Zaporizhzhia (region)
Zaporizhia (
Ukrainian: Запоріжжя,
Zaporizhzhia;
Polish:
Zaporoże or
Dzikie Pola (Wild Fields or Savage Steppe),
Russian: Запоро́жье,
Zaporozhye) is a historical region of
Ukraine. It is situated about the
Dnieper River, below the Dnieper
rapids (
porohy, poroża), hence the name, translated as "territory beyond the rapids". During the
16th to
18th centuries it was an independent
Cossack territory with the centre at
Zaporizhian Sich.
It corresponds to modern
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, major parts of
Zaporizhia and
Kirovohrad Oblasts, as well as parts of
Kherson and
Donetsk Oblasts of Ukraine.
Zaporizhzhia was the name of the territory of the Cossack state, the
Zaporozhian Host, whose fortified capital was the
Zaporizhian Sich. From
15th century to late
17th century it has been fought over by
Muscovy,
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and
Ottoman Empire. For most of that time it was controlled by the Commonwealth, but it was never peaceful, and was widely regarded as turbulent and dangerous, the refuge of outlaws and bandits. In addition to many invasions by neighbouring countries, inhabitants of the Zaporozhe had to deal with influx of new settlers from all directions and conflicts between
szlachta (Polish nobility) and fiercely independent
Cossacks, who withstood repeated Polish attempts to subjugate the region. Further, Cossacks often raided the nearby rich lands of Ottoman Empire, in return provoking raids by Ottoman
vassals, the
Tatars.
After the
1654 Treaty of Pereyaslav, the state became a
suzerainty of
Muscovy, and was split in two. The
Cossack Hetmanate of
Left-bank Ukraine had its capital at
Chyhyryn, and later at
Baturyn and
Hlukhiv.
The more independent Army of Lower Zaporozhia was centered at the Old Sich (
Stara Sich). In 1709, Tsar
Peter I ordered the destruction of the Old Sich, forcing the Zaporozhian Cossacks to flee to
Oleshky, on the Black Sea in Ottoman territory. In 1734, the Russians allowed the Cossacks to re-establish their republic as the Free Lands of the Zaporozhian Host, based at the New Sich (
Nova Sich), but brought in many foreign settlers, and destroyed the Sich for good in 1775, incorporating the territory into
New Russia.
*
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth#Voivodships of Lesser Poland*
Dmytro Yavornytsky, historian of the Zaporozhian Cossacks.
