Zaporozhian Sich

Hi everyone! Today I'd like to introduce to you the history of my city. It's going to be a short introduction :-)
Zaporozye stretches along the river Dnieper for several kilometers. One of the main attractions of my city is the Island of Khortitsa. 

Today this island is a National Park and the main incentive for tourists. There you can find a National Museum, hotels, resorts and other recreational facilities. 
The National Museum depicts the history of the Zaporozhian Cossacks. They used to live in a military settlement on the island of Khortitsa called Zaporozhian Sich in 16th - 18th centuries.

The Cossacks lived separately and independently from any states or communities. 
A newcomer was allowed to get into the Sich only with following conditions:
- He supposed to be an independent and single. “Independent" means that he had to be a well-off, not a poor farmer;
- He had to belong to the Orthodox religion. Particularly, he had to observe fasts, know the symbols of faith and prayers. If he came from the Catholic or the Lutheran religion, he had to accept Orthodoxy. If he was a Jew or a Muslim, then he had to be baptized into the Orthodox faith;
- Before arrival to the Sich, and apply to “the comrades", he had to get full military training. Usually it took about seven or eight years.

Theft was the most serious offence in the Sich. Even for petty theft the only punishment was death. Everybody was equal in front of the court, a Head of the army as well as a simple Cossack. 

There used to be a terrible punishment for a murder of a Cossack. The murderer was put in a pit alive, then the coffin with a dead person was lowered on top of him, and both were buried together. 

The main function of the Zaporozhian Cossacks was participating in the liberation wars against Moscow, the Polish army, and the Turkish and Mongol yokes.The Turkish and Mongols constantly invading and robbing the Ukrainian villages and towns, and the Ukraine people were being captured, and taken into slavery. 
In 1775  the Zaporozhian Cossacks were defeated according to instructions of Katherine II, the Russian Empress. A part of the Cossacks moved from Zaporozhian Sich, and established a new Transdanubia Sich in the Danube Delta.

There are some pictures, which I took a few years ago on the Independence Day of Ukraine in the former cossacks settlement, Zaporozhian Sich, which is the National Historic Site of Ukraine just as Fort Langley is in Canada.

Comments are always welcome :-)