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Khanate Ukraine

Khanate Ukraine was a Ukrainian Cossack state entity under the protectorate (vassalage) of the Crimean Khanate and the Ottoman Empire, existing on Right-Bank Ukraine and between the Dniester and Southern Buh rivers from roughly the mid-1680s to the early 1720s. The term encompasses a series of hetmans appointed at the behest of the Sultan and the Crimean Khan (Teodor Sulymenko, Yakym Samchenko, Stepan Lozynskyi-Stetsyk, Ivan Bahatyi, Petro Ivanenko-Sulyma, and subsequently exile hetmans under the Treaties of the Pruth and Constantinople, up to Pylyp Orlyk and the seat at Oleshky Sich).

Overview

The idea of Cossack Ukraine under an Ottoman-Crimean protectorate dates back to 1650–1651, when Bohdan Khmelnytsky signed an agreement on Ottoman protection (which did not enter into force due to the minority of Sultan Mehmed IV). Following the Truce of Andrusovo (1667) and the Treaties of Buchach (1672) and Żurawno (1676), Hetman Petro Doroshenko proclaimed "vassalage to the Sultan" (1668), though his power collapsed under pressure from Moscow and Poland.

Specifically, Khanate Ukraine as a territorial entity began in 1684 when Sultan Mehmed IV, on the recommendation of the Crimean Khan, appointed Cossack Colonel Teodor Sulymenko (Sulymka) as Hetman of Ukraine, with his residence (Yahorlyk in Left-Bank Transnistria) under Crimean Khanate control. A series of subsequent "Khanate Hetmans" (Yakym Samchenko, Stepan Lozynskyi-Stetsyk, Ivan Bahatyi) held Ottoman-controlled Right-Bank Ukraine until the Treaty of Karlowitz (1699), which abolished the post of "Hetman in the service of the Sublime Porte."

In the early 18th century, Khanate Ukraine became a principal center of resistance against Moscow: in 1692, Petro Ivanenko (Sulyma-Petryk) concluded a treaty with the Crimean Khan on "eternal peace, brotherhood, and joint defense against Moscow and Poland"; in 1704 it became part of united Ukraine under the mace of Ivan Mazepa (1704–1708). After the Battle of Poltava (1709), Mazepa, Charles XII, and subsequently senior officers, Cossacks, and Sich Zaporozhians found refuge in Khanate Ukraine (Bender, Varnitsa). In 1710, Pylyp Orlyk was elected Hetman there, and on April 5, 1710, near Bender, his "Pacts and Constitutions of Rights and Freedoms of the Zaporozhian Host" was adopted — one of the earliest modern European constitutions.

The defeat of Orlyk's campaigns (1711–1714) and the Treaty of Constantinople (1714) forced the Hetman to withdraw from the Right Bank; the center of Khanate Ukraine relocated to Oleshky Sich, adopting guerrilla (haidamak) tactics. Its decline accelerated following Orlyk's departure (1714) and the liquidation of the hetmanate post (merged with the Kaymakam of the Nogai hordes, held from the 1750s by Yakub-Aga Lek). The territory was increasingly referred to as Yedisan; Khanate Ukraine (Yedisan) finally passed to the russian empire under the Treaty of Jassy (Dec 29, 1791), although Ukrainian Cossackdom persisted at the Danubian Sich for decades.

Key Details / Subtopics

  • Prehistory of the Protectorate: 1650–1651 — Ottoman protectorate proposal to B. Khmelnytsky; 1667–1668 — negotiations and alliance of Petro Doroshenko with the Ottoman Empire and "vassalage to the Sultan" modeled on the Principality of Moldavia and Wallachia; terms (no tribute, inalienability of the Hetman, subordination of Turkish forces to the Hetman).
  • Founding of the Territorial Entity (1684): Hetman Teodor Sulymenko (Sulymka) — first of the "Khanate Hetmans," residing in Yahorlyk (Khanate-controlled Transnistria).
  • Khanate Hetmans: Yakym Samchenko, Stepan Lozynskyi-Stetsyk, Ivan Bahatyi, Petro Ivanenko-Sulyma (Petryk) — operated under the Crimean Khan's mace in the Dniester-Southern Buh interfluve.
  • Treaty of Karlowitz (Jan 16, 1699): Right-Bank Ukraine was returned to the Polish King, and the post of "Hetman in service of the Porte" was to be abolished — ending the legal status of Khanate Ukraine as a state.
  • Mazepist Period (1704–1708): Khanate Ukraine joined united Ukraine under the mace of Ivan Mazepa; appointment of Hryhoriy Ivanenko (son of Hetman Ivan Bahatyi) as Bratslav Colonel.
  • Poltava (1709) and Bender: following the defeat, Mazepa, Charles XII, and thousands of Cossacks and Sich Zaporozhians found refuge in Khanate Ukraine; Mazepa's death in Varnitsa (Sept 21–22, 1709).
  • Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk (April 5, 1710): Pylyp Orlyk was elected Hetman near Bender; the "Pacts and Constitutions of Rights and Freedoms of the Zaporozhian Host" was adopted in the presence of the Sultan and the King of Sweden — one of the first European constitutions.
  • Orlyk's Campaign (1711) and Pruth Campaign: joint actions with Crimean Khan Devlet II Giray and the Budzhak/Bilhorod Horde; role in Moscow's defeat in the Pruth River Campaign (1711).
  • Forced Resettlement (Zhin) of 1711–1712: forced deportation by Muscovite and Left-Bank forces of over 100,000 people from Right-Bank Ukraine as retaliation for supporting Orlyk.
  • Oleshky Sich and Decline: after the Treaty of Constantinople (1714), the center shifted to Oleshky Sich, adopting guerrilla tactics; decline following Orlyk's departure and abolition of the Hetman's post (Kaymakam of Nogai Hordes, Yakub-Aga Lek).
  • Yedisan and End of the State: the Dniester-Southern Buh interfluve was increasingly called Yedisan; the Yedisan Horde submitted to russian vassalage (1770); the territory was finally annexed by russia under the Treaty of Jassy (Dec 29, 1791).
  • Cossack Regiment (40 Kurens): under Sultan Ahmed III (until 1730) consolidated into a regiment in the Danube Delta region (Budzhak, Dobruja) bearing a "blue-red" banner (crescent + silver star on red, golden cross on blue); likely intellectual center of the Haidamak movement and foundation of the Danubian Sich.
  • Ecclesiastical Structure and Metropolis of Brăila: Parishes of Khanate Ukraine and Oleshky Sich fell under the jurisdiction of the Metropolis of Brăila (Proilavia) of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Metropolitans of Brăila (Daniel 1751–1773, Ioakim 1773–1780, Cyril 1780–1792) were officially titled Metropolitans of "All Khanate Ukraine." Clergy were assigned from Athens, Jerusalem, and Constantinople (Archimandrite Gabriel served as superior for the Zaporozhians until 1728).

Contradictions and Open Questions

  • Beginning of Khanate Ukraine: some historians date its origin to Petro Sukhoviy (1668), a nominee of the Crimean Khan, but Yevhen Buket disputes this — Sukhoviy was an agent intended to undermine the Ottoman-Hetman agreement; Buket links the true founding to the hetmanate of Teodor Sulymenko (1684).
  • Historiographical Interpretation: russian and Soviet historical scholarship, according to the article, "legitimized" the Moscow-subordinated Left-Bank Hetmanate while downplaying the role of the southern territories and the alternative state center under Crimea and the Ottoman Porte.
  • Khanate Ukraine — article by Yevhen Buket in Krymska Svitlytsia (2018 V. Chornovil Prize laureate), main primary source.
  • What Do We Know About "Cossack" Metropolises? — article by Yevhen Buket on the church structure of Khanate Ukraine and the Metropolis of Brăila.
  • Metropolis of Brăila — Orthodox metropolis of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to which the lands of Khanate Ukraine belonged.
  • Petro Doroshenko — Hetman of Ukraine whose alliance with the Ottoman Empire placed Right-Bank Ukraine and Khanate Ukraine under the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
  • Crimea is Ukraine (Project) — newspaper Krymska Svitlytsia, source of the article, is part of the project's repository.
  • Crimea in the Ukrainian State (1918) — another attempt at state integration of Crimea with Ukraine (under Hetman Skoropadsky), a parallel to the era of Khanate Ukraine.
  • Mamai — Crimean emir of the Golden Horde whose name became a symbol of Cossackdom; context of early Ukrainian-Crimean ties prior to the Khanate Ukraine era.
  • Harold Lamb — author of the "Cossack cycle" featuring a Zaporozhian operating in the Crimean Khanate; fictional representation of the Ukrainian-Crimean borderlands.
  • Bernard Pretwicz — defender of Ukrainian borderlands against Crimean Tatar raids, prior to the formation of Khanate Ukraine.
  • Andriy Shchekun — editor-in-chief of Krymska Svitlytsia newspaper where the source was published.
  • Petro Ivanenko (Petryk) — Mazepa's chancellor, later Hetman of Khanate Ukraine, who concluded an alliance treaty with the Crimean Khanate in 1692.
  • Mykhailo Doroshenko — Cossack Hetman (1625–1628), participant in the 1628 campaign in Crimea supporting Şahin Giray against Can-Temir; early example of Cossack-Crimean alliance.