Topic summary
Ukrainian people
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Ukrainians.
Ethnonym
The modern name Ukraintsi (Ukrainians) is derived from Ukraina (Ukraine), a name first documented in the Kievan Chronicle under the year 1187. The terms Ukrainiany (first recorded in the Galician–Volhynian Chronicle under the year 1268), Ukrainnyky, and even narod ukrainskyi (the Ukrainian people) were used sporadically before Ukraintsi attained currency under the influence of the writings of Ukrainian activists in Russian-ruled Ukraine in the 19th century. From the 14th to the 16th centuries, the western portions of the European part of what is now known as Russia, plus the territories of northern Ukraine and Belarus (Ruthenia), were largely known as Rus, continuing the tradition of Kievan Rus'. People of these territories were usually called Rus or Rusyns (known as Ruthenians in Western and Central Europe).