Lumen 2018

The Steppes in Flames In the middle of the 16 th century, a new nation called the Cos- sacks appeared in the steppes of Ukraine. It had already been cus- tomary for the people who lived in those regions to leave in the spring and summer to go to the area of the lower Dnieper in order to fish and hunt there. These people were called the Cossacks or the Zaporozcy (from the rocky rapids called porohy on the lower Dnieper). In this country, they enjoyed unbridled freedom and could prowl through the steppes unhindered by any obstacles and sail on the rivers in canoes called czajki. From there, they could make expeditions to the Crimea and the Black Sea. They could reach as far as the Bosporus Strait and Constantinople and loot the Turks and the Tartars. They also had to be prepared to defend themselves against attacks or acts of revenge. Such a need turned the Cossacks into a paramilitary organization divided into regi- ments, which were led by an ataman , i.e., hetman [in Polish: com- mander-in-chief]. The ataman had absolute power. Those who disobeyed him could be beheaded or impaled. 126 The main Cossack camp was the so-called Sich [Pol. Sicz]. It was a fortified outpost set up in turn on various islands on the Dnieper, among others on Chortyca. It attracted masses of peasants from Czerkasy, Kaniow, Braclaw, Volhynia, Podolia, as well as from the territories around Lublin, from Mazovia, Wielkopolska [Great Poland], Moldova, Walachia, Crimea, the Grand Duchy of Muscovy, and even Germany. Thus, Zaporoze, i.e., the territories beyond the rapids of the Dnieper, quickly grew in power and played an impor- tant role in the defense of the southeastern border of Poland against the attacks of the Turks or the Tartars. But Zaporoze could also stir up conflicts with the Turks and the Tartars as well as threaten Poland. And this had been the case many times before during the Cossack uprisings: in 1591 under the leadership of Christopher Kosinski, in 1594 under the leadership of Semen Nalevayko, in 1630 under Taras Fedorowicz, in 1635 under Sulima, and in 1637 under the leadership of Paul Pawluk. There were more Cossack uprisings later led by, in S TANISLAUS P APCZYNSKI 70