Zaporizhia

Zaporizhia (Ukrainian: Запорі́жжя [zɑpoˈriʒʒjɑ]), or Zaporozhye (Russian: Запоро́жье [zəpɐˈroʐjɪ], transcript. Zaporozh'ye, formerly Alexandrovsk (Russian: Алекса́ндровск [ɐlʲɪˈksandrəfsk])) is a city in southeastern Ukraine, situated on the banks of the Dnieper River. It is the administrative center of the Zaporizhia Oblast (province). Administratively, it is incorporated as a city of oblast significance and serves as an administrative center of Zaporizhia Raion, though it does not belong to the raion. Currently the city is the sixth largest in Ukraine. Population: 770,672 (2013 est.).

Geography

The city is located in south-eastern Ukraine and lies along banks of the Dnieper river now. The city covers 334 km² at an elevation of 50 m above sea level.

In the middle of the city there is the 12 km × 2 km (7.5 mi × 1.2 mi) island of Khortytsia, which splits the river into two streams called the New and Old Dnieper. The New Dnieper is about 800 m (2600 feet) wide and the Old Dnieper is about 200 m (650 feet). There are also several small rivers in the city, which enter the Dnieper: Sukha and Mokra Moskovka, Kushuhum, and Verkhnia Khortytsia.

Zaporizhia (region)

Zaporizhia (Ukrainian: Запоріжжя, Zaporizhzhya; Polish: Zaporoże or Dzikie Pola (Wild Fields or Savage Steppe), Russian: Запоро́жье, Zaporozhye) is a historical region in central Ukraine below the Dnieper River rapids (Ukrainian: пороги porohy, Russian: пороги porogi) - hence the name, literally "(territory) beyond the rapids"). From the 16th to the 18th centuries the Zaporizhia region functioned as semi-independent quasi-republican Cossack territory centred on the Zaporizhian Sich.

It corresponds to modern Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, major parts of Zaporizhia and Kirovohrad Oblasts, as well as parts of Kherson and Donetsk Oblasts of Ukraine.

History

Zaporizhia was the name of the territory of the Cossack state, the Zaporozhian Host, whose fortified capital was the Zaporizhian Sich. From the 15th century to the late 17th century it was fought over by Muscovy, the Polish Kingdom and the Ottoman Empire, as well as by the Hetmans of Central Ukraine (after 1648). For most of that time it was technically controlled by Poland, but it was rarely peaceful, and was widely regarded (from the perspective of the claimant governments) as turbulent and dangerous, the refuge of outlaws and bandits. In the eyes of the vast majority of the Ukrainian people, however, it was a promised land of heroes and free men (as later described in the poetry of Taras Shevchenko).In addition to many invasions by neighbouring countries, inhabitants of the Zaporozhe had to deal with an influx of new settlers from all directions and conflicts between the szlachta (Polish nobility) and independent Cossacks, who enjoyed a kind of autonomy in the region. Further, Cossacks often raided the nearby rich lands of the Ottoman Empire,retaliating for the constant slave raids of the Tatars against Ukrainian territories as far west as Galicia, in return provoking raids by Ottoman vassals, the Tatars.

Zaporizhia (disambiguation)

Zaporizhia is a city in Ukraine.

Zaporizhzhia, Zaporozhzhia, Zaporozhye may also refer to:

Geographic entity

Other

See also