Cossack

Ukraine

1. History

It is not clear when the Slavic people started settling in the lower reaches of major rivers such as the Don and the Dnieper. 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 known that they inherited a lifestyle that persisted there long before, such as those of the Turkic Cumans and the Circassian Kassaks (also spelled Kassogs).

Proto-Cossack groups very likely came into existence within the territories of today's Ukraine in the mid-13th century. In 1261 some Slavic people living in the area between the Dniester and the Volga were mentioned in Ruthenian chronicles. Historical records of the Cossacks before the 16th century are scant. It is known that Don Cossacks, in 1380, gave the icon of the Virgin Mary to the Dmitry Donskoy[citation needed]. 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, Grand Duchy of Moscow or the Khanate of Crimea).

By the 16th century these Cossack societies merged into two independent territorial organisations as well as other smaller, still detached groups.

The Cossacks of Zaporizhia, centered around the lower bends of Dnieper, inside the territory of modern Ukraine, with the fortified capital of Zaporozhian Sich. They were formally recognised as an independent state, the Zaporozhian Host, by a treaty with Poland in 1649.

The Don Cossack State, on the river Don, separated from the Grand Duchy of Moscow by the Nogai states, vassals of the Ottoman Empire. The capital of the Don Cossack State was Cherkassk, later moved to Novocherkassk.

2. Philosophy

3. Contents

1) Technic

Cossack which has diverse techniques is a martial art to get the better of the enemy by strikes of hands and legs, throwing of the opponent to the ground, seizures, releases, painful suffocation techniques and the like. It has five officially registered rules of wrestling competition. From the novices to the masters, all fights are carried out without a special guard for the protection of fatal points or gloves. In 1998, it received the status - "National Martial Art of Ukraine".

2) Style

3) Rank & Grade

4. Organization