Black Sea Cossack Host
Encyclopedia
Black Sea Cossack Host , also known as Chernomoriya , was a Cossack host
Cossack host
A Cossack host or Cossack viysko was an administrative subdivision of Cossacks in Imperial Russia...

 of the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

 created in 1787 in the southern Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

 from former Zaporozhian Cossacks. In the 1790s, the host was re-settled to the Kuban River
Kuban River
The Kuban River is a river in Russia, in the North Caucasus region. It flows mostly through Krasnodar Krai but also in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, Stavropol Krai and the Republic of Adygea....

. It comprised the Caucasus Fortified Defence Line from the inlet of the Kuban River
Kuban River
The Kuban River is a river in Russia, in the North Caucasus region. It flows mostly through Krasnodar Krai but also in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, Stavropol Krai and the Republic of Adygea....

 to the inlet of the Bolshaya Laba River.

History

The Black Sea host played a crucial role in the Russo-Turkish War of 1787–1797. As a result, Catherine II
Catherine II of Russia
Catherine II, also known as Catherine the Great , Empress of Russia, was born in Stettin, Pomerania, Prussia on as Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg...

 rewarded them with the Kuban
Kuban
Kuban is a geographic region of Southern Russia surrounding the Kuban River, on the Black Sea between the Don Steppe, Volga Delta and the Caucasus...

 land in the North Caucasus
North Caucasus
The North Caucasus is the northern part of the Caucasus region between the Black and Caspian Seas and within European Russia. The term is also used as a synonym for the North Caucasus economic region of Russia....

 (between the Kuban River
Kuban River
The Kuban River is a river in Russia, in the North Caucasus region. It flows mostly through Krasnodar Krai but also in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, Stavropol Krai and the Republic of Adygea....

 and the Sea of Azov
Sea of Azov
The Sea of Azov , known in Classical Antiquity as Lake Maeotis, is a sea on the south of Eastern Europe. It is linked by the narrow Strait of Kerch to the Black Sea to the south and is bounded on the north by Ukraine mainland, on the east by Russia, and on the west by the Ukraine's Crimean...

) by her decree of June 30, 1792. At that time, the area was an uninhabited steppe
Steppe
In physical geography, steppe is an ecoregion, in the montane grasslands and shrublands and temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biomes, characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes...

 region over which the Russian Empire had gained control in 1784.

Renamed the Black Sea Cossack Host in honor of the victories during the Russo-Turkish War, a total of 25,000 people made the migration in 1792-1794 from Ukraine, settling in the regions north of the Kuban River. Initially, Zaporozhian traditions, such as the democratic election of the host government, were adhered to by the Black Sea Cossacks, but in time many were replaced by Russian ones.

Instead of a central Sich
Sich
A sich is the administrative and military centre for Cossacks and especially the Zaporizhian Cossacks. It is derived from the Ukrainian word siktý, "to chop", meaning to clear a forest for an encampment, or to build a fortification with the trees that have been chopped down.The Zaporizhian Sich...

, they formed a defence line from the inlet of the Kuban River into the Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...

 to the inlet of the Bolshaya Laba River, and colonised the land north of this line with stanitsa
Stanitsa
Stanitsa is a village inside a Cossack host . Stanitsas were the primary unit of Cossack hosts.Historically, the stanitsa was a unit of economic and political organisation of the Cossack peoples primarily in the southern regions of the Russian Empire.Much of the land was held in common by the...

s.

An administrative centre of Yekaterinodar
Krasnodar
Krasnodar is a city in Southern Russia, located on the Kuban River about northeast of the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk. It is the administrative center of Krasnodar Krai . Population: -Name:...

 (literally "Cathrine's gift") was set up. At the same time, however, the Black Sea Cossacks also sent men to many major campaigns of the Russian Empire, such as the suppression of the Polish Kościuszko Uprising
Kosciuszko Uprising
The Kościuszko Uprising was an uprising against Imperial Russia and the Kingdom of Prussia led by Tadeusz Kościuszko in Poland, Belarus and Lithuania in 1794...

 in 1794, the ill-fated Persian Expedition of 1796
Persian Expedition of 1796
The Persian Expedition of Catherine the Great, alongside the Persian Expedition of Peter the Great, was one of the Russo-Persian Wars of the 18th century which did not entail any lasting consequences for either belligerent....

 where nearly half of the Cossacks died from hunger and disease, and sent the 9th plastun
Plastun
A Plastun or plastoon was a Cossack foot scouting and sentry military unit. Originally they were part of the Black Sea Cossack Host and then later in the 19th and 20th centuries Kuban Cossack Host.-Early History:...

 (infantry) and 1st joint cavalry regiments as well as the first Leib Guards (elite) sotnia
Sotnia
Sotnia was a traditional division of the Cossack regiments. For example from earliest records of the Zaporizhian Sich, and means 'a hundred'. It is equivalent to company ....

 to aid the Russian Army in the Patriotic War of 1812. Further participation of the new host was in the Russo-Persian War (1826-1828) where they stormed the last remaining Ottoman bastion of the northern Black Sea Coast, the fortress of Anapa
Anapa
Anapa is a town in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, located on the northern coast of the Black Sea near the Sea of Azov. It was originally a seaport for the Natkhuay tribe of the Adyghe people. Population: The town boasts a number of sanatoria and hotels...

, which fell on June 12, 1828. In the course of the Crimean War
Crimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...

, the Cossacks foiled attempts by allied forces to land on the Taman Peninsula
Taman peninsula
The Taman Peninsula is a peninsula in the present-day Krasnodar Krai of Russia. It is bounded on the north by the Sea of Azov, on the west by the Strait of Kerch and on the south by the Black Sea. The peninsula has evolved over the past two millennia from a chain of islands into the peninsula it is...

, whilst the 2nd and 5th plastun battalions took part in the heroic Defence of Sevastopol.

As the years went by, the Black Sea Cossacks continued their systematic penetrations into the mountainous regions of the Northern Caucasus. Taking an active part in the finale of the Russian conquest of the Northern Caucasus
Caucasian War
The Caucasian War of 1817–1864, also known as the Russian conquest of the Caucasus was an invasion of the Caucasus by the Russian Empire which ended with the annexation of the areas of the North Caucasus to Russia...

 they settled the regions each time these were conquered. To aid them, a total of 70,000 additional ex-Zaporozhians from the Bug, Yekaterinoslav, and finally the Azov Cossack Host
Azov Cossack Host
Azov Cossack Host was a Cossack host that existed on the northern shore of the Sea of Azov, between 1832 and 1862.The host was made up of several Cossack groups who were re-settled there. The most numerous were the former Danubian Sich Cossacks, who previously returned to Russian Patronage in 1828...

 migrated there in the mid 19th century. All three of the former were necessary to be removed to vacate space for the colonisation of New Russia, and with the increasing weakness of the Ottoman Empire as well as the formation of independent buffer state
Buffer state
A buffer state is a country lying between two rival or potentially hostile greater powers, which by its sheer existence is thought to prevent conflict between them. Buffer states, when authentically independent, typically pursue a neutralist foreign policy, which distinguishes them from satellite...

s in the Balkans, the need for further Cossack presence has ended. They made the migration to the Kuban in 1860 and merged with the Caucasus Line Cossack Host
Caucasus Line Cossack Host
Caucasus Line Cossack Host was a Cossack host created in 1832 in the Northern Caucasus. Together with the Black Sea Cossack Host it defended the Caucasus Fortified Defense Line from the inlet of Terek River to the inlet of Kuban River.In 1860 it was split into the Kuban Cossack Host and Terek...

, which consisted of migrated Don Cossack elements. Finally in 1864, the Black Sea Cossacks and the Azov Cossacks were united into the Kuban Cossack Host, ninety years after the Zaporozhian Sich was destroyed.

Administration

Upon creation, the territory of the host was governed by the military government. Later, a dedicated military executive office was created, which was headed by the host's ataman
Ataman
Ataman was a commander title of the Ukrainian People's Army, Cossack, and haidamak leaders, who were in essence the Cossacks...

. In military matters, this office was subordinated to Kherson
Kherson
Kherson is a city in southern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Kherson Oblast , and is designated as its own separate raion within the oblast. Kherson is an important port on the Black Sea and Dnieper River, and the home of a major ship-building industry...

's military governor and, since 1802, to the Crimean Inspectorate. In civil matters, the office was subordinated to the Governor of Taurida Governorate
Taurida Governorate
The Taurida Governorate or Government of Taurida was a historical governorate of the Russian Empire. It included the Crimean peninsula and the mainland between the lower Dnieper River and the coasts of the Black Sea and Sea of Azov It was formed after the defunct Taurida Oblast in was abolished in...

.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK