UKRAINE AND UKRAINIANS IN FRENCH INTELLECTUAL THOUGHT FROM THE MID-18TH TO THE EARLY 19TH CENTURY

In the middle of the 18th – the first half of the 19th century, French intellectuals played an important role in the formation and development of Europeans’ ideas about Ukraine and Ukrainians. Philosophers, travelers, diplomats, emigrants of the French Revolution and military figures were directly involved in understanding and forming the perception of Ukrainian lands not only by France but also by the entire European community. In the process of writing this work, I highlighted their perception of Ukraine and Ukrainians in that period. French authors mentioned Ukrainian lands in one way or another in their writings, they knew and wrote about Ukraine and Ukrainians. French intellectuals understood the differences between Ukrainians and Muscovite-Russians, they saw Ukrainian culture as separate and unique, but at the same time connected with Russian culture and Polish history. Many of the representatives of French intellectual thought considered the Ukrainian lands to be the eastern border of Europe, which introduced them into the general Eastern European context. This research’s main goal is to analyze the ideas about Ukraine and Ukrainians in the diaries, memoirs, historical and other works of French politicians and cultural figures. This paper examines the conceptual activity of the French authors about Ukrainian lands, their perception and vision of the Cossacks, Kyivan Rus’, Kyiv, etc. My paper contributes to the historiography that deals with the imagined geography of Eastern Europe, as well as to the field of intellectual history. I use research methods such as comparison and content analysis. These methods allow me to interpret the ideas of French intellectuals about Ukraine and Ukrainians. I hope that this study will increase the scholarly output in the area of mental mapping and East European Studies.