Don Cossacks
Don Cossacks (Russian: Донские казаки, romanized: Donskiye kazaki, Ukrainian: Донські козаки, romanized: Donski kozaky) or Donians (Russian: донцы, romanized: dontsy, Ukrainian: донці, romanized: dontsi), are Cossacks who settled along the middle and lower Don. Historically, they lived within the former Don Cossack Host (Russian: Донское казачье войско, romanized: Donskoe kazache voysko, Ukrainian: Головне Донське військо, romanized: Holovne Dons'ke viis'ko), which was either an independent or an autonomous democratic republic in present-day Southern Russia and parts of the Donbas region of Ukraine, from the end of the 16th century until 1918. As of 1992, by presidential decree of the Russian Federation, Cossacks can be enrolled on a special register. A number of Cossack communities have been reconstituted to further Cossack cultural traditions, including those of the Don Cossack Host. Don Cossacks have had a rich military tradition - they played an important part in the historical development of the Russian Empire and participated in most of its major wars.
"Don Cossack" redirects here. For the racehorse, see Don Cossack (horse).Total population
1,500,000 in 1918; 140,000 in 2010[2]
Etymology[edit]
The name Cossack (Russian: казак, romanized: kazak; Ukrainian: козак, romanized: kozak) was widely used to characterise "free people" (compare Turkic qazaq, which means "free men") as opposed to others with different standing in feudal society (i.e., peasants, nobles, clergy, etc.). The name "cossack" was also applied to migrants, free-booters and bandits.[4]
It has the same etymological root as "Kazakh", an unrelated Central Asian Turkic people.
[5][6]
History[edit]
Early history[edit]
More than two thousand years ago the Scythians lived on the banks of the river Don. Many Scythian tombs have been found in this area.[11] Subsequently, the area was inhabited by the Khazars and the Polovtsians. From the 16th to the 18th centuries the steppes of the Don River were part of "the Wild Field" (Russian: Дикое Поле). In the late Middle Ages the area was under the general control of the Golden Horde, and numerous Tatar (especially Crimean Tatar) armed groups roamed there, attacking and enslaving merchants and settlers.[12]
The first Christians to settle on the territories around the Don were the Jassi and Kosogi tribes[13] of the Khazar Kaghanate of the 7th to 10th centuries. After the fall of the Golden Horde in 1480, more colonists started to expand onto this land from the Novgorod Republic[14] after the Battle of Shelon (1471), and from the neighboring Principality of Ryazan.[15] Until the end of the 16th century, the Don Cossacks inhabited independent free territories.[16]
15th–17th centuries[edit]
Cossacks of Ryazan are mentioned in 1444 as defenders of Pereslavl-Zalessky against the units of Golden Horde and in a letter of Ivan III of Russia from 1502. After the Golden Horde fell in 1480, the area around the Don River was divided between the Crimean west side and the Nogai east side. On their border since the 14th century the vast steppe of the Don region was populated by those people who were not satisfied with the existing social order, by those who did not recognize the power of the land-owners, by runaway serfs, by those who longed for freedom. In the course of time they turned into a united community and were called "the Cossacks". At first the main occupation of these small armed detachments was hunting and fishing—as well as the constant struggle against the Turks and the Tatars who attacked them. Only later they began to settle and work on the land.
Religion[edit]
Most Don Cossacks are Russian Orthodox, who consider themselves guardians of the faith. However, a large percentage of Don Cossacks were Starovers.[43] Even in 1903, a minimum of 150,000 from a total of the 2,500,000 parish members of the Don Eparchy were Starovers.[44] Ataman count Matvei Platov was of a Popovtsy Old Believers Family.[45] Don Cossacks were tolerant of other religions – with the exception of Jews – and accepted Buddhists, Muslims, Old Believers, and pagans into their communities.[46]