Central Ukraine as a historical region: the problem of theoretical conceptualizatio

Abstract

The purpose of the article is a scientific theoretical conceptualization of the definition “Central Ukraine” as a research concept. In modern historical science the lack of comprehensive research, the subject of which would be the study of Central Ukraine as a separate region, is one of significant gaps. The analysis of historiographic research on the issue proved that during the use of this concept there is a toponymic uncertainty concerning the territories of this region; there is an alternative interpretation of the concept “Central Ukraine”; multiplicity of interpretations of this definition. The research methodology is based on the principles of historicism and objectivity, application of interdisciplinary methodical optics: critical analysis, synthesis, systematization, comparative studies, geographical method, generalization of discovered and analyzed materials. The scientific novelty consists in the fact that the research fills in the existing lacuna of scientific knowledge, it contributes to the development of historical regionalism, without the study of which it is impossible to understand the processes of the Ukrainian history fully; the research contributes to the formation and updating of the scientific conceptual apparatus. The Conclusion. Among historians, there is a territorial and terminological uncertainty in using the concept “Central Ukraine”. Researchers who use this term lack a professional argument for defining the boundaries of this region. That is why, there is a considerable confusion of the terminological apparatus when using this definition. Taking into consideration the confusion of terminological apparatus, the authors proposed their own original interpretation of the concept “Central Ukraine”. Criteria for the boundaries of this historical region have been elaborated, and two maps have been created. It has been proposed to use the concept of “Middle Ukraine” as a synonym for “Central Ukraine”.

According to the authors, Central Ukraine is a separate microregion of Right Bank Ukraine, which has the characteristics of a historical region associated with the formation and development of the Ukrainian Cossacks in the 16th – 18th centuries and its revival in the form of free Cossacks during the Ukrainian Revolution of 1917 – 1921. According to the authors' conclusions and modern territorial and administrative division of Ukraine, Central Ukraine region covers the territories of Kirovohrad, Cherkasy, Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolayiv, Poltava, and Zaporiyzhzhia regions.