Already in 1492 the Crimean Khan was complaining that the Kiev and Cherkasy Cossacks attacked his ship near Tighina (Bender) and the Grand Duke of Lithuania Alexander I promised to find the guilty among the Cossacks. Cossacks were a sort of a self-defense formations organized against various raids conducted by neighbors.
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He states that they (Cossacks) could have been descendants from the Berlad territory (today in Romania) that was part of the Grand Duchy of Halych, Brodniki, or even the long forgotten Antes. According to Hrushevsky the first mention of Cossacks could be found already in the 14th century however, they were either of Turkic or of undefined origin. In the 15th century, the Cossack society was described as a loose federation of independent communities, often forming local armies, entirely independent from the neighbouring states (of, e.g., Poland, the Grand Duchy of Moscow or the Khanate of Crimea). Historical records of the Cossacks before the 16th century are scant as the history of the Ukrainian lands in that period for various reasons. In 1261 some Slavic people living in the area between the Dniester and the Volga were mentioned in Ruthenian chronicles. In the midst of the growing Moscow and Lithuanian powers, new political entities had appeared in the region such as Moldavia and the Crimean Khanate. However some Turkologists argue that Cossacks are descendants of native Cumans of Ukraine, who lived there long ago before the Mongol invasion. Some historians suggest that the Cossack people were of mixed ethnic origins, descending from Russians, Ukrainians, Poles, Turks, Tatars, and others who settled or passed through the vast Steppe. Non-mainstream theories have ascribed their earlier existence to as early as the tenth century.
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However, Slavic settlements in Southern Ukraine started to appear relatively early during the Bulgar rule, with the earliest ones, like Tsiurupynsk, dating back to 11th century.Įarly "Proto-Cossack" groups very likely came into existence within the territories of today's Ukraine in the mid-13th century as the Golden Horde influence grew weak. It is known that they inherited a lifestyle that persisted there long before, such as those of the Turkic Cumans and the Circassian Kassaks. It is unlikely it could have happened before the 13th century, when the Mongols broke the power of the Bulgars on that territory. It is not clear when the Slavic people started settling in the lower reaches of major rivers such as the Don and the Dnieper.