Not to be confused with Kazakhs. Not to be confused ukrainian muslim dating Cassock.

East Slavic-speaking people who became known as members of democratic, self-governing, semi-military communities, predominantly located in Eastern and Southern Ukraine and in Southern Russia. The origins of the first Cossacks are disputed, though the 1710 Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk claimed Khazar origin. The Don Cossack Host, which had been established by the 16th century, allied with the Tsardom of Russia. By the 18th century Cossack hosts in the Russian Empire occupied effective buffer zones on its borders. The expansionist ambitions of the Empire relied on ensuring the loyalty of Cossacks, which caused tension given their traditional exercise of freedom, democracy, self-rule, and independence.

Similar to the knights of medieval Europe in feudal times or the tribal Roman auxiliaries, the Cossacks came to military service having to obtain charger horses, arms and supplies at their own expense. During the Russian Civil War, Don and Kuban Cossacks were the first people to declare open war against the Bolsheviks. Cossack Mamay–the ideal image of Cossack in Ukrainian folklore. In written sources the name is first attested in Codex Cumanicus from the 13th century. In English, “Cossack” is first attested in 1590. Early “Proto-Cossack” groups are generally reported to have come into existence within the present-day Ukraine in the mid-13th century as the influence of Cumans grew weaker, though some have ascribed their origins to as early as the tenth century.