Don Cossacks
Sign in to saveAlso known as Don Cossack Host
ethnic group that originated in Southern Russia
Key facts
- Russia rostov and volgograd oblasts
- 1,500,000 in 1918; 140,000 in 2010
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Population
- 48134
- Image
- Донские казаки ст. Ново-Николаевской, начало XX в.jpg
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- native label
- донцы
- Commons category
- Don Cossacks
Sources (1)
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Article
Don Cossacks (Russian: Донские казаки, romanized: Donskiye kazaki, Ukrainian: Донські козаки, romanized: Donski kozaky) or Donians (Russian: донцы, romanized: dontsy, Ukrainian: донці, romanized: dontsi), are Cossacks who settled along the middle and lower Don. Historically, they lived within the former Don Cossack Host (Russian: Донское казачье войско, romanized: Donskoe kazache voysko, Ukrainian: Головне Донське військо, romanized: Holovne Dons'ke viis'ko), which was either an independent or an autonomous democratic polity in present-day Southern Russia and parts of the Donbas region of Ukraine, from the end of the 16th century until 1918.
As of 1992, by presidential decree of the Russian Federation, Cossacks can be enrolled on a special register. A number of Cossack communities have been reconstituted to further Cossack cultural traditions, including those of the Don Cossack Host. Don Cossacks have had a rich military tradition - they played an important part in the historical development of the Russian Empire and participated in most of its major wars.