Little Russia or Malorossiya (Russian: Малороссия) was the name for the territory of Ukraine applied in the time of the Russian Empire and earlier. The term originates from the name given to the land by Byzantines who called the northern and southern part of the lands of Rus' as: Μακρα Ρωσία (Makra Rosia, Great Russia) and Μικρα Ρωσία (Mikra Rosia, Little Russia), respectively. The term was later adopted by the Muscovite and, later, Russian Tsars and Emperors, whose official title included the wording: "The Ruler of all Russia: the Great, the White, and the Little." Imperial Russia is the term used to cover the period of Russian history from the expansion of Russia under Peter the Great, through the expansion of the Russian Empire from the Baltic to the Pacific Ocean, to the deposal of Nicholas II of Russia, the last tsar, at the start... The Byzantine Empire is the term conventionally used to describe the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered at its capital in Constantinople. ... Originally Rus was a medieval state and country consisting mostly of Early East Slavs. ... National motto: None Official language Russian (among many others in political subdivisions) Official script Cyrillic alphabet Capital Moscow Largest city Moscow President Vladimir Putin Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov Area  - Total  - % water Ranked 1st 17,075,200 km² 0. ... This article is about Muscovite Russia. ... Tsar (Bulgarian цар, Russian царь,  listen; often spelled Czar or Tzar and sometimes Csar or Zar in English), was the title used for the autocratic rulers of the First and Second Bulgarian Empires since 913, in Serbia in the middle of the 14th century, and in Russia from 1547 to... An emperor is a monarch and sovereign ruler of an empire or any other imperial realm. ... White Russia is an obsolete name for the former Soviet republic of Belarus. ...

While in its time, the term was simply a proper name for the land, the modern name (Ukraine) started to slowly gain in usage since 16th century. However, for political reasons, "Ukraine" as a proper name for the territory became totally accepted only in the 20th century when the term "Little Russia" mostly fell out of use. Many modern day Ukrainians consider its modern usage offensive as it often implies the denying of separate Ukrainian national identity, an opinion not uncommon among the Russian nationalists. Similarly, the term Little Russian for Ukrainian language, which implies it being simply a dialect of the Russian language, or Little Russians for the Ukrainian nation, have mostly fallen out of use. (15th century - 16th century - 17th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the... A nation is an imagined community of people created by a national ideology, to which certain norms and behavior are usually attributed. ... Nationalism is an ideology that creates and sustains a nation as a concept of a common identity for groups of humans. ... Ukrainian (украї́нська мо́ва) is an East Slavic language, one of three members of this language group, the other two being Russian and Belarusian. ... A dialect (from the Greek word διάλεκτος) is a variety of a language used by people from a particular geographic area. ... Russian (русский язык  listen) is the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages. ...

See also

• "From Rus to Ukraine" in Etymology of Rus and derivatives;
• White Russia;
• Great Russia.