Novorossiia

a historical region in the southern Ukraine and partly in southern Russia, on the northern Black Sea.

Novorossiia became part of Russia in the 18th and early 19th centuries as a result of four peace treaties with Turkey (1739, 1774, 1791, 1812). The name “Novorossiia,” which means “New Russia,” is explained not so much by the territory’s late unification with Russia as by the relatively slow economic mastery of the sparsely populated new region. Novorossiia was settled primarily by Ukrainians and Russians. Land cultivation and livestock raising were the principal occupations. In the 18th century the cities of Ekaterinoslav, Nikolaev, Kherson, and Odessa arose in Novorossiia. By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, developed capitalist relations in agriculture and industry existed in Novorossiia. After the October Revolution of 1917 the name “Novorossiia” fell into disuse.