The Zaporozhian Cossacks (Ukrainian: Запорожці Zaporozhtsi) were Cossacks who lived in Zaporozhia, in Central Ukraine. The Zaporozhian Host grew rapidly in the 15th century by serfs fleeing the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth.
The name Zaporozhtsi comes from the location of their fortress, the Sich, in Zaporozhia, the ‘land beyond the rapids’ (from za ‘beyond’ and poróhy ‘river rapids’).
During the course of the 16th, 17th and well into the 18th c...
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The Zaporozhian Cossacks (Ukrainian: Запорожці Zaporozhtsi) were Cossacks who lived in Zaporozhia, in Central Ukraine. The Zaporozhian Host grew rapidly in the 15th century by serfs fleeing the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth.
The name Zaporozhtsi comes from the location of their fortress, the Sich, in Zaporozhia, the ‘land beyond the rapids’ (from za ‘beyond’ and poróhy ‘river rapids’).
During the course of the 16th, 17th and well into the 18th centuries the Zaporozhian Cossacks became a strong political and military force that challenged the authority of Poland-Lithuania, the Ottoman Empire and its vassal the Crimean Khanate, and the Tsardom of Russia. The Host went through a series of conflicts and alliances involving the three powers before being forcibly disbanded in the late 18th century by the Russian Empire.
It is not clear when the first Ukrainian communities on the Lower Dnieper began to form, but it is widely believed this took place prior to the Mongol Invasion of Rus in...
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