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195-548: The Zaporozhian Cossacks , Zaporozhian Cossack Army , Zaporozhian Host , ( Ukrainian : Військо Запорозьке , romanized :  Viisko Zaporozke , or Військо Запорізьке , Viisko Zaporizke ) or simply Zaporozhians ( Ukrainian : Запорожці , romanized :  Zaporozhtsi ) were Cossacks who lived beyond (that is, downstream from) the Dnieper Rapids . Along with Registered Cossacks and Sloboda Cossacks , Zaporozhian Cossacks played an important role in

390-586: A Ukrainian noble, united these different groups into a strong military organization. The Zaporozhian Cossacks had various social and ethnic origins but were predominantly made up of escaped serfs who preferred the dangerous freedom of the wild steppes, rather than life under the rule of Polish aristocrats. However, townspeople, lesser noblemen and even Crimean Tatars also became part of the Cossack host. They had to accept Eastern Orthodoxy as their religion and adopt its rituals and prayers. The nomadic hypothesis

585-414: A weak yer vowel that would eventually disappear completely, for example Old East Slavic котъ /kɔtə/ > Ukrainian кіт /kit/ 'cat' (via transitional stages such as /koˑtə̆/, /kuˑt(ə̆)/, /kyˑt/ or similar) or Old East Slavic печь /pʲɛtʃʲə/ > Ukrainian піч /pitʃ/ 'oven' (via transitional stages such as /pʲeˑtʃʲə̆/, /pʲiˑtʃʲ/ or similar). This raising and other phonological developments of the time, such as

780-649: A "free man" which shares its etymology with the ethnic name " Kazakh ". It later became a Ukrainian and Russian word for " freebooter ." The steppes to the north of the Black Sea were inhabited by nomadic tribes such as the Cumans , Pechenegs and Khazars . The role of these tribes in the ethnogenesis of the Cossacks is disputed, although later Cossack sources claimed a Slavicised Khazar ancestry . There were also groups of people who fled into these wild steppes from

975-589: A Cossack near Kiliya . In the 16th century, these Cossack societies merged into two independent territorial organizations, as well as other smaller, still-detached groups: There are also references to the less well-known Tatar Cossacks, including the Nağaybäklär and Meshchera -speaking Volga Finns , of whom Sary Azman was the first Don ataman . These groups were assimilated by the Don Cossacks, but had their own irregular Bashkir and Meshchera Host up to

1170-636: A body of national literature, institute a Ukrainian-language educational system, and form an independent state (the Ukrainian People's Republic , shortly joined by the West Ukrainian People's Republic ). During this brief independent statehood the stature and use of Ukrainian greatly improved. In the Russian Empire Census of 1897 the following picture emerged, with Ukrainian being the second most spoken language of

1365-505: A combined Muscovite-Swedish army and facilitate the occupation of Moscow from 1610 to 1611, riding into Moscow with Stanisław Żółkiewski . The final attempt by King Sigismund and Wladyslav to seize the throne of Muscovy was launched on April 6, 1617. Although Wladyslav was the nominal leader, it was Jan Karol Chodkiewicz who commanded the Commonwealth forces. By October, the towns of Dorogobuzh and Vyazma had surrendered. But

1560-728: A conspiracy was formed with a group of 50 Cossacks to go fishing in the river Inhul next to the Southern Bug in Ottoman provinces. The pretext was enough to allow the Russians to let the Cossacks out of the siege, who were joined by five thousand others. The fleeing Cossacks traveled to the Danube Delta , where they formed the new Danubian Sich , under the protectorate of the Ottoman Empire . When Tekeli became aware of

1755-670: A defeat, when the counterattack on Moscow by Chodkiewicz failed between Vyasma and Mozhaysk , prompted the Polish-Lithuanian army to retreat. In 1618, Petro Konashevych-Sahaidachny continued his campaign against the Tsardom of Russia on behalf of the Cossacks and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Numerous Russian towns were sacked, including Livny and Yelets . In September 1618, with Chodkiewicz, Konashevych-Sahaidachny laid siege to Moscow, but peace

1950-452: A gabled cap on a head, in kaftan with buttons on a chest, with a sabre ( shablya ), powder flask on a side, and a self-made rifle ( samopal ) on the left shoulder. Around the seal was an inscription «Печать славного Війська Запорізького Низового» ("Seal of the glorious Zaporozhian Host"). Palanka's and kurin's seals were either round or rectangular with images of lions, deers, horses, moon, stars, crowns, lances, sabers, and bows. Khoruhva

2145-676: A lifestyle that combined the ancient Cossack order and habits with those of the Knights Hospitaller . The Cossack structure arose, in part, in response to the struggle against Tatar raids. Socio-economic developments in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth were another important factor in the growth of the Ukrainian Cossacks. During the 16th century, serfdom was imposed because of the favorable conditions for grain sales in Western Europe. This subsequently decreased

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2340-496: A military osavul ; the badges were given to all the 38 kurins in possession to the assigned badge comrades. All kleinody items (except for the kettledrum sticks) were stored in the Sich's Pokrova church treasury and were taken out only on a special order of kish otaman. The kettledrum sticks were kept in the kurin with the assigned dovbysh. Sometimes, part of kleidony was considered a great silver inkwell ( kalamar ), an attribute of

2535-802: A military scribe ( pysar ) of the Zaporozhian Host. Similar kleinods had the officership of the Cossack Hetmanate , cossacks of Kuban, Danube, and other cossack societies. Upon the destruction of the Sich and liquidation of Ukrainian Cossacks the kleinody were gathered and given away for storage in Hermitage and Transfiguration Cathedral in Saint Petersburg , Kremlin Armoury in Moscow as well as other places of storage. By

2730-598: A part of the Commonwealth army until 1699. Around the end of the 16th century, relations between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Ottoman Empire , which were not cordial to begin with, were further strained by increasing Cossack aggression. From the second part of the 16th century, the Cossacks started raiding Ottoman territories. The Polish government could not control the fiercely independent Cossacks but, since they were nominally subjects of

2925-648: A policy of defending Ukraine's interests within the Soviet Union. He proudly promoted the beauty of the Ukrainian language and developed plans to expand the role of Ukrainian in higher education. He was removed, however, after only a brief tenure, for being too lenient on Ukrainian nationalism. The new party boss from 1972 to 1989, Volodymyr Shcherbytsky , purged the local party, was fierce in suppressing dissent, and insisted Russian be spoken at all official functions, even at local levels. His policy of Russification

3120-575: A prisoner of the Solovetsky Islands . Some Cossacks moved to the Danube Delta region, where they established a new sich under Ottoman rule. To prevent further defection of Cossacks, the Russian government restored the special Cossack status of the majority of Zaporozhian Cossacks. This allowed them to unite in the Host of Loyal Zaporozhians, and later to reorganize into other hosts, of which

3315-591: A reputation for their raids against the Ottoman Empire and its vassals , although they also sometimes plundered other neighbors. Their actions increased tension along the southern border of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Low-level warfare took place in those territories for most of the period of the Commonwealth (1569–1795). Prior to the formation of the Zaporozhian Sich , Cossacks had usually been organized by Ruthenian boyars , or princes of

3510-509: A result of close Slavic contacts with the remnants of the Scythian and Sarmatian population north of the Black Sea , lasting into the early Middle Ages , the appearance of the voiced fricative γ/г (romanized "h"), in modern Ukrainian and some southern Russian dialects is explained by the assumption that it initially emerged in Scythian and related eastern Iranian dialects, from earlier common Proto-Indo-European *g and *gʰ . During

3705-589: A self-aware Ukrainian nation would threaten the unity of the empire. In 1804 Ukrainian as a subject and language of instruction was banned from schools. In 1811, by order of the Russian government, the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy was closed. In 1847 the Brotherhood of St Cyril and Methodius was terminated. The same year Taras Shevchenko was arrested, exiled for ten years, and banned for political reasons from writing and painting. In 1862 Pavlo Chubynsky

3900-586: A strong political and military force that challenged the authority of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Tsardom of Russia , and the Crimean Khanate . The host went through a series of conflicts and alliances involving the three powers, including supporting an uprising in the 18th century. Their leader signed a treaty with the Russians. This group was forcibly disbanded in the late 18th century by

4095-890: A variant name of the Little Russian language . In a private letter from 1854, Taras Shevchenko lauds "our splendid Ukrainian language". Valuyev's decree from 1863 derides the "Little Russian" language throughout, but also mentions "the so-called Ukrainian language" once. In Galicia, the earliest applications of the term Ukrainian to the language were in the hyphenated names Ukrainian-Ruthenian (1866, by Paulin Święcicki ) or Ruthenian-Ukrainian (1871, by Panteleimon Kulish and Ivan Puluj ), with non-hyphenated Ukrainian language appearing shortly thereafter (in 1878, by Mykhailo Drahomanov ). A following ban on Ukrainian books led to Alexander II 's secret Ems Ukaz , which prohibited publication and importation of most Ukrainian-language books, public performances and lectures, and even banned

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4290-470: A year on January 1. Based on the same customs and traditions the rights and duties of officers were explicitly codified. The Zaporozhian Host developed an original judicial system, at the base of which lay the customary Cossack Code. The norms of the code were affirmed by those social relations that have developed among cossacks. Some sources refer to the Zaporozhian Sich as a "cossack republic", as

4485-646: Is based on the character of contemporary written sources, ultimately reflecting socio-historical developments, and he further subdivides the Middle period into three phases: Ukraine annually marks the Day of Ukrainian Writing and Language on 9 November, the Eastern Orthodox feast day of Nestor the Chronicler . The era of Kievan Rus' ( c. 880–1240) is the subject of some linguistic controversy, as

4680-471: Is more mutual intelligibility with Belarusian , and a closer lexical distance to West Slavic Polish and South Slavic Bulgarian . Ukrainian is a descendant of Old East Slavic , a language spoken in the medieval state of Kievan Rus' . In the Grand Duchy of Lithuania , the language developed into Ruthenian , where it became an official language, before a process of Polonization began in

4875-596: Is referred to as "Old Ukrainian", but elsewhere, and in contemporary sources, is known as the Ruthenian language, and from the end of the 18th century to the present what in Ukraine is known as "Modern Ukrainian", but elsewhere is known as just Ukrainian. Cossacks The rulers of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Russian Empire endowed Cossacks with certain special privileges in return for

5070-649: Is spoken primarily in Ukraine . It is the first (native) language of a large majority of Ukrainians . Written Ukrainian uses the Ukrainian alphabet , a variant of the Cyrillic script . The standard language is studied by the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and Potebnia Institute of Linguistics . Comparisons are often made between Ukrainian and Russian , another East Slavic language, yet there

5265-506: The 500th anniversary of the Zaporozhian Sich . Zaporozhian attire, songs, and music found their way into official state dance and music ensembles, and influenced the image of Ukraine in the years to come. Since the Independence of Ukraine in 1991 , attempts at restoring the Cossack lifestyle have concentrated on politics, horsemanship and cultural endeavours. In November, 2016, Cossack's songs of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast were inscribed on

5460-548: The Battle of Cecora (1620) and wars in 1633–34. Cossack numbers expanded, with Ukrainian peasants running from serfdom in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Attempts by the szlachta to turn the Zaporozhian Cossacks into serfs eroded the Cossacks' once fairly strong loyalty towards the Commonwealth. Cossack ambitions to be recognised as equal to the szlachta were constantly rebuffed, and plans for transforming

5655-697: The Black Sea Cossack Host together with Loyal Zaporozhians. Most of the remaining Cossacks who had stayed in the Danube Delta returned to Russia in 1828. They settled in the area north of the Azov Sea , becoming known as the Azov Cossacks . The majority of Zaporizhian Cossacks who had remained loyal to Russia despite the destruction of Sich became known as Black Sea Cossacks . Both Azov and Black Sea Cossacks were resettled to colonize

5850-686: The Black Sea Host was most important. Because of land scarcity resulting from the distribution of Zaporozhian Sich lands among landlords, they eventually moved on to the Kuban region . The majority of Danubian Sich Cossacks moved first to the Azov region in 1828, and later joined other former Zaporozhian Cossacks in the Kuban region. Groups were generally identified by faith rather than language in that period, and most descendants of Zaporozhian Cossacks in

6045-606: The Cossack szlachta . The uprising was one of a series of catastrophic events for the Commonwealth, known as The Deluge , which greatly weakened the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and set the stage for its disintegration 100 years later. Influential relatives of the Ruthenian and Lithuanian szlachta in Moscow helped to create the Russian–Polish alliance against Khmelnitsky's Cossacks, portrayed as rebels against order and against

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6240-426: The Cossack Hetmanate , had its own administration and orders. For military operations, cossacks of the host organized into Kish . Kish is an old term for a reinforced camp that was used in the 11th-16th centuries and later adopted by cossacks. Kish was the central body of government in Sich under jurisdiction of which were administrative, military, financial, legal, and other affairs. Kish was elected on annual bases at

6435-671: The Cossack Registry was the last straw that prompted the largest and most successful of these: the Khmelnytsky Uprising , which started in 1648. The uprising became one of a series of catastrophic events known as the Deluge , which greatly weakened the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and set the stage for its disintegration one hundred years later. Even though Poland probably had the best cavalry in Europe, their infantry

6630-705: The Danubian Sich . While Ukrainian folklore remembers the Danubian Sich, other new siches of Loyal Zaporozhians on the Bug and Dniester rivers did not achieve such fame. Other Cossacks settled on the Tisa river in the Austrian Empire , also forming a new Sich. During the Cossack sojourn under Turkish rule, a new host was founded that numbered around 12,000 people by the end of 1778. Cossack settlement on

6825-602: The Dnieper , Don , Terek , and Ural river basins, and played an important role in the historical and cultural development of both Ukraine and parts of Russia. The Cossack way of life persisted via both direct descendants and acquired ideals in other nations into the twentieth century, though the sweeping societal changes of the Russian Revolution disrupted Cossack society as much as any other part of Russia; many Cossacks migrated to other parts of Europe following

7020-529: The Dnieper Rapids (Ukrainian: za porohamy ), also known as the Wild Fields . The group became well known, and its numbers increased greatly between the 15th and 17th centuries. The Zaporozhian Cossacks played an important role in European geopolitics , participating in a series of conflicts and alliances with the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , Russia , and the Ottoman Empire . The Zaporozhians gained

7215-651: The Dniester and the Volga were mentioned in Ruthenian chronicles. Historical records of the Cossacks before the 16th century are scant, as is the history of the Ukrainian lands in that period. As early as the 15th century, a few individuals ventured into the Wild Fields , the southern frontier regions of Ukraine separating Poland-Lithuania from the Crimean Khanate. These were short-term expeditions, to acquire

7410-788: The Don and the Dnieper after the demise of the Khazars . Their arrival was probably not before the 13th century, when the Mongols broke the power of the Cumans , who had assimilated the previous population on that territory. It is known that new settlers inherited a lifestyle that long pre-dated their presence, including that of the Turkic Cumans and the Circassian Kassaks. In contrast, Slavic settlements in southern Ukraine started to appear relatively early during Cuman rule, with

7605-806: The Don Republic and the Kuban People's Republic , and the revived Hetmanate emerged in Ukraine. Cossack troops formed the effective core of the anti-Bolshevik White Army , and Cossack republics became centers for the anti-Bolshevik White movement . With the victory of the Red Army , Cossack lands were subjected to decossackization and the Holodomor famine. As a result, during the Second World War, their loyalties were divided and both sides had Cossacks fighting in their ranks. Following

7800-550: The Eastern Orthodox Church was preferred and was a part of the national identity. In times of peace, Cossacks were engaged in their occupations, living with their families, studying strategy, languages and educating recruits. As opposed to other armies, Cossacks were free to choose their preferred weapon. Wealthy Cossacks preferred to wear heavy armour , while infantrymen preferred to wear simple clothes, although they also occasionally wore mail . At that time,

7995-436: The Khmelnytsky Uprising . Afterwards, the Treaty of Pereyaslav (1654) brought most of the Cossack state under Russian rule. The Sich, with its lands, became an autonomous region under the Russian protectorate. The Don Cossack Army, an autonomous military state formation of the Don Cossacks under the citizenship of the Moscow State in the Don region in 1671–1786, began a systematic conquest and colonization of lands to secure

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8190-421: The Kuban steppe , a crucial foothold for Russian expansion in the Caucasus . In 1860, more Cossacks were resettled to the North Caucasus , and merged into the Kuban Cossack Host . The native land of the Cossacks is defined by a line of Russian town-fortresses located on the border with the steppe, and stretching from the middle Volga to Ryazan and Tula , then breaking abruptly to the south and extending to

8385-672: The Latin language. Much of the influence of Poland on the development of the Ukrainian language has been attributed to this period and is reflected in multiple words and constructions used in everyday Ukrainian speech that were taken from Polish or Latin. Examples of Polish words adopted from this period include zavzhdy (always; taken from old Polish word zawżdy ) and obitsiaty (to promise; taken from Polish obiecać ) and from Latin (via Polish) raptom (suddenly) and meta (aim or goal). Significant contact with Tatars and Turks resulted in many Turkic words, particularly those involving military matters and steppe industry, being adopted into

8580-452: The Novgorod Republic did not call themselves Rus ' until the 14th century; earlier Novgorodians reserved the term Rus ' for the Kiev , Pereyaslavl and Chernigov principalities. At the same time as evidenced by contemporary chronicles, the ruling princes and kings of Galicia–Volhynia and Kiev called themselves "people of Rus ' " (in foreign sources called " Ruthenians "), and Galicia–Volhynia has alternately been called

8775-431: The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . By the 18th century, Ruthenian diverged into regional variants, and the modern Ukrainian language developed in the territory of present-day Ukraine. Russification saw the Ukrainian language banned as a subject from schools and as a language of instruction in the Russian Empire , and continued in various ways in the Soviet Union . Even so, the language continued to see use throughout

8970-401: The Polish–Ottoman War of 1633–1634. Cossack numbers increased when the warriors were joined by peasants escaping serfdom in Russia and dependence in the Commonwealth. Attempts by the szlachta to turn the Zaporozhian Cossacks into peasants eroded the formerly strong Cossack loyalty towards the Commonwealth. The government constantly rebuffed Cossack ambitions for recognition as equal to

9165-400: The Pontic–Caspian steppe , north of the Black Sea near the Dnieper River . By the end of the 15th century, the term was also applied to peasants who had fled to the devastated regions along the Dnieper and Don Rivers , where they established their self-governing communities. Until at least the 1630s, these Cossack groups remained ethnically and religiously open to virtually anybody, although

9360-456: The Revolution of 1917 , corps of Free Cossacks were organized in Ukraine to defend the newly proclaimed Ukrainian People's Republic . During the Soviet era, the nationalist aspect was officially discouraged in order to quell the rise of nationalist sentiment and Zaporozhian Cossacks' historical role of defending Muscovy from Turks was celebrated instead. In 1990, the Soviet government and Ukrainian independence movement cooperated to celebrate

9555-507: The Roman Catholic -dominated Commonwealth. Tensions increased when Commonwealth policies turned from relative tolerance to suppression of the Eastern Orthodox Church after the Union of Brest . The Cossacks became strongly anti-Roman Catholic, an attitude that became synonymous with anti-Polish. After the Ottoman-Polish and Polish-Muscovite warfare ceased, the official Cossack register was again reduced. The registered Cossacks ( reiestrovi kozaky ) were isolated from those who were excluded from

9750-417: The Russian Empire , with much of the population relocated to the Kuban region on the south edge of the Russian Empire, while others founded cities in southern Ukraine and eventually became state peasants. The Cossacks served a valuable role of conquering the Caucasian tribes and in return enjoyed considerable freedom granted by the Tsars . The name Zaporozhtsi comes from the location of their fortress,

9945-422: The Sich , in Zaporizhzhia "land beyond the rapids", from Ukrainian za "beyond" and poróhy " rapids ". It is not clear when the first Cossack communities on the Lower Dnieper began to form. There are signs and stories of similar people living in the Eurasian Steppe as early as the 12th century. At that time they were not called Cossacks, since cossack is a word that also in Turkic language means

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10140-409: The UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding. Currently the Zaporozhian Cossack stronghold Khortytsia is perceived to be a symbol of Ukrainian statehood. Ukrainian language Ukrainian ( українська мова , ukrainska mova , IPA: [ʊkrɐˈjinʲsʲkɐ ˈmɔʋɐ] ) is one of the East Slavic languages in the Indo-European languages family, and it

10335-407: The dissolution of the Soviet Union , the Cossacks made a systematic return to Russia. Many took an active part in post-Soviet conflicts . In the 2002 Russian Census , 140,028 people reported their ethnicity as Cossack. There are Cossack organizations in Russia, Kazakhstan , Ukraine , Belarus , and the United States . The Zaporozhian Cossacks lived on the Pontic–Caspian steppe below

10530-410: The history of Ukraine and the ethnogenesis of Ukrainians . The Zaporozhian Sich grew rapidly in the 15th century from serfs fleeing the more controlled parts of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . It became established as a well-respected political entity with a parliamentary system of government. During the course of the 16th, 17th and well into the 18th century, the Zaporozhian Cossacks were

10725-399: The law of Ukraine "On protecting the functioning of the Ukrainian language as the state language" was approved by the parliament, formalizing rules governing the usage of the language and introducing penalties for violations. The literary Ukrainian language, which was preceded by Old East Slavic literature, may be subdivided into two stages: during the 12th to 18th centuries what in Ukraine

10920-406: The suzerainty of the Russian Tsar from 1667 but was ruled by local hetmans for a century. The principal political problem of the hetmans who followed the Pereyeslav Agreement was defending the autonomy of the Hetmanate from Russian/Muscovite centralism. The hetmans Ivan Vyhovsky , Petro Doroshenko and Ivan Mazepa attempted to resolve this by separating Ukraine from Russia. Relations between

11115-431: The szlachta . Plans for transforming the Polish–Lithuanian two-nation Commonwealth into a Polish–Lithuanian–Ruthenian Commonwealth made little progress, due to the unpopularity among the Ruthenian szlachta of the idea of Ruthenian Cossacks being equal to them and their elite becoming members of the szlachta . The Cossacks' strong historic allegiance to the Eastern Orthodox Church also put them at odds with officials of

11310-497: The "anti-Mazepist" polkovniks. While advocating for the preservation for the Hetmanate autonomy and privileges of the starshina, Skoropadsky was careful to avoid open confrontation and remained loyal to the union with Russia. To accommodate Russian military needs, Skoropadsky allowed for stationing of ten Russian regiments in the territory of the Hetmanate. At the same time, Cossacks took part in construction, fortification and channel development projects in Saint Petersburg , as part of

11505-425: The 11th–12th century, but started becoming more similar to them around the 13th–15th centuries. The modern Russian language hence developed from the fusion of this Novgorod dialect and the common dialect spoken by the other Kievan Rus', whereas the modern Ukrainian and Belarusian languages developed from dialects which did not differ from each other in a significant way. Ukrainian linguist Stepan Smal-Stotsky denies

11700-401: The 13th century, eastern parts of Rus (including Moscow) came under Tatar rule until their unification under the Tsardom of Muscovy , whereas the south-western areas (including Kyiv ) were incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania . For the following four centuries, the languages of the two regions evolved in relative isolation from each other. Direct written evidence of the existence of

11895-553: The 13th century, when German settlers were invited to Ukraine by the princes of the Kingdom of Ruthenia, German words began to appear in the language spoken in Ukraine. Their influence would continue under Poland not only through German colonists but also through the Yiddish-speaking Jews. Often such words involve trade or handicrafts. Examples of words of German or Yiddish origin spoken in Ukraine include dakh ("roof"), rura ("pipe"), rynok ("market"), kushnir ("furrier"), and majster ("master" or "craftsman"). In

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12090-488: The 16th century, with the area of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth extending south, the Zaporozhian Cossacks were mostly, if tentatively, regarded by the Commonwealth as their subjects. Foreign and internal pressure on the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth led to the government making concessions to the Zaporozhian Cossacks. King Stephen Báthory granted them certain rights and freedoms in 1578, and they gradually began to create their foreign policy. They did so independently of

12285-442: The 16th-17th centuries and was connected with the theory of the Sarmatian origin of the gentry. According to the tradition of deriving the origin of the state or people from a certain people of antiquity, the Cossack chroniclers of the 18th century advocated the Khazar origin of the Cossacks . With the expansion of the source base and the formation of historical science, nomadic hypotheses were rejected by official historiography. For

12480-409: The 20th century. For Russians, the Treaty of Pereyaslav gave the Tsardom of Russia and later Russian Empire the impulse to take over the Ruthenian lands, claim rights as the sole successor of the Kievan Rus', and for the Russian Tsar to be declared the protector of all Russias, culminating in the Pan-Slavism movement of the 19th century. Today, most of the Kuban Cossacks, modern descendants of

12675-466: The Commonwealth, it was held responsible for raids by their victims. Reciprocally, the Tatars living under the Ottoman rule launched raids in the Commonwealth, mostly in the sparsely inhabited south-east territories of Ukraine. Cossacks, however, were raiding wealthy merchant port cities in the heart of the Ottoman Empire, which were just two days away by boat from the mouth of the Dnieper River . By 1615 and 1625, Cossacks had managed to raze townships on

12870-409: The Cossack starshyna (nobility), their property, and their autonomy under his rule; and freed the Cossacks from the Polish sphere of influence and the land claims of the Ruthenian szlachta . Only some of the Ruthenian szlachta of the Chernigov region, who had their origins in the Moscow state, saved their lands from division among Cossacks and became part of the Cossack szlachta . After this,

13065-400: The Cossack cultural identity across the world even though the majority, especially in the Russian Federation, have little to no connection to the original Cossack people because cultural ideals and legacy changed greatly with time. Cossack organizations operate in Russia , Ukraine , Belarus , Kazakhstan , Canada , and the United States . Max Vasmer 's etymological dictionary traces

13260-413: The Cossack starshyna , including hetman Ivan Vyhovsky . The treaty failed, however, because the starshyna were divided on the issue, and it had even less support among rank-and-file Cossacks. As a result of the mid–17th century Khmelnytsky Uprising, the Zaporozhian Cossacks briefly established an independent state, which later became the autonomous Cossack Hetmanate (1649–1764). It was placed under

13455-431: The Cossack motherland, Ukrajina , as a self-appellation for the nation of Ukrainians, and Ukrajins'ka mova for the language. Many writers published works in the Romantic tradition of Europe demonstrating that Ukrainian was not merely a language of the village but suitable for literary pursuits. However, in the Russian Empire expressions of Ukrainian culture and especially language were repeatedly persecuted for fear that

13650-417: The Cossack nation of the Zaporozhian Host was divided into two autonomous republics of the Russian Tsardom: the Cossack Hetmanate , and the more independent Zaporizhia . These organisations gradually lost their autonomy, and were abolished by Catherine II in the late 18th century. The Hetmanate became the governorship of Little Russia , and Zaporizhia was absorbed into New Russia . With the destruction of

13845-497: The Cossacks and Tatars in check, but enforcement was almost non-existent on both sides. In internal agreements, forced by the Poles , the Cossacks agreed to burn their boats and stop raiding . However, boats could be rebuilt quickly, and the Cossack lifestyle glorified raids and looting. During this time, the Habsburg monarchy sometimes covertly employed Cossack raiders to ease Ottoman pressure on their own borders. Many Cossacks and Tatars shared an animosity towards each other due to

14040-542: The Cossacks were one of the finest military organizations in Europe , and were employed by Russian, Polish, and French empires. Beside the above-mentioned kurins there also was a great number of other kurins outside the Host. The most important items of the host were the Cossack Kleinody (always in plural; related to Imperial Regalia ) that consisted of valuable military distinctions, regalia, and attributes of

14235-507: The Danube delta region of Ukraine and Romania , where they pursue the traditional Cossack lifestyle of hunting and fishing and are known as Rusnaks . Although in 1775 the Zaporozhian Host formally ceased to exist, it left a profound cultural, political and military legacy on Ukraine , Russia , Poland , Turkey and other states that came in contact with it. The shifting alliances of the Cossacks have generated controversy, especially during

14430-694: The Empire in order to abolish slavery and harsh bureaucracy, and to maintain independence. The Empire responded with executions and tortures, the destruction of the western part of the Don Cossack Host during the Bulavin Rebellion in 1707–1708, the destruction of Baturyn after Mazepa's rebellion in 1708, and the formal dissolution of the Lower Dnieper Zaporozhian Host after Pugachev's Rebellion in 1775. After

14625-802: The Hetmanate and their new sovereign began to deteriorate after the autumn of 1656, when the Muscovites, going against the wishes of their Cossack partners, signed an armistice with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in Vilnius . The Cossacks considered the Vilnius agreement a breach of the contract they had entered into at Pereiaslav. For the Muscovite tsar, the Pereiaslav Agreement signified the unconditional submission of his new subjects;

14820-495: The Kuban region are bilingual, speaking both Russian and Balachka , the local Kuban dialect of central Ukrainian . Their folklore is largely Ukrainian. The predominant view of ethnologists and historians is that its origins lie in the common culture dating back to the Black Sea Cossacks. The waning loyalty of the Cossacks, and the szlachta 's arrogance towards them, resulted in several Cossack uprisings against

15015-633: The Oleshky Sich on the lower Dnieper. Although some of the Zaporozhian cossacks returned to Moscow's protection, their popular leader Kost Hordiienko was resolute in his anti-Russian attitude and no rapprochement was possible until his death in 1733. Over the years the friction between the Cossacks and the Russian tsarist government lessened, and privileges were traded for a reduction in Cossack autonomy. The Ukrainian Cossacks who did not side with Mazepa elected as Hetman Ivan Skoropadsky , one of

15210-476: The Orthodox church spoke Ruthenian. The 1654 Pereiaslav Agreement between Cossack Hetmanate and Alexis of Russia divided Ukraine between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Tsardom of Russia. During the following century, both monarchies became increasingly intolerant of Ukrainian own cultural and political aspirations. Ukrainians found themselves in a colonial situation. The Russian centre adopted

15405-575: The Ottomans, to ease pressure on their own borders. Many Cossacks and Tatars developed longstanding enmity due to the losses of their raids. The ensuing chaos and cycles of retaliation often turned the entire southeastern Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth border into a low-intensity war zone. It catalyzed escalation of Commonwealth–Ottoman warfare, from the Moldavian Magnate Wars (1593–1617) to the Battle of Cecora (1620) , and campaigns in

15600-524: The Perestroika era in the late 1980s, descendants of Cossacks began to revive their national traditions. In 1988, the Soviet Union enacted a law permitting the re-establishment of former Cossack hosts and the formation of new ones. Throughout the 1990s, numerous regional authorities consented to delegate certain local administrative and policing responsibilities to these reconstituted Cossack hosts. Between 3.5 and 5 million people associate themselves with

15795-555: The Polish government. Cossack rebellions eventually culminated in the Khmelnytsky Uprising , led by the hetman of the Zaporizhian Sich, Bohdan Khmelnytsky . The Zaporozhian Sich had its own authorities, its own "Lower" Zaporozhian Host , and its own land. In 1775, the Lower Dnieper Zaporozhian Host was destroyed. Later, its high-ranking Cossack leaders were exiled to Siberia, its last chief, Petro Kalnyshevsky , becoming

15990-521: The Polish nobility. Many Ukrainian nobles learned the Polish language and converted to Catholicism during that period in order to maintain their lofty aristocratic position. Lower classes were less affected because literacy was common only in the upper class and clergy. The latter were also under significant Polish pressure after the Union with the Catholic Church . Most of the educational system

16185-552: The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth to create a third constituent, comparable in status to that of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The Union of Hadiach provoked a war between the Cossacks and the Muscovites/Russians that began in the fall of 1658. In June 1659, the two armies met near the town of Konotop . One army comprised Cossacks, Tatars, and Poles, and the other was led by a top Muscovite military commander of

16380-676: The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Lower Dnieper (Nyzovyi in Ukrainian) Cossack Host under the joint protectorate of Russia and the Commonwealth. By the end of the 18th century, Cossack nations had been transformed into a special military estate ( sosloviye ), "a military class". The Malorussian Cossacks (the former Registered Cossacks also known as "Town Zaporozhian Host") were excluded from this transformation, but were promoted to membership of various civil estates or classes (often Russian nobility), including

16575-574: The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth by signing the Treaty of Hadiach (1658). The treaty was ratified by the Sejm but was rejected at the Hermanivka Rada by the Cossack rank and file, who would not accept a union with Catholic Poland, which they perceived as an oppressor of Orthodox Christianity. The angered cossacks executed Polkovniks Prokip Vereshchaka and Stepan Sulyma, Vyhovsky's associates at

16770-453: The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the early 17th century. Finally, the King's adamant refusal to accede to the demand to expand the Cossack Registry prompted the largest and most successful of these: the Khmelnytsky Uprising , that began in 1648. Some Cossacks, including the Polish szlachta in Ukraine, converted to Eastern Orthodoxy, divided the lands of the Ruthenian szlachta , and became

16965-614: The Polish–Lithuanian Two-Nations Commonwealth into a Polish–Lithuanian–Ruthenian Commonwealth (with the Ukrainian Cossack people) made little progress, owing to the Cossacks' unpopularity. The Cossacks' strong historic allegiance to the Eastern Orthodox Church put them at odds with the Catholic -dominated Commonwealth. Tensions increased when Commonwealth policies turned from relative tolerance to

17160-542: The Principality or Kingdom of Ruthenia. Also according to Andrey Zaliznyak, the Novgorodian dialect differed significantly from that of other dialects of Kievan Rus during the 11th–12th century, but started becoming more similar to them around 13th–15th centuries. The modern Russian language hence developed from the fusion of this Novgorodian dialect and the common dialect spoken by the other Kievan Rus, whereas

17355-958: The Pugachev rebellion, the Empire renamed the Yaik Host, its capital, the Yaik Cossacks, and the Cossack town of Zimoveyskaya in the Don region to try to encourage the Cossacks to forget the men and their uprisings. It also formally dissolved the Lower Dnieper Zaporozhian Cossack Host, and destroyed their fortress on the Dnieper (the Sich itself). This may in part have been due to the participation of some Zaporozhian and other Ukrainian exiles in Pugachev's rebellion. During his campaign, Pugachev issued manifestos calling for restoration of all borders and freedoms of both

17550-482: The Russian hussar and dragoon regiments. The destruction of the Sich created difficulties for the Russian Empire. Supporting the increase in the privileges gained by the higher ranking leadership put a strain in the budget, whilst the stricter regulations of the regular Russian Army prevented many other Cossacks from integrating. The existence of the Danubian Sich , which would support the Ottoman Empire in

17745-620: The Russian Empire. According to the Imperial census's terminology, the Russian language ( Русскій ) was subdivided into Ukrainian (Малорусскій, ' Little Russian '), what is known as Russian today (Великорусскій, ' Great Russian '), and Belarusian (Бѣлорусскій, 'White Russian'). The following table shows the distribution of settlement by native language ( "по родному языку" ) in 1897 in Russian Empire governorates ( guberniyas ) that had more than 100,000 Ukrainian speakers. Although in

17940-540: The Russian border was approved by the Ottoman Empire after the Cossacks officially vowed to serve the sultan . Yet internal conflict, and the political manoeuvring of the Russian Empire led to splits among the Cossacks. Some of the runaway Cossacks returned to Russia, where the Russian army used them to form new military bodies that also incorporated Greeks, Albanians and Crimean Tatars. After the Russo-Turkish war of 1787–1792 , most of these Cossacks were absorbed into

18135-469: The Russian infantry would destroy them after they were surrounded. To trick the Cossacks, a rumour was spread that the army was crossing Cossack lands en route to guard the borders. The surprise encirclement was a devastating blow to the morale of the Cossacks. Petro Kalnyshevsky was given two hours to decide on the Empress's ultimatum . Under the guidance of a starshyna Lyakh, behind Kalnyshevky's back

18330-861: The Russian navy had no Cossack ships and units. Cossack service was considered rigorous. Cossack forces played an important role in Russia's wars of the 18th–20th centuries, including the Great Northern War , the Seven Years' War , the Crimean War , the Napoleonic Wars , the Caucasus War , many Russo-Persian Wars , many Russo-Turkish Wars , and the First World War . In the late 19th and early 20th centuries,

18525-456: The Ruthenian szlachta refrained from plans to have a Moscow Tsar as king of the Commonwealth, its own Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki later becoming king. The last, ultimately unsuccessful, attempt to rebuild the Polish–Cossack alliance and create a Polish–Lithuanian–Ruthenian Commonwealth was the 1658 Treaty of Hadiach . The treaty was approved by the Polish king and the Sejm , and by some of

18720-641: The Sejm, and Vyhovsky himself narrowly escaped death. The Zaporozhians maintained a largely separate government from the Hetmanate . The Zaporozhians elected their own leaders, known as Kish otaman , for one-year terms. In this period, friction between the cossacks of the Hetmanate and the Zaporozhians escalated. The Cossacks had fought in the past for independence from the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and they were later involved in several uprisings against

18915-621: The Sich Rada (Black Rada). Black Rada was a council of all cossacks. Kish election were taken place either on 1 January, 1 October ( Intercession of the Theotokos holiday - Pokrova), or on the 2nd-3rd day of Easter. There was a cossack military court, which severely punished violence and stealing among compatriots, bringing women to the Sich, consumption of alcohol in periods of conflict, etc. There were also churches and schools , providing religious services and basic education . Principally,

19110-571: The Sich. With the death of Mazepa in Bessarabia in 1709, his council elected his former general chancellor, Pylyp Orlyk , as his successor. Orlyk issued the project of the Constitution , where he promised to limit the authority of the Hetman, preserve the privileged position of the Zaporozhians, take measures towards achieving social equality among them, and steps towards the separation of

19305-734: The Slavic element predominated . There were several major Cossack hosts in the 16th century: near the Dnieper, Don, Volga and Ural Rivers ; the Greben Cossacks in Caucasia ; and the Zaporozhian Cossacks , mainly west of the Dnieper. It is unclear when people other than the Brodnici and Berladnici (which had a Romanian origin with large Slavic influences) began to settle in the lower reaches of major rivers such as

19500-460: The Soviet Union and a special term, "a language of inter-ethnic communication", was coined to denote its status. After the death of Stalin (1953), a general policy of relaxing the language policies of the past was implemented (1958 to 1963). The Khrushchev era which followed saw a policy of relatively lenient concessions to development of the languages at the local and republic level, though its results in Ukraine did not go nearly as far as those of

19695-519: The Soviet policy of Ukrainianization in the 1920s. Journals and encyclopedic publications advanced in the Ukrainian language during the Khrushchev era, as well as transfer of Crimea under Ukrainian SSR jurisdiction. Yet, the 1958 school reform that allowed parents to choose the language of primary instruction for their children, unpopular among the circles of the national intelligentsia in parts of

19890-462: The Tatars and Turks. Tsar Boris Godunov had incurred the hatred of Ukrainian Cossacks by ordering the Don Cossacks to drive away from the Don all the Ukrainian Cossacks fleeing the failed uprisings of the 1590s. This contributed to the Ukrainian Cossacks' willingness to fight against him. In 1604, 2,000 Zaporizhian Cossacks fought on the side of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and their proposal for

20085-469: The Tsar ( Dmitri I ), against the Muscovite army. By September 1604, Dmitri I had gathered a force of 2,500 men, of whom 1,400 were Cossacks. Two thirds of these "cossacks", however, were in fact Ukrainian civilians, only 500 being professional Ukrainian Cossacks. On July 4, 1610, 4,000 Ukrainian Cossacks fought in the Battle of Klushino , on the side of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. They helped to defeat

20280-659: The Tsarist regime used Cossacks extensively to perform police service. Cossacks also served as border guards on national and internal ethnic borders, as had been the case in the Caucasus War. During the Russian Civil War , Don and Kuban Cossacks were the first people to declare open war against the Bolsheviks . In 1918, Russian Cossacks declared their complete independence, creating two independent states,

20475-551: The USSR, meant that non-Russian languages would slowly give way to Russian in light of the pressures of survival and advancement. The gains of the past, already largely reversed by the Stalin era, were offset by the liberal attitude towards the requirement to study the local languages (the requirement to study Russian remained). Parents were usually free to choose the language of study of their children (except in few areas where attending

20670-644: The Ukrainian Cossacks and were used until the 19th century. Kleinody were awarded to Zaporozhian Cossacks by the Polish king Stephen Báthory on 20 August 1576 to Bohdan Ruzhynsky, among which were khoruhva, bunchuk , bulawa "mace" and a seal with a coat of arms on which was depicted a cossack with a samopal "rifle". The kleinody were assigned to hetman's assistants for safekeeping, thus there have appeared such ranks as chorąży ("flag-bearer"), bunchuzhny ("staff-keeper"), etc. Later part of Cossack kleinody became pernaches , timpani ( lytavry ), kurin banners (badges), batons, and others. The highest symbol of power

20865-409: The Ukrainian hetman considered it a conditional contract from which one party could withdraw if the other was not upholding its end of the bargain. The Ukrainian hetman Ivan Vyhovsky, who succeeded Khmelnytsky in 1657, believed the Tsar was not living up to his responsibility. Accordingly, he concluded a treaty with representatives of the Polish king, who agreed to re-admit Cossack Ukraine by reforming

21060-564: The Ukrainian language dates to the late 16th century. By the 16th century, a peculiar official language formed: a mixture of the liturgical standardised language of Old Church Slavonic , Ruthenian and Polish . The influence of the latter gradually increased relative to the former two, as the nobility and rural large-landowning class, known as the szlachta , was largely Polish-speaking. Documents soon took on many Polish characteristics superimposed on Ruthenian phonetics. Polish–Lithuanian rule and education also involved significant exposure to

21255-477: The Ukrainian language held the formal position of the principal local language in the Ukrainian SSR . However, practice was often a different story: Ukrainian always had to compete with Russian, and the attitudes of the Soviet leadership towards Ukrainian varied from encouragement and tolerance to de facto banishment. Officially, there was no state language in the Soviet Union until the very end when it

21450-465: The Ukrainian language. Examples include torba (bag) and tyutyun (tobacco). Because of the substantial number of loanwords from Polish, German, Czech and Latin, early modern vernacular Ukrainian ( prosta mova , " simple speech ") had more lexical similarity with West Slavic languages than with Russian or Church Slavonic. By the mid-17th century, the linguistic divergence between the Ukrainian and Russian languages had become so significant that there

21645-409: The Ukrainian school might have required a long daily commute) and they often chose Russian, which reinforced the resulting Russification. In this sense, some analysts argue that it was not the "oppression" or "persecution", but rather the lack of protection against the expansion of Russian language that contributed to the relative decline of Ukrainian in the 1970s and 1980s. According to this view, it

21840-660: The Zaporizhian Host from the Russian State—should he manage to obtain power in the Cossack Hetmanate. With the support of Charles XII, Orlyk made an alliance with the Crimean Tatars and Ottomans against Russia, but following the early successes of their 1711 attack on Russia, their campaign was defeated, and Orlyk returned into exile. The Zaporozhians built a new Sich under Ottoman protection,

22035-480: The Zaporizhian Sich, a number of Ukrainian-speaking Eastern Orthodox Zaporozhian Cossacks fled to the territory under control of the Ottoman Empire . Together with Cossacks of Greater Russian origin , as well as the vast majority of Old Believers and other people from "Greater Russia" ( Muscovy ), they settled in the area of the Danube river, and founded a new Sich. Many Ukrainian peasants and adventurers later joined

22230-423: The Zaporozhian Host. Decisions of the council were considered the opinion of the whole host and obligated to its execution each member of the cossack comradeship. At Sich Rada were reviewed issues of internal and foreign policies, conducted elections of military starshina , division of assigned land, punishment of criminals who committed the worst crimes etc. The Zaporozhian Host, while being closely associated with

22425-571: The Zaporozhians, remain loyal towards Russia. Many fought in the local conflicts following the dissolution of the Soviet Union and today, just like before the revolution when they made up the private guard of the Emperor, the majority of the Kremlin Presidential Regiment is made up of Kuban Cossacks. For the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Khmelnytsky Uprising and the fall of the Zaporozhian Cossacks effectively marked

22620-406: The anger of Russian Empress Catherine II . As a result, by 1775 the number of runaway serfs from the Hetmanate and Polish-ruled Ukraine to Zaporizhiya rose to 100,000. The Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca (1774) annexed the Crimean Khanate into Russia, so the need for further southern frontier defence (which the Zaporozhians carried out) no longer existed. Colonisation of Novorossiya began; one of

22815-611: The beginning of its end with the Deluge , which led to the gradual demise of the Commonwealth ending with the Partitions of Poland in the late 18th century. A similar fate awaited both the Crimean Khanate and the Ottoman Empire; having endured numerous raids and attacks from them both, the Zaporozhian Cossacks aided the Russian Army in ending Turkey's ambitions of expanding into northern and Central Europe , and like Poland, after

23010-710: The borders on the Volga , the whole of Siberia (see Yermak Timofeyevich ), and the Yaik (Ural) and Terek Rivers . Cossack communities had developed along the latter two rivers well before the arrival of the Don Cossacks. By the 18th century, Cossack hosts in the Russian Empire occupied effective buffer zones on its borders. The expansionist ambitions of the Empire relied on ensuring Cossack loyalty, which caused tension given their traditional exercise of freedom, democracy, self-rule, and independence. Cossacks such as Stenka Razin , Kondraty Bulavin , Ivan Mazepa and Yemelyan Pugachev led major anti-imperial wars and revolutions in

23205-407: The chancellery and gradually evolved into the Ruthenian language. Polish rule, which came later, was accompanied by a more assimilationist policy. By the 1569 Union of Lublin that formed the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, a significant part of Ukrainian territory was moved from Lithuanian rule to Polish administration, resulting in cultural Polonization and visible attempts to colonize Ukraine by

23400-452: The colonies, located just next to the lands of the Zaporozhian Sich, was New Serbia . This escalated conflicts over land ownership with the Cossacks, which often turned violent. The decision to disband the Sich was adopted at the court council of Catherine the Great on 7 May 1775. General Peter Tekeli received orders to occupy and liquidate the main Zaporozhian fortress, the Sich. The plan

23595-592: The command of a Russian Army stationed in Kiev . A new sich ( Nova Sich ) was built to replace the one that had been destroyed by Peter the Great. Concerned about the possibility of Russian interference in Zaporozhia's internal affairs, the Cossacks began to settle their lands with Ukrainian peasants fleeing serfdom in Poland and Russia proper. By 1762, 33,700 Cossacks and over 150,000 peasants populated Zaporozhia. By

23790-484: The conditions of the Union of Hadiach. In 1660, however, the hetman asked the Polish king for protection, leading to the period of Ukrainian history known as The Ruin . Historian Gary Dean Peterson writes: "With all this unrest, Ivan Mazepa of the Ukrainian Cossacks was looking for an opportunity to secure independence from Russia and Poland". In response to Mazepa's alliance with Charles XII of Sweden , Peter I ordered

23985-493: The cossacks of Zaporozhian Host over decades. The host had its own military and territorially administrative division: 38 kurins ( sotnia ) and five to eight palanka s (territorial districts) as well as an original system of administration with three levels: military leaders, military officials, leaders of march and palankas. All officership (military starshyna) was elected by the General Military Council for

24180-591: The country, and remained particularly strong in Western Ukraine . Specific developments that led to a gradual change of the Old East Slavic vowel system into the system found in modern Ukrainian began approximately in the 12th/13th century (that is, still at the time of the Kievan Rus') with a lengthening and raising of the Old East Slavic mid vowels e and o when followed by a consonant and

24375-407: The cultivated lands of Kyivan Rus' in order to escape oppression or criminal pursuit. Their lifestyle largely resembled that of the people now called Cossacks. They survived chiefly from hunting and fishing and raiding Asiatic tribes for horses and food, but they also mixed with these nomads as well adopting a lot of their cultural traits. In the 16th century, a great organizer, Dmytro Vyshnevetsky ,

24570-412: The damage done by raids from both sides. Cossack raids followed by Tatar retaliation, or Tatar raids followed by Cossack retaliation, were an almost regular occurrence. The ensuing chaos and string of conflicts often turned the entire south-eastern Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth border into a low-intensity war zone and led to an escalation of Commonwealth–Ottoman warfare, from the Moldavian Magnate Wars to

24765-402: The development of the Cossacks. In the 15th century, Cossack society was described as a loose federation of independent communities, which often formed local armies and were entirely independent from neighboring states such as Poland, the Grand Duchy of Moscow, and the Crimean Khanate. According to Mykhailo Hrushevsky , the first mention of Cossacks dates back to the 14th century, although

24960-482: The earliest, such as Oleshky , dating back to the 11th century. Early "Proto-Cossack" groups are generally reported to have come into existence within what is now Ukraine in the 13th century as the influence of Cumans grew weaker, although some have ascribed their origins to as early as the mid-8th century. Some historians suggest that the Cossack people were of mixed ethnic origin, descending from East Slavs , Turks , Tatars , and others who settled or passed through

25155-439: The effort by Peter the Great to establish the new Russian capital. Many did not return, and it is often stated that St. Peterburg "was built on bones". In 1734, as Russia was preparing for a new war against the Ottoman Empire , an agreement was made between Russia and the Zaporozhian cossacks, the Treaty of Lubny. The Zaporozhian Cossacks regained all of their former lands, privileges, laws and customs in exchange for serving under

25350-427: The end of 19th century the Hermitage stored 17 kurin banners and one khoruhva, the Transfiguration Cathedral contained 20 kurin banners, three bunchuks, one silver bulawa, and one silver gold-covered baton. Today the fate of those national treasures of Ukrainian people is unknown. After the February Revolution in 1917 the Russian Provisional Government adopted the decisions of returning them to Ukraine, however, due to

25545-465: The end of the 19th century. The Kalmyk and Buryat Cossacks also deserve mention . The Zaporizhian Sich became a vassal polity of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth during feudal times. Under increasing pressure from the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, in the mid-17th century the Sich declared an independent Cossack Hetmanate . The Hetmanate was initiated by a rebellion under Bohdan Khmelnytsky against Polish and Catholic domination, known as

25740-400: The era, Prince Aleksey Trubetskoy . After terrible losses, Trubetskoy was forced to withdraw to the town of Putyvl on the other side of the border. The battle is regarded as one of the Zaporizhian Cossacks' most impressive victories. In 1659, Yurii Khmelnytsky was elected hetman of the Zaporizhian Host/Hetmanate, with the endorsement of Moscow and supported by common Cossacks unhappy with

25935-524: The escape, there was little left to do for the remaining 12,000 Cossacks. The Sich was razed to the ground. The Cossacks were disarmed in a mostly bloodless operation, while their treasury and archives were confiscated. Kalnyshevsky was arrested and exiled to the Solovki , where he lived in confinement to 112 years of age. Most upper level Cossack Council members, such as Pavlo Holovaty and Ivan Hloba, were repressed and exiled as well, although lower level commanders and rank and file Cossacks were allowed to join

26130-445: The establishment of the Soviet Union , while others remained and assimilated into the Communist state. Cohesive Cossack-based units were organized and many fought for both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union during World War II . After World War II, the Soviet Union disbanded the Cossack units within the Soviet Army, leading to the suppression of many Cossack traditions during the rule of Joseph Stalin and his successors. However, during

26325-400: The events of the October Revolution of the same year the decision was not executed. With the proclamation of independence, the Ukrainian government has raised the issue of returning the national cultural valuables before the leadership of Russia ; no specific agreements have ever been reached, however. After the Treaty of Pereyaslav in 1654, the Zaporozhian Host became a suzerainty under

26520-407: The existence of a common Old East Slavic language at any time in the past. Similar points of view were shared by Yevhen Tymchenko , Vsevolod Hantsov , Olena Kurylo , Ivan Ohienko and others. According to this theory, the dialects of East Slavic tribes evolved gradually from the common Proto-Slavic language without any intermediate stages during the 6th through 9th centuries. The Ukrainian language

26715-442: The first time, Alexander Rigelman pointed out the imperfection of the hypothesis. In the 20th century, the Russian scientist Gumilyov was an apologist for the Polovtsian origin of the Cossacks. In the 16th century, with the dominance of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth extending south, the Zaporozhian Cossacks were mostly, if tentatively, regarded by the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth as their subjects. Registered Cossacks were

26910-437: The government, and often against its interests, as for example with their role in Moldavian affairs, and with the signing of a treaty with Emperor Rudolf II in the 1590s. Registered Cossacks formed a part of the Commonwealth army until 1699. Around the end of the 16th century, increasing Cossack aggression strained relations between the Commonwealth and the Ottoman Empire. Cossacks had begun raiding Ottoman territories during

27105-450: The highest power in it belonged to the assembly of all its members, and because its leaders ( starshina ) were elected. Officially the leader of Zaporozhian Host never carried the title of hetman , while all leaders of cossacks formations were unofficially referred to as one. The highest body of administration in the Zaporozhian Host was the Sich Rada (council). The council was the highest legislative, administrative, and judicial body of

27300-417: The language of much of the literature was purely or heavily Old Church Slavonic . Some theorists see an early Ukrainian stage in language development here, calling it Old Ruthenian; others term this era Old East Slavic . Russian theorists tend to amalgamate Rus' to the modern nation of Russia, and call this linguistic era Old Russian. However, according to Russian linguist Andrey Zaliznyak (2012), people from

27495-439: The late 18th century, much of the Cossack officer class in Ukraine was incorporated into the Russian nobility, but many of the rank and file Cossacks, including a substantial portion of the old Zaporozhians, were reduced to peasant status. They were able to maintain their freedom and continued to provide refuge for those fleeing serfdom in Russia and Poland, including followers of the Russian Cossack Yemelyan Pugachev , which aroused

27690-615: The locals in war, by raising the Cossack registry in times of hostility, and then radically decreasing it and forcing the Cossacks back into serfdom in times of peace. This institutionalized method of control bred discontent among the Cossacks. By the end of the 16th century, they began to revolt, in the uprisings of Kryshtof Kosynsky (1591–1593), Severyn Nalyvaiko (1594–1596), Hryhorii Loboda (1596), Marko Zhmailo (1625), Taras Fedorovych (1630), Ivan Sulyma (1635), Pavlo Pavliuk and Dmytro Hunia (1637), and Yakiv Ostrianyn and Karpo Skydan (1638). All were brutally suppressed and ended by

27885-412: The locals' land allotments and freedom of movement. In addition, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth government attempted to impose Catholicism, and to Polonize the local Ukrainian population. The basic form of resistance and opposition by the locals and burghers was flight and settlement in the sparsely populated steppe. The major powers tried to exploit Cossack military power for their own purposes. In

28080-424: The loss of Crimea, the Ottoman Empire began to decline. The historical legacy of the Zaporozhian Cossacks shaped and influenced the idea of Ukrainian nationalism in the latter half of the 19th century. Ukrainian historians, such as Adrian Kashchenko (1858–1921), Olena Apanovich and others suggest that the final abolishment of the Zaporozhian Sich in 1775 was the demise of a historic Ukrainian stronghold. After

28275-416: The merger of the Old East Slavic vowel phonemes и /i/ and ы /ɨ/ into the specifically Ukrainian phoneme /ɪ ~ e/, spelled with и (in the 13th/14th centuries), and the fricativisation of the Old East Slavic consonant г /g/, probably first to /ɣ/ (in the 13th century), with /ɦ/ as a reflex in Modern Ukrainian, did not happen in Russian. Only the fricativisation of Old East Slavic г /g/ occurred in Belarusian, where

28470-409: The military duty to serve in the irregular troops: Zaporozhian Cossacks were mostly infantry soldiers, using war wagons, while Don Cossacks were mostly cavalry soldiers. The various Cossack groups were organized along military lines, with large autonomous groups called hosts . Each host had a territory consisting of affiliated villages called stanitsas . They inhabited sparsely populated areas in

28665-402: The modern Ukrainian and Belarusian languages developed from the dialects which did not differ from each other in a significant way. After the fall of the Kingdom of Ruthenia, Ukrainians mainly fell under the rule of Lithuania and then Poland . Local autonomy of both rule and language was a marked feature of Lithuanian rule. In the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Old East Slavic became the language of

28860-486: The mouth of the Dnieper river. In 1615 and 1625, Cossacks razed suburbs of Constantinople , forcing the Ottoman Sultan to flee his palace. In 1637, the Zaporozhian Cossacks, joined by the Don Cossacks , captured the strategic Ottoman fortress of Azov , which guarded the Don. The Zaporizhian Cossacks became particularly strong in the first quarter of the 17th century under the leadership of hetman Petro Konashevych-Sahaidachny , who launched successful campaigns against

29055-443: The name Little Russia for Ukraine and Little Russian for the language, an expression that originated in Byzantine Greek and may originally have meant "old, original, fundamental Russia", and had been in use since the 14th century. Ukrainian high culture went into a long period of steady decline. The Kyiv-Mohyla Academy was taken over by the Russian Empire. Most of the remaining Ukrainian schools also switched to Polish or Russian in

29250-476: The name to the Turkic word kazak , kozak , in which cosac meant 'free man' but also 'conqueror'. The ethnonym Kazakh is from the same Turkic root. In written sources, the name is first attested in the Codex Cumanicus from the 13th century. In English , Cossack is first attested in 1590. The origins of the Cossacks are disputed. Originally, the term referred to semi-independent Tatar groups ( qazaq or "free men") who inhabited

29445-412: The native language for the majority in the nation on the eve of Ukrainian independence, a significant share of ethnic Ukrainians were russified. In Donetsk there were no Ukrainian language schools and in Kyiv only a quarter of children went to Ukrainian language schools. The Russian language was the dominant vehicle, not just of government function, but of the media, commerce, and modernity itself. This

29640-439: The newly created civil estate of Cossacks. Similar to the knights of medieval Europe in feudal times, or to the tribal Roman auxiliaries, the Cossacks had to obtain their cavalry horses , arms, and supplies for their military service at their own expense, the government providing only firearms and supplies. Lacking horses, the poor served in the Cossack infantry and artillery. In the navy alone, Cossacks served with other peoples as

29835-403: The next war, was also troublesome for the Russians. In 1784 Potemkin formed the Host of the Loyal Zaporozhians (Войско верных Запорожцев) and settled them between the Southern Bug and Dniester rivers. For their invaluable service during the Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792), they were rewarded with the Kuban land and migrated there in 1792. In 1828, the Danubian Sich ceased to exist after it

30030-431: The nobility, especially various Lithuanian starostas . Merchants, peasants, and runaways from the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Muscovy , and Moldavia also joined the Cossacks. The first recorded sich prototype was formed by the starosta of Cherkasy and Kaniv , Dmytro Vyshnevetsky , who built a fortress on the island of Little Khortytsia on the banks of the Lower Dnieper in 1552. The Zaporozhian Host adopted

30225-402: The otaman; the khoruhva - to the whole host although carried by a khorunzhy; the bunchuk also was given to otaman, but carried by a bunchuzhny or bunchuk comrade; the seal was preserved by a military judge, while the seals of the kurin - to the kurin otaman, and the seals of the palanka - to the colonel of a certain palanka; the kettledrums were in possession of a dovbysh (drummer); the staffs - to

30420-422: The outskirts of Constantinople , forcing the Ottoman Sultan Murad IV to flee his palace. His nephew, Sultan Mehmed IV , fared little better as the recipient of the legendary Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks , a ribald response to Mehmed's insistence that the Cossacks submit to his authority. Consecutive treaties between the Ottoman Empire and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth called for both parties to keep

30615-425: The population said Ukrainian was their native language. Until the 1920s the urban population in Ukraine grew faster than the number of Ukrainian speakers. This implies that there was a (relative) decline in the use of Ukrainian language. For example, in Kyiv, the number of people stating that Ukrainian was their native language declined from 30.3% in 1874 to 16.6% in 1917. During the seven-decade-long Soviet era ,

30810-456: The present-day reflex is /ɣ/. Ahatanhel Krymsky and Aleksey Shakhmatov assumed the existence of the common spoken language of Eastern Slavs only in prehistoric times. According to their point of view, the diversification of the Old East Slavic language took place in the 8th or early 9th century. Russian linguist Andrey Zaliznyak stated that the Old Novgorod dialect differed significantly from that of other dialects of Kievan Rus' during

31005-418: The printing of Ukrainian texts accompanying musical scores. A period of leniency after 1905 was followed by another strict ban in 1914, which also affected Russian-occupied Galicia. For much of the 19th century the Austrian authorities demonstrated some preference for Polish culture, but the Ukrainians were relatively free to partake in their own cultural pursuits in Halychyna and Bukovina , where Ukrainian

31200-444: The private property of the Ruthenian Orthodox szlachta . Don Cossacks' raids on Crimea left Khmelnitsky without the aid of his usual Tatar allies. From the Russian perspective, the rebellion ended with the 1654 Treaty of Pereyaslav , in which, in order to overcome the Russian–Polish alliance against them, the Khmelnitsky Cossacks pledged their loyalty to the Russian Tsar . In return, the Tsar guaranteed them his protection; recognized

31395-429: The protection of the tsar of Russia , although for a considerable period of time it enjoyed nearly complete autonomy . After the death of Bohdan Khmelnytsky in 1657, his successor Ivan Vyhovsky initiated a turn towards Poland, alarmed by the growing Russian interference in the affairs of the Hetmanate. An attempt was made to return to the three-constituent Commonwealth of nations with the Zaporozhian cossacks joining

31590-458: The reference was to people who were either Turkic or of undefined origin. Hrushevsky states that the Cossacks may have descended from the long-forgotten Antes , or from groups from the Berlad territory of the Brodnici in present-day Romania , then a part of the Grand Duchy of Halych. There, the Cossacks may have served as self-defence formations, organized to defend against raids conducted by neighbors. The first international mention of Cossacks

31785-405: The register, and from the Zaporizhian Host. This, together with intensified socioeconomic and national-religious oppression of the other classes in Ukrainian society, led to many Cossack uprisings in the 1630s. The nobility, which had obtained legal ownership of vast expanses of land on the Dnipro from the Polish kings, attempted to impose feudal dependency on the local population. Landowners utilized

31980-438: The resources of what was a naturally rich and fertile region teeming with cattle, wild animals, and fish. This lifestyle, based on subsistence agriculture , hunting, and either returning home in the winter or settling permanently, came to be known as the Cossack way of life. Crimean–Nogai slave raids in Eastern Europe caused considerable devastation and depopulation in this area. The Tatar raids also played an important role in

32175-409: The rural regions of the Ukrainian provinces, 80% of the inhabitants said that Ukrainian was their native language in the Census of 1897 (for which the results are given above), in the urban regions only 32.5% of the population claimed Ukrainian as their native language. For example, in Odesa (then part of the Russian Empire), at the time the largest city in the territory of current Ukraine, only 5.6% of

32370-525: The sacking of the then capital of the Hetmanate, Baturyn . The city was burnt and looted, and 11,000 to 14,000 of its inhabitants were killed. The destruction of the Hetmanate's capital was a signal to Mazepa and the Hetmanate's inhabitants of severe punishment for disloyalty to the Tsar's authority. The Zaporizhian Sich at Chortomlyk , which had existed since 1652, was also destroyed by Peter I's forces in 1709, in retribution for decision of its otaman Kost Hordiyenko , to ally with Mazepa. Under Russian rule,

32565-420: The second part of the 16th century. The Polish government could not control them, but was held responsible as the men were nominally its subjects. In retaliation, Tatars living under Ottoman rule launched raids into the Commonwealth, mostly in the southeast territories. Cossack pirates responded by raiding wealthy trading port-cities in the heart of the Ottoman Empire, as these were just two days away by boat from

32760-475: The sixteenth and first half of the 17th century, when Ukraine was part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, albeit in spite of being part of the PLC, not as a result. Among many schools established in that time, the Kyiv-Mohyla Collegium (the predecessor of the modern Kyiv-Mohyla Academy ), founded by the Orthodox Metropolitan Peter Mogila , was the most important. At that time languages were associated more with religions: Catholics spoke Polish, and members of

32955-412: The sixteenth century the Cossack were increasingly joined by Slavs such as Russians and Poles, Balto-slavic Lithuanians and people from today's Ukraine, thus becoming a Slav-Tatar ethnic hybrid. As the grand duchies of Moscow and Lithuania grew in power, new political entities appeared in the region. These included Moldavia and the Crimean Khanate . In 1261, Slavic people living in the area between

33150-399: The suppression of the Orthodox church, making the Cossacks strongly anti-Catholic, which at that time was synonymous with anti-Polish. The waning loyalty of the Cossacks and the szlachta's arrogance towards them resulted in several Cossack uprisings against the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the early 17th century. Finally, the King's adamant refusal to bow to the Cossacks' demand to expand

33345-462: The term native language may not necessarily associate with the language they use more frequently. The overwhelming majority of ethnic Ukrainians consider the Ukrainian language native , including those who often speak Russian. According to the official 2001 census data, 92.3% of Kyiv region population responded "Ukrainian" to the native language ( ridna mova ) census question, compared with 88.4% in 1989, and 7.2% responded "Russian". In 2019,

33540-558: The territories controlled by these respective countries, which was followed by a new wave of Polonization and Russification of the native nobility. Gradually the official language of Ukrainian provinces under Poland was changed to Polish, while the upper classes in the Russian part of Ukraine used Russian. During the 19th century, a revival of Ukrainian self-identification manifested in the literary classes of both Russian-Empire Dnieper Ukraine and Austrian Galicia . The Brotherhood of Sts Cyril and Methodius in Kyiv applied an old word for

33735-403: The tsar, in fear of losing their privileges and autonomy. In 1709, for example, the Zaporozhian Host led by Kost Hordiienko joined Hetman Ivan Mazepa against Russia. Mazepa was previously a trusted adviser and close friend to Tsar Peter the Great but allied himself with Charles XII of Sweden against Peter I. After the defeat at the Battle of Poltava Peter ordered a retaliatory destruction of

33930-516: The use of Ukrainian. The educational system in Ukraine has been transformed over the first decade of independence from a system that is partly Ukrainian to one that is overwhelmingly so. The government has also mandated a progressively increased role for Ukrainian in the media and commerce. In the 2001 census , 67.5% of the country's population named Ukrainian as their native language (a 2.8% increase from 1989), while 29.6% named Russian (a 3.2% decrease). For many Ukrainians (of various ethnic origins),

34125-437: The vast Steppe. Some Turkologists , however, argue that Cossacks are descendants of the native Cumans of Ukraine , who had lived there long before the Mongol invasion. some other just state that first Cossacks were Turkic origin according to Serhii Plokhy first Cossacks were of Turkic rather than Slavic stock. Christoph Baumer state that predesecessor from the thirteenth century on were mainly of Turkic stock, but from

34320-423: The will of our Imperial Majesty. In May 1775, General Tekeli's forces went from the Fortress of St. Elizabeth , at that time it was the main headquarters of the Russian army in Ukraine, and on 5 June 1775 divided into five detachments and surrounded the Sich with artillery and infantry. The lack of southern borders and enemies in the past years had a profound effect on the combat-ability of the Cossacks, who realised

34515-469: Was a need for translators during negotiations for the Treaty of Pereyaslav , between Bohdan Khmelnytsky , head of the Zaporozhian Host , and the Russian state. By the 18th century, Ruthenian had diverged into regional variants, developing into the modern Belarusian , Rusyn , and Ukrainian languages. The accepted chronology of Ukrainian divides the language into Old Ukrainian, Middle Ukrainian, and Modern Ukrainian. Shevelov explains that much of this

34710-490: Was exiled for seven years to Arkhangelsk . The Ukrainian magazine Osnova was discontinued. In 1863, the tsarist interior minister Pyotr Valuyev proclaimed in his decree that "there never has been, is not, and never can be a separate Little Russian language". Although the name of Ukraine is known since 1187, it was not applied to the language until the mid-19th century. The linguonym Ukrainian language appears in Yakub Holovatsky 's book from 1849, listed there as

34905-448: Was formed by convergence of tribal dialects, mostly due to an intensive migration of the population within the territory of today's Ukraine in later historical periods. This point of view was also supported by George Shevelov 's phonological studies, which argue that specific features were already recognizable in the southern dialects of Old East Slavic (seen as ancestors to Ukrainian) as far back as these varieties can be documented. As

35100-417: Was given a direct order from Empress Catherine II, which she explained in her Decree of 8 August 1775: With this we would like to let our Empire and our faithful subjects be known that the Zaporozhian Sich is now destroyed and the name of Zaporozhian Cossacks is to be no more as well, mentioning of whom will be considered no less as an affront to our Imperial Majesty for their deeds and insolence for disobeying

35295-407: Was gradually Polonized. In Ruthenia, the language of administrative documents gradually shifted towards Polish. Polish has had heavy influences on Ukrainian (particularly in Western Ukraine ). The southwestern Ukrainian dialects are transitional to Polish. As the Ukrainian language developed further, some borrowings from Tatar and Turkish occurred. Ukrainian culture and language flourished in

35490-430: Was in 1492, when Crimean Khan Meñli I Giray complained to Grand Duke of Lithuania Alexander Jagiellon that his Cossack subjects from Kiev and Cherkasy had pillaged a Crimean Tatar ship: the duke ordered his "Ukrainian" (meaning borderland) officials to investigate, execute the guilty, and give their belongings to the khan. Sometime in the 16th century, there appeared the old Ukrainian Ballad of Cossack Holota , about

35685-495: Was inevitable that successful careers required a good command of Russian, while knowledge of Ukrainian was not vital, so it was common for Ukrainian parents to send their children to Russian-language schools, even though Ukrainian-language schools were usually available. The number of students in Russian-language in Ukraine schools was constantly increasing, from 14 percent in 1939 to more than 30 percent in 1962. The Communist Party leader from 1963 to 1972, Petro Shelest , pursued

35880-413: Was inferior. However, Ukrainian Cossacks possessed the best infantry during the middle 17th century. Since Poland recruited most of its infantry from Ukraine, once this became free from Polish rule, the army of the Commonwealth suffered greatly. The Zaporozhian Host as a military-political establishment developed based upon unique traditions and customs called the Cossack Code, which was formed mostly among

36075-409: Was kept secret and regiments returning from the Russo-Turkish war, in which Cossacks also participated, were mobilized for the operation. They included 31 regiments (65,000 men in total). The attack took place on 15 May and continued until 8 June. The order was given by Grigory Potemkin , who had formally become an honorary Zaporozhian Cossack under the name of Hrytsko Nechesa a few years prior. Potemkin

36270-423: Was lessened only slightly after 1985. The management of dissent by the local Ukrainian Communist Party was more fierce and thorough than in other parts of the Soviet Union. As a result, at the start of the Mikhail Gorbachev reforms perebudova and hlasnist’ (Ukrainian for perestroika and glasnost ), Ukraine under Shcherbytsky was slower to liberalize than Russia itself. Although Ukrainian still remained

36465-404: Was made out of tissue in two colors: yellow and blue. Kettledrums (lytavry) were large copper boilers that were fitted with a leather which served for transmission of various signals (calling cossacks to a council, raising an alarm etc.). Each item of kleinody was granted to a clearly assigned member of cossack starshina (officership). For example, in the Zaporozhian Host, the bulawa was given to

36660-411: Was mostly of a crimson color embroidered with coats of arms, saints, crosses, and others. It was always carried in front of the army next to the hetman or otaman. A badge ( znachok ) was a name for a kurin's or company's ( sotnia ) banners. There was a tradition when the newly elected colonel was required at his own expense prepare palanka's banner. One of the banners was preserved until 1845 in Kuban and

36855-535: Was pardoned by Emperor Nicholas I, and under amnesty its members settled on the shores of the Northern Azov between Berdyansk and Mariupol , forming the Azov Cossack Host . Finally in 1862 they too migrated to the Kuban and merged with the Kuban Cossacks . The Kuban Cossacks served Russia's interests right up to the October Revolution , and their descendants are now undergoing active regeneration both culturally and militarily. The 30,000 descendants of those Cossacks who refused to return to Russia in 1828 still live in

37050-430: Was proclaimed in 1990 that Russian language was the all-Union state language and that the constituent republics had rights to declare additional state languages within their jurisdictions. Still it was implicitly understood in the hopes of minority nations that Ukrainian would be used in the Ukrainian SSR, Uzbek would be used in the Uzbek SSR , and so on. However, Russian was used as the lingua franca in all parts of

37245-425: Was secured. Consecutive treaties between the Ottoman Empire and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth called for the governments to keep the Cossacks and Tatars in check, but neither enforced the treaties strongly. The Polish forced the Cossacks to burn their boats and stop raiding by sea, but the activity did not cease entirely. During this time, the Habsburg monarchy sometimes covertly hired Cossack raiders against

37440-400: Was substantially less the case for western Ukraine, which escaped the artificial famine , Great Purge , and most of Stalinism . And this region became the center of a hearty, if only partial, renaissance of the Ukrainian language during independence. Since 1991, Ukrainian has been the official state language in Ukraine, and the state administration implemented government policies to broaden

37635-421: Was that the Cossacks came from one or more nomadic peoples who at different times lived in the territory of the Northern Black Sea. According to this hypothesis the Cossacks' ancestors were the Scythians , Sarmatians , Khazars , Polovtsy (Cumans) , Circassians ( Adygs ), Tatars , and others. The nomadic hypothesis of the origin of the Cossacks was formed under the influence of the Polish historical school of

37830-420: Was the bulawa or mace carried by hetmans and kish-otamans. For example, Bohdan Khmelnytsky already from 1648 carried a silver gold-covered bulawa decorated with pearls and other valuable gem stones. The cossack colonels had pernachs ( shestoper s) - smaller ribbed bulawas which were carried behind a belt. The seal of the Zaporozhian Host was produced in a round form out of silver with a depiction of cossack in

38025-415: Was widely used in education and official documents. The suppression by Russia hampered the literary development of the Ukrainian language in Dnipro Ukraine, but there was a constant exchange with Halychyna, and many works were published under Austria and smuggled to the east. By the time of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the collapse of Austro-Hungary in 1918, Ukrainians were ready to openly develop

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