But the Sich itself with its lands became an autonomous region, under the Russian-Polish protectorate.
Afterwards, the Treaty of Pereyaslav brought most of the Ukrainian Cossack state under Russian rule. The increasing social and religious pressure from the Commonwealth caused them to proclaim an independent Cossack Hetmanate, initiated by a rebellion under Bohdan Khmelnytsky in the mid-17th century. The Zaporozhian Sich was initially a vassal of Poland-Lithuania. ”The traditional post-imperial historiography dates the emergence of Cossacks to the 14th or to 15th centuries when two connected groups emerged, the Zaporozhian Sich of the Dnieper and the Don Cossack Host. The origins of the first Cossacks are disputed, though the Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk claimed Khazar origin of Cossacks. Cossack societies exist throughout Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and worldwide. Today self-identification "Cossack" is an important part of cultural heritage of people in modern Ukraine, Southern Russia, Volga, Ural, Siberian regions and the Russian Far East. They inhabited sparsely populated areas and islands in the lower Dnieper, Don, Terek, Ural basins, and played an important role in the historical development of both Russia and Ukraine. Freebase (0.00 / 0 votes) Rate this definition:Ĭossacks, are a group of predominantly East Slavic people who originally were members of democratic, semi-military and semi-naval in Southern Russia and in the Ukraine.