deny that Ukraine and Ukrainians are distinct from Russia and Russians. Because Ukraine and its people have undergone the process of nation-building over the last seven hundred years, Little Russia, even in the historic context, can only loosely be considered as merely a contemporary equivalent for the word Ukraine. By the late 1980s, the term had become an archaic one, and its anachronistic usage was considered strongly offensive by Ukrainian nationalists.