Zaporizhian Sich or Zaporozhian Sech (Ukrainian: Запорізька Січ, Zaporiz’ka Sich) original Slavonic name “Zaporizhska Sich’” was the center of the Cossacks of Zaporizhzhia. The term has also been metonymically used as an informal reference to the whole Zaporizhzhia or to the Zaporozhian Host. Initially the Zaporizhian Sich was a fortified military camp, the foundation for which was laid out on the Isle of Khortytsia (Mala Khortytsia, Khortytsia Minor) in 1556 by D.I. Vyshnevetsky. But only in 1618 did Hetman Petro Konashevych Sahaidachny order his Cossacks to build the earthen perimeter with the log walls on top of it. The log fort was surrounded with the massive abatis made from entire trees. Hence the term “Sich”: it is a noun derived from the verb “to cut” and denotes the abatis type of fortification: by cutting the forest.

Запорі́зька Січ, суспільно-політична та військово-адміністративна організація українського козацтва за порогами, що склалася у першій половині 16 ст. за дніпровими порогами у районі острова Хортиця.

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