Novorossiya

Background

Novorossiya is a historical regional name used in the Russian Empire for territory on the northern coast of the Black Sea, including the mainland areas north of Crimea. The term, meaning “New Russia,” entered official use in 1764 when the Novorossiya Governorate was created after Russian expansion into lands previously associated with the Crimean Khanate and neighboring frontier zones. In broad geographic terms, it referred to parts of what is now southern Ukraine and, at different times, covered areas along the Black Sea littoral, the Azov Sea littoral, Zaporizhzhia, Tavria, Crimea, and neighboring steppe lands.

The region mattered because it formed part of the Russian Empire’s southern frontier and was organized as a military and administrative space in anticipation of conflict with the Ottoman Empire. Its development was tied to imperial expansion, settlement, and the consolidation of control over lands with access to the Black Sea and adjacent inland routes. In later historical and political usage, the name has carried significance as a reference point for debates over southern Ukrainian territory, especially because it evokes the imperial-era framing of the region within Russian state expansion.

Novorossiya was first formed from military frontier regions and parts of the southern Hetmanate, and it expanded further after the annexation of the Zaporozhian Sich in 1775. Official use of the name ended after 1917, when the area, except for Crimea, was annexed by the Ukrainian People's Republic, which later became the basis for the Ukrainian SSR. In contemporary discourse, the term occasionally appears in Russian political language and media in connection with southern and eastern Ukrainian territories, reflecting its continued historical and symbolic resonance.