The Zaporozhian Substrate in the Space of 'Non-Zaporozhian' Alexander Fortress (1770s/80s)

Abstract

The continuous urban history of modern Zaporizhia dates back to the times of Alexander Fortress (1770), one of the strongholds of the Dnieper Line built by the government of the Russian Empire in the lands of the Zaporozhian Cossacks. This indisputable fact serves to irritate the public opinion in the context of the current Russian-Ukrainian conflict, and the date of the city’s founding has become the object of revisionism and pseudo-academic falsifications. The factor of the Zaporozhian Cossacks is used exclusively to emphasize the drastic ‘otherness’ of the area’s new population. The article employs a representative set of historical sources, primarily documentary, cartographic, and narrative, to prove the groundlessness of such statements. It clarifies the real role and place of Zaporozhian wintering quarters as direct neighbors and predecessors of Alexander Fortress. Analysis of specific life situations and biographical material allows the author to show the continuous presence of Cossacks among the population of the fortress and its suburbs. In particular, married Cossacks were among the first burghers and traders to settle in the forstadt, looking for a safe place to live during yet another Russo-Turkish war (1768-1774). A significant proportion of the so-called ‘yokemen’ (hard-labor convicts) were also Cossacks from among the convicted haidamaks. Immediately after the liquidation of the Sich (1775), the fortress became the seat of the administration of Kinskovodsky District, including Zaporozhian self-government. It also served as one of the bases of operations for the Dnieper Cossack pilots. The study makes it possible to rethink the place of Zaporozhian Cossack heritage in the past of the city of Zaporizhia (Alexandrovsk): it shows that in the circumstances of the imperial conquest of the region in the late 18th century the Cossack population was often not only an antagonist of, but also a direct participant in the colonization process.