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'[[File:007 Ukrainian Cossack Hetmanate and Russian Empire 1751.jpg|thumb|260px|Historical map of the Ukrainian [[Cossack Hetmanate]] (dark green) and of the territory of the Zaporozhian Cossacks (purple) under the rule of the Russian Empire (1751)]] {{Ukrainian statehood}} The '''Zaporozhian Sich''' ({{lang-ua|Запорозька Січ}}, ''Zaporoz'ka Sich''; {{lang-pl|Sicz Zaporoska}}; {{lang-ru|Запорожская Сечь}}) was a semi-autonomous polity of [[Cossacks]] in the 16th to 18th centuries, centred in the region around today's [[Kakhovka Reservoir]] spanning the lower [[Dnieper]] river in [[Ukraine]]. In different periods the area came under the sovereignty of the [[Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth]], the [[Ottoman Empire]], the [[Tsardom of Russia]], and the [[Russian Empire]]. In 1775, shortly after Russia annexed the territories ceded to it by the [[Ottoman Empire]] under the [[Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca]] (1774), [[Catherine II of Russia|Catherine the Great]] disbanded the Sich and incorporated its territory into the Russian province of [[New Russia Governorate|Novorossiya]]. The Zaporozhian Sich traditionally started from a fortress (''sich'') built on the [[Khortytsia]] island in the middle of the [[Dnieper River]] in the present-day [[Zaporozhia (region)|Zaporozhia]] region of [[Ukraine]]. The term "Zaporozhian Sich" can also refer [[metonymy|metonymically]] and informally to the whole military-administrative organisation of the [[Zaporozhian Cossacks|Zaporozhian]] [[Cossack Host]]. == Name == The name "Zaporizhia" refers to the military and political organization of the Cossacks and to the location of their autonomous territory 'beyond the Rapids' (''za porohamy'') of the [[Dnieper|Dnieper River]].<ref name=Zap>{{cite web|author=Borys Krupnytsky & Arkadii Zhukovsky| url=http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CZ%5CA%5CZaporizhiaThe.htm| title=The Zaporozhia|work=Encyclopedia of Ukraine|date=1993|accessdate=18 April 2017}}</ref> The term "[[sich]]" is a noun related to the Eastern Slavic verb ''sech′'' (сѣчь) – "to chop" or "cut"; it may have been associated with the usual wood sharp-spiked stockades around Cossack settlements.<ref>{{citation |author= Dmytro Yavornytsky|authorlink= Dmytro Yavornytsky |author2= Ivan Svarnyk, transl.|editor= L. L. Kiriyenko |title= {{lang|uk|Історія Запорізьких Козаків, у трьох томах}} |trans-title= History of the Zaporozhian Cossacks, in three volumes |location= Lviv |publisher= Видавництво "Світ" ["Svit" Publishing House] |year= 1892|language= Ukrainian |volume= 1|isbn= 978-5-11-000647-0 }} {{uk icon}}.</ref> Zaporizhia was located in the region around [[Kakhovka Reservoir]] in today's central Ukraine (much of its territory is now flooded by the reservoir). The area was also known under the historical term, [[Wild Fields]]. == History == The history of Zaporozhian Sich spans six time-periods: * the emergence of the Sich (1471—1583) * as part of the [[Lesser Poland Province of the Polish Crown]] by inclusion in the [[Kiev Voivodeship]] (1583–1657) * the struggle against the [[Rzeczpospolita]] (the Polish state), the Ottoman Empire, and the Crimea Khanate for the independence of the Ukrainian part of the Rzeczpospolita (Commonwealth) (1657—1686) * the struggle with Crimea, the Ottoman Empire, and the Russian Empire for the unique identity of Cossacks (1686—1709) * the standoff with the Russian government during its attempts to cancel the self-governing of the Sich, and its fall (1734—1775) * the formation of the [[Danubian Sich]] outside the Russian Empire and finding ways to return home (1775–1828) === Formation === [[File:Brandt Zaporizhian Camp.jpg|thumb|"Rear guard of Zaporozhians" by [[Józef Brandt]] (oil on canvas; 72 × 112 cm, [[National Museum, Warsaw|National Museum]] in Warsaw)]] The Zaporozhian Sich emerged as a method of defence by Slavic colonists against the frequent and devastating raids of [[Crimean Tatars]], who captured and enslaved hundreds of thousands of [[Ukrainians]], [[Belorusians]] and [[Poles]] in operations called "the harvesting of the steppe". The Ukrainians created a self-defence force, the [[Cossack]]s, fierce enough to stop the [[Tatar]] hordes, and built fortified camps (''sichi'') that were later united to form a central fortress, the Zaporozhian Sich.<ref name=Zap /> Prince [[Dmytro Vyshnevetsky]] established the first Zaporizhian Sich on the island of Small (Mala) [[Khortytsia]] in 1552, building a fortress at ''Niz Dnieprovsky'' (Lower Dnieper) and placing a Cossack garrison there;<ref name=ZapSich>{{cite web|author=Arkadii Zhukovsky|url=http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pages\Z\A\ZaporozhianSich.htm|title=Zaporozhian Sich|work=Encyclopedia of Ukraine|date=1993|accessdate=13 September 2015}}</ref> Tatar forces destroyed the fortress in 1558. The Tomakivka Sich was built on a now-inundated island to the south, near the modern city of [[Marhanets]]; Tatars also razed that sich, in 1593. A third sich soon followed, on Bazavluk island, which survived until 1638, when it was destroyed by a Polish expeditionary force suppressing a Cossack uprising.jrljoirjnoitjntjtoijgijtoijtiojttoijtiojotijotijbtoijoitjotijtiorkdrk === Struggle for independence === [[File:02 210 color Book illustrations of Historical description of the clothes and weapons of Russian troops.jpg|right|thumb|Zaporozhian Cossack, 18th century.]] [[File:Zap-pray.jpg|right|thumb|Zaporizhian Cossacks Prayer, fragment of the [[icon]] of Protection of Holy [[Virgin Mary]].]] The [[Zaporozhian Cossacks]] became included in the [[Kiev Voivodeship]] from 1583 to 1657, part of the [[Lesser Poland Province of the Polish Crown]]. They engaged in a long struggle for independence from surrounding powers, the [[Rzeczpospolita]] (Polish state), the Ottoman Empire, the [[Crimean Khanate]], and the [[Tsardom of Russia]] and [[Russian Empire]]. The Sich became the centre of Cossack life, governed by the ''[[Sich Rada]]'' alongside its Kosh Ataman (sometimes called Hetman, from German "Hauptmann"). In 1648, [[Bohdan Khmelnytsky]] captured a sich at Nikitin Rog, near the present-day city of [[Nikopol, Ukraine|Nikopol]].<ref name=ZapSich /> From there he began an [[Khmelnytsky Uprising|uprising]] against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth that led to the establishment of the [[Cossack Hetmanate]] (1649–1764). After the [[Treaty of Pereyaslav]] in 1654, the Zaporozhian Host was split into the Hetmanate, with its capital at [[Chyhyryn]], and the more autonomous region of [[Zaporozhia (region)|Zaporozhia]], which continued to be centred on the Sich. During this period the Sich changed location several times. The Chortomlyk Sich was built at the mouth of the Chortomlyk River in 1652. In 1667 the [[Truce of Andrusovo]] made the Sich a [[Condominium (international law)|condominium]] ruled jointly by Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. During the reign of [[Peter the Great]], Cossacks were used for the construction of canals and fortification lines in northern Russia. An estimated 20–30 thousands were sent each year. Hard labour led to a high mortality rate among builders, and only an estimated 40% of Cossacks returned home.<ref>{{cite web|author=Volodymyr Antonovych|url=http://exlibris.org.ua/kz/r09.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927192817/http://exlibris.org.ua/kz/r09.html|archivedate=2007-09-27|script-title=uk:Про козацькі часи на Україні – Дев'ята глава|trans-title=On Cossack Times in Ukraine – Chapter nine|language=uk|publisher=exlibris.org.ua|date=1991}}</ref> After the [[Battle of Poltava]] in 1709, the Chortomlyk Sich (sometimes referred to as the "Old Sich" (''Stara Sich'')) was destroyed and [[Baturyn]], the capital of Hetman [[Ivan Mazepa]], was razed. Another sich was built at the mouth of the Kamianets river but was destroyed in 1711 by the Russian government. The Cossacks then fled to the Crimean Khanate to avoid persecution and founded the Oleshky Sich in 1711 (today the city of [[Tsuryupinsk]]). In 1734, they were allowed to return to the Russian Empire. Suffering from discrimination in the Khanate, Cossacks accepted the offer to return and built another Sich in close proximity to the former Chortomlyk Sich (referred to as the "New Sich").<ref name=ZapSich /> Fear of the independence of the Sich resulted in the Russian administration abolishing the Hetmanate in 1764. The Cossack officer class was incorporated into the Imperial Russian nobility ([[Dvoryanstvo]]). The rank and file Cossacks, however, including a substantial portion of the old Zaporozhians, were reduced to peasant status. Tension rose after the [[Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca]], when the need for a southern frontier ended after the annexation of the [[Crimea]]. The colonisation of [[Novorossiya]] (New Russia) with Serbian and Romanians sponsored by Russia created further conflict.<ref name=Zap /> After the end of the war between Russia and the Ottoman Empire for possession of the [[Black Sea]] and Crimean steppes, Russia no longer needed the Zaporozhian Cossacks for protection of the border region. Russia finally destroyed the Zaporozhian Sich through military force in 1775. === Destruction and aftermath === [[File:Ilja Jefimowitsch Repin - Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks - Yorck.jpg|thumb|300px|Cossacks compose an answer to a letter from the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Mehmed IV, (''[[Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks to Sultan Mehmed IV of the Ottoman Empire]]'', by [[Ilya Repin]])]] In May 1775, Russian General [[Peter Tekeli]] received orders to occupy and destroy the Zaporozhian Sich from [[Grigori Alexandrovich Potemkin|Grigory Potemkin]], who had been formally admitted into Cossackdom a few years earlier. Potemkin was given direct orders from [[Catherine II of Russia|Catherine the Great]]. On 5 June 1775, Tekeli surrounded the Sich with artillery and infantry. He postponed the assault and even allowed visits while the head of the Host, [[Petro Kalnyshevsky]], was deciding how to react to the Russian ultimatum. The Zaporozhians decided to surrender. The Sich was officially disbanded by the 3 August 1775 manifesto of Catherine, "On the Liquidation of Zaporizhian Sich and Annexation thereof to [[Novorossiya Governorate]]", and the Sich was razed to the ground. Some of the Cossack officer class, the ''[[starshyna]]'', became hereditary Russian nobility and obtained huge lands in spite of their previous attempts to relocate the Sich to either North America or Australia. Under the guidance of a ''starshyna'' named Lyakh, a conspiracy was formed among a group of 50 Cossacks to pretend to go fishing on the river Inhul next to the [[Southern Buh]] in the Ottoman provinces, and to obtain 50 passports for the expedition. The pretext was enough to allow about 5000 Zaporozhians to flee, some travelling to the [[Danube Delta]] where they formed a new [[Danube Sich]], as a protectorate of the Ottoman Empire. Others moved to [[Hungary]] to form a Sich there as a protectorate of [[Austrian Empire]]. According to folklore, some moved to [[Malta]], because [[Kosh (disambiguation)|Kosh]] members considered themselves a kind of [[Knights Hospitaller|Maltese chivalry]].<ref>{{cite web|author=Volodymyr Selezniov|url=http://www.day.kiev.ua/en/article/history-and-i/capital-city-liberties|title=Capital city of liberties: How many Zaporozhian Siches were there?|publisher=day.kiev.ua|date=17 October 2006|accessdate=13 September 2015}}</ref> The leader of the Zaporozhian Host, Petro Kalnyshevsky, was arrested and exiled to the [[Solovetsky Islands]] (where he lived to the age of 112 in the [[Solovetsky Monastery]]). Four high level ''starshynas'' were repressed and exiled, later dying in Siberian monasteries. Lower level ''starshynas'' who remained and went over to the Russian side were given army ranks and all the privileges that accompanied them, and allowed to join [[Hussar]] and [[Dragoon]] regiments. Most of the ordinary Cossacks were made peasants and even serfs.<ref name=Turchenko>{{cite book|editor=Turchenko F.|title=Ukrains'ke kozatstvo. Mala entsyklopediia|location=Kiev|date=2002}}</ref> In 1780, after disbanding the Zaporozhian Cossack Host, General Grigorii Potemkin attempted to gather and reorganize the Cossacks on a voluntary basis, and they helped to defend Ukraine from the Turks during the [[Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792)]]. He was able to gather almost 12,000 Cossacks and called them the Black Sea Cossacks. After the conflict was over, rather than allowing the Cossacks to settle across Southern Ukraine, the Russian government began to resettle them on the [[Kuban River]]. In 1860, they changed their name to the [[Kuban Cossacks]]. Ukrainian writer [[Adrian Kaschenko]] (1858–1921)<ref name=Kashchenko>{{cite book|author=Adrian Kashchenko|authorlink=Adrian Kashchenko|title=Opovidannia pro slavne viys'ko zaporoz'ke nyzove|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1DnmAAAACAAJ|year=1991|publisher=Sich|isbn=978-5-7775-0301-5}}</ref> and historian [[Olena Apanovich]]<ref name=Apanovich>Olena Apanovich, "Ne propala ihnya slava", "Vitchizna" Magazine, N 9, 1990</ref> note that the abolition of the Zaporizhian Sich had a strong symbolic effect, and memories of the event remained for a long time in local folklore. == Organization and government == {{See also|Kosh Otaman|Registered Cossacks|Hetman}} [[File:Zaporozhian Sich rada.jpg|thumb|A Zaporozhian Sich [[Sich Rada|Rada]] (Council)]] [[File:Kafa. 1616..jpg|thumb|Zaporozhian Cossacks sacked Crimean [[Feodosia|Kaffa]] and freed the slaves in 1616.]] The Zaporozhian Host was led by the [[Sich Rada]] that elected a [[Kosh Otaman]] as the host's leader. He was aided by a head secretary (''pysar''), head judge, and head archivist. During military operations the [[Otaman]] carried unlimited power supported by his staff as the military collegiate. He decided with an agreement from the Rada whether to support a certain Hetman (such as [[Bohdan Khmelnytsky]]) or other leaders of state. Some sources refer to the Zaporozhian Sich as a "Cossack republic",<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ukraine-eu.mfa.gov.ua/eu/ua/publication/content/6162.htm|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607171606/http://www.ukraine-eu.mfa.gov.ua/eu/en/publication/content/6162.htm|archivedate=2011-06-07|title=Speech of H.E. Roman Shpek,Head of the Mission of Ukraine to EU on debate in the EP dedicated to 10th Anniversary of the Ukrainian Constitution|publisher=Mission of Ukraine to EU|date=28 June 2006|accessdate=13 September 2015}}</ref> because the highest power in it belonged to the assembly of all its members, and its leaders (''starshyna'') were elected. The Cossacks formed a society ([[hromada]]) that consisted of "[[kurin]]s" (each with several hundred Cossacks). A Cossack military court severely punished violence and stealing among compatriots, the bringing of women to the Sich, the consumption of alcohol in periods of conflict, and other offenses. The administration of the Sich provided [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox churches]] and schools for the religious and secular education of children. The population of the Sich had a cosmopolitan component, including [[Ukrainians]], [[Moldovans|Moldavians]], [[Tatars]], [[Poles]], [[Lithuanians]], [[Jews]], [[Russians]] and many other ethnicities. The social structure was complex, consisting of destitute gentry and [[boyars]], ''[[szlachta]]'' (Polish nobility), merchants, peasants, outlaws of every sort, runaway slaves from Turkish [[galley]]s, and runaway serfs (as the Zaporozhian [[polkovnyk]] Pivtorakozhukha). Some of those who were not accepted to the host formed gangs of their own, and also claimed to be Cossacks. However, after the [[Khmelnytsky Uprising]] these formations largely disappeared and were integrated mainly into Hetmanate society. === Army and warfare === The Cossacks developed a large fleet of fast, light vessels. Their campaigns were targeted at rich settlements on the [[Black Sea]] shores of the [[Ottoman Empire]], and several times took them as far as [[Constantinople]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.geocities.com/unavy/aCossack1.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090621165316/http://www.geocities.com/unavy/aCossack1.html|archivedate=2009-06-21|title=Cossack Navy 16th – 17th Centuries|date=1996}}</ref> and [[Trabzon]] (formerly [[Trabzon|Trebizond]]). === Zaporozhian Siches and their leaders === {{colbegin|3}} * Khortytsia Sich (1556–1557) ** Wężyk Chmielnicki (1534-1569) * Tomakivka Sich (1564–1593) ** Wężyk Chmielnicki (1534-1569) ** [[Michał Wiśniowiecki (1529–1584)]] (1569–1570) ** [[Iwan Swiergowski]] (1574) ** [[Samiylo Kishka]] (1574–1575) ** [[Bohdan Ruzhynski]] (1575–1576) ** [[Jacub Szach]] (1576–1578) ** [[Ioan Potcoavă]] (1577–1578) ** [[Lukyan Chornynsky]] (1578) ** [[Jan Oryszowski]] (1581) ** [[Samuel Zborowski]] (1581–1584) ** [[Bohdan Mokoshynsky]] (1584) ** [[Mykhailo Ruzhynski]] (1585) ** [[Zakhar Kulaha]] (1585) ** [[Bohdan Mokoshynsky]] (1586) ** [[Lukyan Chornynsky]] (1586) ** [[Demyan Skalozub]] (1585–1589) ** [[Krzysztof Kosiński]] (−1593) * Bazavluk Sich, (1593–1638) ** [[Hryhoriy Loboda]] (1593–1596) ** [[Bohdan Mokoshynsky]] (1594) ** [[Jan Oryszowski]] (1596) ** [[Severyn Nalyvaiko]] (1596) ** [[Khrystofor Netkovsky]] (1596–1597) ** [[Hnat Vasylevych]] (1596–1597) ** [[Tykhin Baybuza]] (1597–1598) ** [[Fedir Polous]] (1598) ** [[Semen Skalozub]] (1599) ** [[Samiylo Kishka]] (1600–1602) ** [[Havrylo Krutnevych]] (1602–1603) ** [[Ivan Kutskovych]] (1602–1603) ** [[Ivan Kosyi]] (1603) ** [[Kaletnyk Andriyevych]] (1609–1610) ** [[Olifer Holub]] (1622–1623) ** [[Mykhailo Doroshenko]] (1623–1625) ** [[Kaletnyk Andriyevych]] (1624–1625) ** [[Marek Zhmaylo]] (1625) ** [[Mykhailo Doroshenko]] (1625–1628) ** [[Hryhoriy Chorny]] (1628–1630) ** [[Ivan Sulyma]] (1628–1629) ** [[Lev Ivanovych]] (1629–1630) ** [[Taras Fedorovych|Taras Tryasylo]] (1630) ** [[Timothy Orendarenko]] (1630–1631) ** [[Semen Perevyazka]] (1632) ** [[Timothy Orendarenko]] (1632–1633) ** [[Ivan Petrizhitsky-Kulaga]] (1632) ** [[Andriy Didenko]] (1633) ** [[Dorothy Doroshenko]] (1633) ** [[Ivan Sulyma]] (1633–1635) ** [[Sava Kononovych]] (1637) ** [[Pavlo Pavlyuk]] (1637) ** [[Illyash Karayimovych]] (1638) ** [[Yakiv Ostryanyn]] (1638) ** [[Dmytro Hunia]] (1638) * Mykytska Sich (1639–1652) ** [[Karpo Pivtora-Kozhukha]] (1639–1642) ** [[Maksym Hulak]] (1642–1646) ** establishment of the [[Hetman of Zaporizhian Host]] * Chortomlyk Sich (1652–1709) * Kamyanets Sich (1709–1711) * Oleshky Sich (1711–1734) * Nova Podpolnenska Sich (1734–1775) * [[Danubian Sich]] (1775–1828) {{colend}} == See also == * [[History of the Cossacks]] * [[Zaporozhian Cossacks]] * [[Tatar invasions]] == References == {{Reflist}} == External links == * [http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CZ%5CA%5CZaporozhianSich.htm Zaporozhian Sich] – Encyclopedia of Ukraine {{Coord missing|Ukraine}} [[Category:Zaporizhian Sich| ]]'