Ukrainian historical regions

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Traditional regions

A list of the various regions of Ukraine and/or inhabited by Ukrainians and their ancestors throughout history.

Contents

Traditional regions [edit]

The traditional names of the regions of Ukraine are important geographic, historical, and ethnographic identifiers.

In the Carpathian Mountains (see also Ruthenia, Rusyns):

Regions historically inhabited by Ukrainians (mostly with other nations), which are partly or wholly outside modern Ukraine:

Further information: Ukrainian diaspora

Regions of Ukraine [edit]

Sometimes more Oblasts can be referred to as "Eastern Ukraine":
  Orange - West Ukraine
  Yellow - Central Ukraine
  Blue - East Ukraine

Due to geopolitical, historical, and cultural factors, there are semi-official nominations to a certain region. The map right shows the broad sense of particular regions. The terms West, East, South and Central Ukraine are often used. There is no clear description on what includes/excludes one region or another, but rather a general reference. Here is a list of what constitutes such nominations:

  • Western Ukraine, may mean either the historic region of Galicia, or may also include Volhynia, Podolia, Transcarpathia, and/or Bukovina.
  • Eastern Ukraine may mean either the Don basin, Sloboda Ukraine, continental Taurida regions etc.
  • South Ukraine is often includes the whole Taurida, the Kryvyi Rih basin, and the regions of Mykolayiv and Odessa oblasts. Alternatively it may include the Don basin, in particularly the adjacent land to the Azov Sea.
  • Central Ukraine is more vague term and often denotes what is not included in Western or South-Eastern definitions.

Other terms are rarely used such as South-West Ukraine, which can denote either Transcarpathia, or Budjak. Sometimes the term South-Eastern Ukraine is used to define both regions of the Southern and Eastern Ukraine. Due to the shape of the country, in narrow definition, term Northern Ukraine is often used to denote either the bulge of Chernihiv/Sumy Oblasts or, in broader terms, the whole of Polesia. North-western Ukraine almost exclusively refers to the historic region of Volhynia. This makes the term North-Eastern Ukraine rarest of them all, and is either used as synonym for the narrow definition of Northern Ukraine, or as synonym for Sloboda Ukraine (particularly the Sumy Oblast).

  • Western Ukraine

  • Eastern Ukraine

  • Central Ukraine

  • Southern Ukraine

  • Northern Ukraine

  • The historical regions

Other historic regions and names [edit]

  • Little Russia (Russian: Malorossiya or Malaya Rus'), the name applied to Ukraine under the Russian Empire. Also, for historic reasons (note: left-bank and right bank refer to the bank of the river when facing downstream):
  • New Russia (Russian: Novorossiya), colony of the Russian Empire in the depopulated steppes, in the south-east of modern-day Ukraine (Dikoye Pole, "the wild field")

Historical Ukrainian states [edit]

Main article: History of Ukraine

References [edit]

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