Sitsch

The Sitsch ( Ukrainian Січ for " Verhau ", "Shack") stands for various fortified administrative centers of the Zaporozhian Cossacks , who were in what is now Ukraine. The highest institution of the Sitsch was the Sitschowa Rada , a kind of highest council and court at the same time.

Overview of the branches

The location of the first branch near Khortytsia

The first Zaporozhian administrative branch was located near Khortyzja, more precisely on a neighboring island called Mala Khortyzja . Over the years, the branch has been relocated several times:

Sitsch Tomakivka (around 1550s to 1593 - destroyed by Tatars near Marhanez )
Sitsch Basawluk (1593–1638 - near Kapuliwka )
Mykytyn (1638-1652)
Sitsch Tschortomlyk (1652–1709 - sunk in the Kachowka reservoir )
Kamjanka (1709–1711 - near Respublikanez , Kherson region )
Oleschky (1711–1734 - Hetman at that time was Kost Hordijenko )
Nowa Sitsch (1734–1775 - near the Kachowka reservoir , was destroyed by order of Catherine II .)

After the end of free Cossacks in 1775, the settlements were abandoned. Some of the Cossacks moved on to the Danube Delta and founded the Danube Cossacks there under Ottoman rule , others were settled at the instigation of the Russian authorities mainly in the western suburbs of the Caucasus ( Kuban area , today Krasnodar region ), where a large number of stanizas arose.

Sitsch as a naval base

Since the Cossacks were also active as a seafaring community (approx. 16th to 18th centuries), some of the branches were also naval bases. A shipyard for warships was built on Mala Khortytsia in 1737.

Back of the naval flag (1734–1775) of the Cossacks (front with black double eagle and stars)
Grigory Gagarin : Cossacks attack Turkish ship (1847)
Cossack boat type Chaika (“seagull”), around 1660, after Guillaume Le Vasseur
Commemorative coin for Hetman Sahaidachnyj

The Cossacks maintained a fleet of "several dozen" Chaikas ( galley-like ships) with approximately the following dimensions : length: about 60 meters, width: 10 to 12 meters, depth about 12 meters. The flag history of today's Ukrainian Navy goes back to the historic Cossack Navy.

literature

Dmytro Jawornyzkyj : History of the Zaporozhian Cossacks. ( available online , Ukrainian)

Web links

Commons : Navy of the Cossacks - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Dan Berest, Запорозька Січ (Zaporozhye, Ukrainian) , History of the Development of Zaporozhian Administrative Centers
Tomakivka Cossack Branch ( Томаківська Січ , Ukrainian)
Basavluk Cossack Branch ( Базавлуцька та Микитинська Січі , Ukrainian)

Individual evidence

↑ Encyclopedia of Ukraine, Volume 4, 1993, entry: Sichova Rada (English)
↑ Cossack settlement Tomakivka Томаківська Січ (Ukrainian)
↑ ^a ^b ^c Basawluk Cossack Branch Базавлуцька та Микитинська Січі (Ukrainian)
^ Geographical Lexicon of the Polish Kingdoms and Other Slavic Countries, Volume X, page 478 (Polish, accessed January 28, 2011)

[1] Encyclopedia of Ukraine, Volume 4, 1993, entry: Sichova Rada (English)

[Tomakiwka-2] Cossack settlement Tomakivka Томаківська Січ (Ukrainian)

[Basawluk-3] Basawluk Cossack Branch Базавлуцька та Микитинська Січі (Ukrainian)

[4] Geographical Lexicon of the Polish Kingdoms and Other Slavic Countries, Volume X, page 478 (Polish, accessed January 28, 2011)