Zaporizhian Sich or Zaporozhian Sech (Ukrainian: Запорозька Січ, Zaporoz'ka Sich) was the center of the Cossacks of Zaporizhzhia. Initially it was a fortified military camp (Sich) created at the Isle of Khortytsia (Mala Khortytsia , Khortytsia Minor) around 1555. The term Sich comes from the verb "to cut" and denotes the way of fortification: by cut forest.
Often the term Zaporizhian Sich is applied to the whole Cossack Hetmanate of Zaporizhzhia of the 16th to 18th centuries. Until the Treaty of Pereyaslavl (1654) the Sich was a cossack republic governed by the Sichova Rada.
The period before it was disbanded in 1709 is sometimes referred to as the Old Sich (Old Sech). From 1734 to 1775 the New Sich (New Sech) existed, disbanded after the failure of the Pugachev Uprising.
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Last updated: 08-23-2005 10:52:31
