Sloboda Ukraine

Sloboda Ukraine (Слобідська Україна)
Historical Region
Symbol
Countries	Ukraine, Russia
Regions	East Ukraine, Central Black Earth Region
Parts	Kharkiv Oblast, Luhansk Oblast, Sumy Oblast, Belgorod Oblast, Voronezh Oblast, Kursk Oblast
Cities	Sumy, Okhtyrka, Izyum, Ostrogozhsk
Rivers	Donets River, Kharkiv River, Vorskla River, Don River, Oskol River
Capital	Kharkiv
Sloboda Ukraine (yellow) in modern Ukraine

Sloboda Ukraine (literally: Borderland of free frontier guards, Russian: Слободская Украина, Слобожанщина, translit. Slobodskaya Ukraina, Slobozhanshchina; Ukrainian: Слобiдська Україна, Слобожанщина, translit. Slobids'ka Ukrayina, Slobozhanshchyna) is a historical region, now located in Northeastern Ukraine and Southwestern Russia. It developed and flourished in the 17th and 18th centuries on the southwestern frontier of the Tsardom of Russia. In 1765 it was converted into the Sloboda Ukraine Governorate.

The name derives from the word sloboda, which means free settlement without taxes obligations. In Russia, the name "Ukraine" (Russian: Ukraina) is perceived as a calque of okraina, meaning a frontier (krai), thus Sloboda Ukraine is known as a "free-settled frontier". In Ukraine, the region is accepted as a free settled region, part of the whole Ukraine.

The territory of historic Sloboda Ukraine corresponds to the territory of the present-day Ukrainian oblast (province) of Kharkiv (in its entirety), and parts of the Sumy, Donetsk, and Luhansk Oblasts, as well as parts of the Belgorod, Kursk, and Voronezh Oblasts of Russia.

Russia gained control over the territory as the result of conquests against the Grand Duchy of Lithuania during the Muscovite–Lithuanian Wars in the 16th century.