Zaporozhian Sich in the context of "Crimean-Nogai slave raids in Eastern Europe"

The Zaporozhian Cossacks or Zaporizhian Cossacks, also known as the Zaporozhian Cossack Army or the Zaporozhian Host (Ukrainian: Військо Запорозьке, romanized: Viisko Zaporozke), were Cossacks who lived beyond (that is, downstream from) the Dnieper Rapids. They were predominantly Ruthenians, but also included other ethnic groups (most notably their legendary Kosh Otaman Ivan Sirko was of Moldavian origin). Along with Registered Cossacks and Sloboda Cossacks, Zaporozhian Cossacks played an important role in the history of Ukraine and the ethnogenesis of Ukrainians.

The Zaporozhian Sich grew rapidly in the 15th century from serfs fleeing the more controlled parts of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The least controlled region, that was located between the Dniester and mid-Volga was first known from the 15th century as the Wild Fields, which was subject to colonization by the Zaporozhian Cossacks. Zaporozhian Host became established as a well-respected political entity with a parliamentary system of government. During the course of the 16th, 17th and well into the 18th century, the Zaporozhian Cossacks were a strong political and military force that challenged the authority of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Tsardom of Russia, and the Crimean Khanate.

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.

Novorossiya Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit (guberniya) of the Russian Empire, which existed in 1764–1783 and again in 1796–1802. It was created soon after the establishment of the Ukrainian fortification line. The governorate was governed according to the "Plan for the Colonization of New Russia Governorate" issued by the Russian Senate. It became the first region in Russia where Catherine the Great allowed foreign Jews to settle.

Most of its territories belonged to the Zaporozhian Sich as well as the Poltava Regiment and Myrhorod Regiment of the Cossack Hetmanate. Its establishment was strategically successful and advantageous for Russia, and after the conclusion of the Russian war against Turkey in 1774 it gave a way for Russia to access the Black Sea and establish an area that became known as Novorossiya ("New Russia"). It was created based on the Military Frontier of the Austrian Empire against the Ottoman Empire and involved many military units from the region that were resettled in Ukraine. The military units included mounted cossacks (or hussars) and mounted pikers (or lancers).

Zaporizhzhia (Ukrainian: Запоріжжя, pronounced [zɐpoˈr⁽ʲ⁾iʒːɐ] ) or Zaporozhzhia (Ukrainian: Запорожжя) is a historical region in central east Ukraine below the Dnieper 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-republican Cossack territory centred on the Zaporozhian Sich. Sometimes the region is referred to as Zaporozhian Sich as well. Zaporizhzhia corresponds to modern Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, major parts of Zaporizhzhia and Kirovohrad Oblasts, as well as parts of Kherson and Donetsk Oblasts of Ukraine.

Novorossiya is a historical name, used during the era of the Russian Empire for an administrative area that would later become the southern mainland of Ukraine: the region immediately north of the Black Sea and Crimea. The name Novorossiya, which means "New Russia", entered official usage in 1764, after the Russian Empire conquered the Crimean Khanate, and annexed its territories, when Novorossiya Governorate (or Province) was founded. Official usage of the name ceased after 1917, when the entire area (minus Crimea) was annexed by the Ukrainian People's Republic, precursor of the Ukrainian SSR.

Novorossiya Governorate was formed in 1764 from military frontier regions and parts of the southern Hetmanate, in anticipation of a war with the Ottoman Empire. It was further expanded by the annexation of the Zaporozhian Sich in 1775. At various times, Novorossiya encompassed the modern Ukraine's regions of the Black Sea littoral (Prychornomoria), Zaporizhzhia, Tavria, the Azov Sea littoral (Pryazovia), the Tatar region of Crimea, the area around the Kuban River, and the Circassian lands.

A Kish otaman (Ukrainian: Кошовий отаман, romanized: Koshovyi otaman, also known as Koshovyi of Zaporozhian Host (Ukrainian: Кошовий Війська Запорозького) was the chief officer (otaman) of Kish of the Zaporozhian Sich in the 16th through 18th centuries.

Ivan Dmytrovych Sirko (c. 1605 – August 11, 1680) was a Zaporozhian Cossack military leader, Koshovyi Otaman of the Zaporozhian Sich and putative co-author of the famous semi-legendary Cossack letter to the Ottoman sultan that inspired the major painting Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks by the 19th-century artist Ilya Repin. He was undefeated in battle and during his career gained fame all over Europe for his exploits against the Ottoman Empire and Crimean Khanate.

The Zaporozhian Cossacks or Zaporizhian Cossacks, also known as the Zaporozhian Cossack Army or the Zaporozhian Host (Ukrainian: Військо Запорозьке, romanized: Viisko Zaporozke), were Cossacks who lived beyond (that is, downstream from) the Dnieper Rapids. They were predominantly Ruthenians, but also included other ethnic groups (most notably their legendary Kosh Otaman Ivan Sirko was of Moldavian origin). Scientific studies conducted on the Zaporozhian Cossack genetics show that their Y-chromosomal genetic makeup forms the southern fragment of East Slavic population, with minimal levels to absence of Caucasian and Asian component in their paternal gene pool. Along with Registered Cossacks and Sloboda Cossacks, Zaporozhian Cossacks played an important role in the history of Ukraine and the ethnogenesis of Ukrainians.

The Zaporozhian Sich grew rapidly in the 15th century from serfs fleeing the more controlled parts of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The least controlled region, that was located between the Dniester and mid-Volga was first known from the 15th century as the Wild Fields, which was subject to colonization by the Zaporozhian Cossacks. Zaporozhian Host became established as a well-respected political entity with a parliamentary system of government. During the course of the 16th, 17th and well into the 18th century, the Zaporozhian Cossacks were a strong political and military force that challenged the authority of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Tsardom of Russia, and the Crimean Khanate.

Ukrainian defensive line was a Russian heavily fortified defensive line on the territory of modern Ukraine built between 1731–1764 on the lands of the Zaporozhian Sich and the Cossack Hetmanate. Built by imperial Russia, it strengthened the defense of the southern borders from Tatar incursions and established military bases in approximation to the Crimea. 285 kilometers in length, it comprised 16 newly-constructed forts and 4 old forts repaired. The first stage was built from 1731–40 and subsequent construction began in the 1740s.