Zaporizhzhia | |
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| Etymology: Beyond the Dnieper's rapids | |
 Zaporizhzhia (yellow) in modern Ukraine | |
| Coordinates:48°23′N34°43′E / 48.39°N 34.71°E /48.39; 34.71 | |
| Countries | Ukraine |
| Regions | Eastern Ukraine Southern Ukraine |
| Capital | Zaporizhian Sich |
| Largest city | Dnipro |
| Parts | Dnipropetrovsk Oblast,Kirovohrad Oblast,Zaporizhzhia Oblast,Donetsk Oblast,Luhansk Oblast,Kherson Oblast,Mykolaiv Oblast,Rostov Oblast |
Zaporizhzhia (Ukrainian:Запоріжжя,pronounced[zɐpoˈr⁽ʲ⁾iʒːɐ]ⓘ) orZaporozhzhia (Ukrainian:Запорожжя) is a historical region in central eastUkraine below theDnieper rapids (Ukrainian:Дніпрові пороги,romanized: Dniprovi porohy), hence the name,lit. "[territory] beyond the rapids".
From the 16th to the 18th centuries the Zaporizhzhia region functioned as semi-independent quasi-republicanCossack territory centred on theZaporozhian Sich. Sometimes the region is referred to asZaporozhian Sich as well. Zaporizhzhia corresponds to modernDnipropetrovsk Oblast, major parts ofZaporizhzhia andKirovohrad Oblasts, as well as parts ofKherson andDonetsk Oblasts of Ukraine.
The region was officially known asFree lands of the Lower Zaporizhzhia Host (Ukrainian:Вольності Війська Запорозького Низового,Polish:Zaporoże; Dzikie Pola (Wild Fields or Wild Plain),Russian:Запорoжье,romanized: Zaporož'je). Among other names, it was called asWild Fields,Novorossiya (in Russia), and others.[citation needed]
During the 1667truce of Andrusovo, the region was under the condominium of both theTsardom of Muscovy and theKingdom of Poland, and in 1686, with the signing of theTreaty of Perpetual Peace, it passed under Russian suzerainty. In the 1750s, the Russian authorities sanctioned the establishment ofNew Serbia as amilitary frontier in the northwestern portion of the region, right on the border with thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Just before theKoliyivshchyna, the Russian authorities createdNovorossiya Governorate, centered onKremenchuk, which included territories of New Serbia,Slovianoserbia, and northern parts of the Zaporizhzhian region.
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Zaporizhzhia was the name of the territory of the Cossack state, theZaporozhian Host, whose fortified capital was theSich, usually located in theGreat Meadow. From the 15th century to the late 17th century it was fought over byMuscovy, thePolish Kingdom and theOttoman Empire, as well as by the Hetmans ofUpper Ukraine (after 1648). For most of that time it was technically controlled by Poland, but it was rarely peaceful, and was widely regarded (from the perspective of the claimant governments) as turbulent and dangerous, the refuge of outlaws and bandits. In the eyes of the vast majority of the Ukrainian people, however, it was a promised land of heroes and free men (as later described in the poetry of Taras Shevchenko). In addition to many invasions by neighbouring countries, inhabitants of the Zaporozhe had to deal with an influx of new settlers from all directions and conflicts between theszlachta (Polish nobility) and independentCossacks, who enjoyed a kind of autonomy in the region. Further, Cossacks often raided the nearby rich lands of the Ottoman Empire, retaliating for the constant slave raids of the Tatars against Ukrainian territories as far west as Galicia, in return provoking raids by Ottomanvassals, theTatars.
The more independent Army of Lower Zaporozhia was centered at theOld Sich (Stara Sich). In 1709, TsarPeter I ordered the destruction of the Old Sich, forcing the Zaporozhian Cossacks to flee toOleshky, 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 theNew Sich (Nova Sich), but brought in many foreign settlers, anddestroyed the Sich for good in 1775, incorporating the territory intoNovorossiya.
In the population Zaporizhzhia lands in the late 1770s to early 1780s afterliquidation Zaporozhian Sich (1775) (uk) prevailed Ukrainians. In 1779, they accounted for 64.36% of the total population of this region. On the second the place among others ethnic group was occupied by the Greeks (13.76%), followed by Armenians (10.61%) and Russian (8.09%).[1]
Some historians estimate, that an average peasant's hut did not last over 10 years.[2] In the years 1605–1633, for example,Red Ruthenian lands suffered 100,000 people taken captive by the Ottomans, and 24,000 dead; in the first half of the 17th century, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, controlling Zaporizhzhia, lost approximately 300,000 of people due to the Ottoman raids.[2]
The city ofZaporizhzhia was named after the region in 1921, and was previously known asAleksandrovsk.
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