CHAPTER 5 TERRITORY OF HETMAN UKRAINE
In the first years of the newly established Ukrainian state its territory did not have strictly determined boundaries. This territory was the largest at the time of Bohdan Khmelnytsky’s rule (1648- 1657) when the whole central and eastern Ukraine was ruled by a single central government.
Its western boundaries were established as a result of the military struggle against Poland along the Horyn’ River in Volhynia and in the western Murakhva Valley in Podilia. Consequently the largest part of western Ukraine was not included in the new state. Its eastern boundaries lay along the previous frontier between Poland and Russia and later along the eastern boundaries of the future Chernihiv (Chernigov) and Poltava provinces. The southern boundary line was in the area of Ukrainian settlements in the southern part of present-day Kiev and Poltava provinces (The Uman’ Regiment, Poltava Regiment with its settlements in the Orel Valley). Further to the south, as a separate enclave in the lower Dnieper Valley, were the lands of the Zaporozhian Host; they were not however directly governed by Ukrainian hetmans. At first the area of this southern enclave was rather narrow but in the eighteenth century, when the attacks of the Crimean Tatars had stopped, it was enlarged significantly and included the larger parts of the later Ka- terynoslav (Yekaterinoslav) and Kherson provinces as well as northern Taurida (i. e. to the north of the Crimean peninsula).In the north the boundary of the Ukrainian state was advanced far beyond ethnic Ukrainian territory during the rule of Bohdan Khmelnytsky. We have in mind the Belorussian Cossack Regiment which existed from 1655 to 1659, and which recognized the Ukrainian hetman as its suzerain (even if, like the Zaporozhian Host, it was a separate body politic which was dependent on Ukraine). The Belorussian Regiment had its centre in the city of Chausy while its major defensive point was the strong fortress of Staryi Bykhov (Belorussian — Stary Bykhau).
This regiment included the larger part of the later province of Mogilev (Mahiliou) and the central part of the province of Minsk. Later we shall describe the politico-legal position of the Belorussian Regiment in a special chapter.In the northwest the boundaries of Hetman Ukraine briefly included, again on special terms, the Pinsk region in Polisia. In the north the Ukrainian state permanently occupied a small part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania — the region of Liubech, as well as the large Starodub area which later became the Starodub Regiment. When the Belorussian Regiment was destroyed in 1659 the northern boundary of Hetman Ukraine lay along the northern line of the later province of Chernihiv (Chernigov) to the north of Starodub, Novo- zybkiv, and Horodnia and to the south of the Prypiat (Prypiats) River.
In 1662 the Ukrainian state was divided into two separate Cossack states — the state of Left-Bank Ukraine (i. e. left of the Dnieper River), a vassal of Russia, and the state of Rig⅛-Bank Ukraine, dependent on Poland. The Polish-Russian Peace Treaty of Andrusovo in 1667 consolidated this situation when it established the boundary line between the eastern and western Ukrainian het- manates along the Dnieper River with a narrow enclave in the west around the city of Kiev (to the Irpin Valley) which belonged to the eastern Ukrainian state (Left-Bank Ukraine). In 1668 a Cossack General Assembly near the city of Oposhnia proclaimed a united and independent Ukrainian state ruled by a single hetman (Peter Doroshenko). But it was a short-lived effort and Ukraine was again divided into the eastern and western parts. The second of them, ruled by Peter Doroshenko, broke away from Poland and accepted the protection of the Turkish Sultan. Plundered and ruined during the Ukrainian ’’time of troubles” this western organization (i. e. Right-Bank Ukraine) passed from existence in 1676. Ivan Samoilovych, the Hetman of eastern Ukraine, was proclaimed the ruler of the entire central and eastern Ukraine (i.
e. east and west of the Dnieper River) in 1676 but he failed to convince the Russian Government of the necessity to fight against Poland and Turkey for the possession of Right-Bank Ukraine. In the end he moved most of its population to eastern Ukraine (Left-Bank Ukraine). Most of Right-Bank Ukraine for some time remained a ’’deserted land” in the hands of Turkey and, later, of Poland. In time it was repopulated by the Ukrainian people. But this time a vassal-type Ukrainian state dependent on Poland was not established there. However, some attempts were made to restore such a state in the regions which belonged to Turkey. We can name the ’’Sarmatian Principality” of 1678-1681 ruled by George Khmelnytsky as a vassal of the Turkish sultan (its centre was the city of Nemyriv) and the region governed by the "Dubossary hetmans” in the eastern Dniester Valley. But these attempts were shortlived and the population of these areas was very small.In our further study we shall describe mostly the Hetman state in Left-Bank Ukraine (with the Dnieper River as its western boundary), — a state organism with a comparatively long history. The city of Chyhyryn (Chigirin) was the first capital of entire Hetman Ukraine; later it remained the capital city of the western hetmanate. Hadiach (Gadiach) was the capital city of the eastern Ukrainian state from 1663 to 1669. Later its capital was transferred to Baturyn (1669-1708) and, eventually to Hlukhiv (Glukhov) (1709-1781).
The territory of Hetman Ukraine was divided into polky (regiments) as the administrative, military, and judicial sub-divisions. In Right-Bank Ukraine there were the regiments of Chyhyryn, Cher- kasy, Kaniv, Korsun, Bila Tserkva, Kalnyk (Vinnytsia), Bratslav, Uman, Pavoloch, Ovruch, as well as the Podilian Regiment (with the centre in Mohyliv on the Dniester). These regiments passed from existence in 1676. The ten regiments of the eastern hetmanate had a more permanent character; they lasted from the time of Boh- dan Khmelnytsky to the complete incorporation of Hetman Ukraine into Russia. They were the regiments of Chernihiv (Chernigov), Nizhyn, Pryluky, Kiev (with the town of Kozelets as its seat), Lubny, Myrhorod, Pereiaslav, Hadiach, Poltava, and Starodub. The Staro- dub Regiment was established in 1650; before that the whole Staro- dub area, annexed from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, was a part of the Nizhyn Regiment. At that time the governor of the Nizhyn Regiment was titled the ’’Colonel of Nizhyn and the whole North.” In their turn the Ukrainian ’’regiments" were divided into smaller territorial units with administrative, military, and judicial functions. They were called sotni (hundreds, companies). The regiment’s territory was usually divided into several (10-15) sotni.