History of the Cossacks

Cossack Mamay
the ideal image of Cossack in Ukrainian folklore.
It is not clear when new Slavic people apart from Brodnici and Berladniki starte
d settling in the lower reaches of major rivers such as the Don and the Dnieper
after the demise of the Khazar state. It is unlikely it could have happened befo
re the 13th century, when the Mongols broke the power of the Cumans, who had ass
imilated the previous population on that territory. It is known that new settler
s inherited a lifestyle that persisted there long before, such as those of the T
urkic Cumans and the Circassian Kassaks.[28] However, Slavic settlements in Sout
hern Ukraine started to appear relatively early during the Cuman rule, with the
earliest ones, likeTsiurupynsk, dating back to the 11th century.
Early "Proto-Cossack" groups are generally reported to have come into existence
within the present-dayUkraine in the mid-13th century as the influence of Cumans
grew weak though some have ascribed their origins to as early as the tenth cent
ury.[29] Some historians suggest that the Cossack people were of mixed ethnic or
igins, descending from Russians, Ukrainians, Moldavians, Poles, Turks, Tatars, a
nd others who settled or passed through the vast Steppe.[30] However some Turkol
ogists argue that Cossacks are descendants of native Cumans of Ukraine, who live
d there long ago before the Mongol invasion.[31]
In the midst of the growing Moscow and Lithuanian powers, new political entities
had appeared in the region such as Moldavia and the Crimean Khanate. In 1261 so
me Slavic people living in the area between the Dniester and the Volga were ment
ioned in Ruthenian chronicles. Historical records of the Cossacks before the 16t
h century are scant as the history of the Ukrainian lands in that period for var
ious reasons.
As early as the 15th century a few individuals ventured into the proverbial "Wil
d Fields," the southern frontier regions of Ukraine separating Poland-Lithuania
from the Crimean Khanate, which was a naturally rich and fertile region teeming
with cattle, wild animals, and fish. These ventures went on short-term expeditio
ns to acquire the region's natural wealth and this mode of existing farming, hunting
, then returning home in the winter or perhaps remaining permanently came to be know
n as the Cossack way of life.[32]
Ottoman Turks in battle against the Cossacks, 1592
In the 15th century, the Cossack society was described as a loose federation of
independent communities, often forming local armies, entirely independent from t
he neighbouring states (of, e.g., Poland, the Grand Duchy of Moscow or the Khana
te of Crimea).[33] According to Hrushevsky the first mention of Cossacks could b
e found already in the 14th century; however, they were either of Turkic or of u
ndefined origin.[34] Hrushevsky states that Cossacks could have descended from t
he long forgotten Antes, or groups from the Berlad territory in present-dayRoman
ia, then a part of the Grand Duchy of Halych, Brodniki. There, Cossacks may have
served as self-defense formations, organized to defend against raids conducted
by neighbors. By 1492, the Crimean Khan complained that Kanev and Cherkasy Cossa
cks attacked his ship near Tighina (Bender), and the Grand Duke of Lithuania Ale
xander I promised to find the guilty among the Cossacks. Sometime in the 16th ce
ntury there appeared the old UkrainianBallad of Cossack Holota about a Cossack n
ear Kiliya.[35][36]
By the 16th century these Cossack societies merged into two independent territor
ial organisations as well as other smaller, still detached groups:

The Cossacks of Zaporizhia, centered on the lower bends of Dnieper, insi
de the territory of modern Ukraine, with the fortified capital of Zaporozhian Si
ch. They were formally recognised as an independent state, the Zaporozhian Host,
by a treaty with Poland in 1649.

The Don Cossack State, on the river Don. The capital of the Don Cossack
State was initially Razdory, then moved to Cherkassk, later moved toNovocherkass
k.

In addition to these two, one finds mention of the less well-known Tatar Cossack
s such as Na aybklr and Meschera (mishari) Cossacks, of whom Sary Azman was the first D
on ataman and which not only were assimilated by Don Cossacks, but had their own
irregular Bashkir and Meschera Host up to the end of the 19th century.[37] Kalm
yk and Buryat Cossacks should be mentioned as well.[38] The Gypsy Cossacks are t
he least known ones now.