Ruthenian language in the context of "Old East Slavic"

The Cossack Hetmanate (Ukrainian: Гетьма́нщина, romanized: Hetmanshchyna; see other names), officially the Zaporozhian Host (Ruthenian: Войско Zапорожскоε; Ukrainian: Військо Запорозьке, romanized: Viisko Zaporozke; Latin: Exercitus Zaporoviensis), was a stratocratic Zaporozhian Cossack state established by Registered Cossacks in Dnieper Ukraine. Its territory was located mostly in region of Central Ukraine, as well as in parts of Belarus and southwestern Russia, and at different points it also incorporated the territories of Zaporozhian Sich to the south. The Hetmanate existed between 1649 and 1764, although its administrative-judicial system persisted until 1781. In different periods it was a vassal of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Ottoman Empire and Russian Empire.

The Hetmanate was founded in the eastern territories of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth by the Treaty of Zboriv, signed on August 18, 1649 by Bohdan Khmelnytsky (Hetman of the Zaporizhian Host) and Adam Kysil (representing Crown Forces), as a result of Khmelnytsky Uprising. Establishment of vassal relations with the Tsardom of Russia in the Treaty of Pereiaslav of 1654 is considered a benchmark of the Cossack Hetmanate in Soviet, Ukrainian, and Russian historiography. The second Pereiaslav Council in 1659 restricted the independence of the Hetmanate, and from the Russian side there were attempts to declare agreements reached with Yurii Khmelnytsky in 1659 as nothing more than the "former Bohdan's agreements" of 1654. The 1667 Treaty of Andrusovo, conducted without any representation from the Cossack Hetmanate, established the borders between the Polish and Russian states, dividing the Hetmanate in half along the Dnieper and putting the Zaporozhian Sich under a formal joint Russian-Polish administration.

A continuous presence of Islam in Belarus began in the 14th century. From this time it was primarily associated with the Lipka Tatars, many of whom settled in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth while continuing their

traditions and religious beliefs. The Lipka Tatars themselves did not call themselves that. They preferred to be called Belarusian Muslims, as they considered themselves more educated and religious than the nomadic Tatars. That is why the Turkic languages spoken by other Tatars did not take root among the Belarusian Tatars. The Belarusian Muslims spoke Old Belarusian, which was the state language in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. But they wrote in Arabic letters. This is how the Arabic script of the Belarusian language appeared. In the 16th century, Circassians came here, in the 19th century (after the Russo-Turkish War) there were many captured Turks here.

Yurii Khmelnytsky (Ruthenian: Юрый Хмелницкій / Юрий Хмелницкий / Юрій Хмелницкій; Ukrainian: Юрій Хмельницький, Polish: Jerzy Chmielnicki, Russian: Юрий Хмельницкий), monastic name Hedeon (1641 – 1685(?)), younger son of the famous Ukrainian Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky and brother of Tymofiy Khmelnytsky, was a Zaporozhian Cossack political and military leader. Although he spent half of his adult life as a monk and archimandrite, he also was Hetman of Ukraine on several occasions — in 1659-1660 and 1678–1681 and starost of Hadiach, becoming one of the most well-known Ukrainian politicians of the "Ruin" period for the Cossack Hetmanate.

A Hetman of Zaporizhian Cossacks is a historical term that has multiple meanings.

Officially the post was known as Hetman of the Zaporizhian Host (Old Ukrainian: Гетман Войска Єго Королевскои Милости Запорозкого, Hetman of His Royal Grace's Zaporozhian Host; Ukrainian: Гетьман Війська Запорозького, romanized: Hetman Viiska Zaporozkoho). Hetman of Zaporizhian Cossacks as a title was not officially recognized internationally until the creation of the Cossack Hetmanate. With the creation of Registered Cossacks units their leaders were officially referred to as Senior of His Royal Grace's Zaporozhian Host (Ukrainian: старший його Королівської Милості Війська Запорозького, Starshyi Yoho Korolivskoi Mylosti Viiska Zaporozkoho; Polish: starszy Wojska J.K.Mci Zaporoskiego). Before 1648 and the establishment of the Cossack Hetmanate there were numerous regional hetmans across the Dnieper-banks, who usually were starostas or voivodes.

The history of Belarus traces the development of the Belarusian people and their political institutions from early Slavic settlements to the modern sovereign republic. In the Early Middle Ages, the territory now called Belarus was home to several independent East Slavic principalities, most notably the Principality of Polotsk, which was an important regional power with a high degree of autonomy and influence on local political traditions.

In the 13th century, the Ruthenian principalities of present-day Belarus became the core of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Ruthenia and Samogitia. Although the state’s political center initially lay in Baltic lands, the East Slavic population soon became dominant, and their language and culture formed the administrative foundation of the Duchy. The main language of administration and law was Ruthenian (Old Belarusian), used in official documents and the Statutes of Lithuania. The Grand Duchy later formed a federal union with Poland, creating the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, where local distinctiveness was maintained through the separate legal system of the Third Statute, despite increasing Polonization of the nobility.

Ivan Stepanovych Mazepa (Old Ukrainian: Іоан(ъ) / Іван(ъ) Мазепа; Ukrainian: Іван Степанович Мазепа; Polish: Jan Mazepa-Kołodyński; 30 March [O.S. 20 March] 1639 – 2 October [O.S. 21 September] 1709) was the Hetman of the Zaporozhian Host and the Left-bank Ukraine in 1687–1708. The historical events of Mazepa's life have inspired many literary, artistic and musical works. He was famous as a patron of the arts.

Mazepa played an important role in the Battle of Poltava (1709), where after learning that Tsar Peter I intended to relieve him as acting hetman of Zaporozhian Host and to replace him with Alexander Menshikov, he defected from his army and sided with King Charles XII of Sweden. The political consequences and interpretation of this defection have resonated in the national histories both of Russia and of Ukraine.

The Cossack Hetmanate (Ukrainian: Гетьма́нщина, romanized: Hetmanshchyna; see other names), officially the Zaporozhian Host (Ruthenian: Войско Zапорожскоε; Ukrainian: Військо Запорозьке, romanized: Viisko Zaporozke; Latin: Exercitus Zaporoviensis), was a stratocratic Zaporozhian Cossack state established by Registered Cossacks in Dnieper Ukraine. Its territory was located mostly in the region of Central Ukraine, as well as in parts of Belarus and southwestern Russia, and at different points it also incorporated the territories of Zaporozhian Sich to the south. The Hetmanate existed between 1648 and 1764, although its administrative-judicial system persisted until 1781. In different periods it was a vassal of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire.

The Hetmanate was founded in the eastern territories of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth by the Treaty of Zboriv, signed on August 18, 1649 by Bohdan Khmelnytsky (Hetman of the Zaporizhian Host) and Adam Kysil (representing Crown Forces), as a result of the Khmelnytsky Uprising. Establishment of vassal relations with the Tsardom of Russia in the Treaty of Pereiaslav of 1654 is considered a benchmark of the Cossack Hetmanate in Soviet, Ukrainian, and Russian historiography. The second Pereiaslav Council in 1659 restricted the independence of the Hetmanate, and from the Russian side there were attempts to declare agreements reached with Yurii Khmelnytsky in 1659 as nothing more than the "former Bohdan's agreements" of 1654. The 1667 Treaty of Andrusovo, conducted without any representation from the Cossack Hetmanate, established the borders between the Polish and Russian states, dividing the Hetmanate in half along the Dnieper and putting the Zaporozhian Sich under a formal joint Russian-Polish administration.