The Ukraine and the Crimea

[NamelessNancy]

I remember Ukraine and Crimea always being prefixed by "the". Does anyone know why this was the case? Thanks

From the BBC: ‘The use of the article relates to the time before independence in 1991, when Ukraine was a republic of the Soviet Union known as the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic’.

I have Ukrainian friends who have spoken about it on social media over the years. Adding ‘the’ harks back to the Soviet Union and diminishes the standing of the country, basically, when it’s now a standalone nation.

It refers to it as a region rather than an independent state. Like the Dordogne or the New Forest.

I wondered this too.. like ‘the’ usually seems to represent a plural like the ‘UK’ and the ‘US’ but therefore you wouldn’t say the England.

Likewise "The Gambia".

It's offensive to do so now.

Thanks everyone. I'd felt it to be somehow demeaning but didn't understand where the difference came from.