Trip to Khortytsia....

The island has played an important role in the history of Ukraine, specially in the history of the Zaporozhzhian Cossacks. Khortytsia is located within the city limits of Zaporizhzhia. It extends from northwest to southeast for more than 12 km with an average width around 2.5 km.

The island has unique flora and fauna, including oak groves, spruce woods, meadows, and steppe.

I almost forgot that I haven't written about yesterday trip.. 

Yesterday my classmates and I made a little trip to the island in Dnieper river that is in my city. 

This island is called Khortytsia. And now about it's history. :)

 The northern part of the island is very rocky and high (rising 30m above the river bed) in comparison to the southern part, which is low, and often flooded by the waters of the Dnieper. This area is called the "рlavni" and is known for its numerous lakes and brooks (local people call them "zatoky").

In the Early Middle Ages, Khortytsia was a key centre for the trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks. In his treatise De Administrando Imperio, Emperor Constantine VII mentions the island of St. George immediately downstream from the rapids. He reports that, while passing through the rapids, the Rus would be easy prey for the nomadic Pechenegs. Indeed, the Kiev Rus' prince Svyatoslav I was attacked and killed during his attempt to cross the rapids in 972.

The very first stronghold known as a Sich was located on the island of Small Khortytsia and was established by the Volyn' prince Dmytro Vyshnevetsky. The Small Hortytsia Island is 20 times smaller than Khortytsia itself. The first Khortytsia Sich existed six years (1552-1558). There are few others locations downstream past the rapids (Zaporizhia area) where the Zaporizhian Sich was located. There are eight of them: Bazavluk (1593-1630), Mykytyn (1628-1652), Chortomlyk (1652-1709), Kamin (1709-1711), Oleshkiv (1711-1734), Pidpilna (1734-1775). All these places were at river crossings. The uprising led by Bohdan Khmelnytsky was started at the Mykytyn Sich in 1648. Legends state, that cossacks wrote the notorious Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks to Sultan Mehmed IV of the Ottoman Empire on Khortytsia. In the 1775, the Sich was destroyed by the Russian general Tekhely on the order of Catherine the Great. The Zaporozhian Cossacks as a result were displaced, many eventually settling on the Kuban river in the Caucasus area. These Cossacks became known as Kuban cossacks. A part of the Zaporozhian Cossacks escaped to beyond the Danube to become vassals of the Ottoman Sultan. They dwelt at mouth of the Danube river. In 1830 many of these Cossacks moved and established a new Sich on the Azov sea shore (between Mariupol and Berdiansk).

The last Kosh Otaman (leader) of Zaporizhian Sich Petro Kalnyshevsky was imprisoned at Solovetsky Island Monastery. At that time he was 85 years old. After 25 years in prison he was released and died almost blind at the monastery at age of 113 years.

In 1789, Danzig Mennonites from Prussia were invited by the czar to form settlements on the vast steppes of the Russian Empire. One of these settlements was located on the island of Khortytsia. They farmed on the rich island soil. Some of their profitable business was trade in lumber from the Khortytsia groves and woods.

 

And there are also some photos taken by me ;)