A Constant Struggle

Of course, a large body of historical literature and folklore concerns Ukrainians' efforts to protect themselves from Ottoman capture. Cossack- Tatar struggles constitute an entire genre.

However, during the three centuries and more that it existed, it con­stituted a very big business, and Tatar slave raids played a large role in the history of the Ukrainian Steppe. Tatar armies and raiding parties of all siz­es continually harassed the population and caused enormous damage and loss of life. Over these centuries huge numbers of people - quite possibly a million or more - were carried away as yasir to be sold on the slave markets of Kaffa, Bilhorod, Ochakiv, Edirne, and Istanbul. Similarly, the raiding process and the transport of the captives to market caused incalculable human misery. War in early modern Europe was hellish, including in the Ukrainian lands. The Tatar raids were an extension - very widespread - of this mayhem, and led sometimes to Cossack liberating raids on the Crimea and Ottoman Turkey, even into the suburbs of Istanbul itself.