History of Cherkasy Oblast - Grand Duchy of Lithuania

Grand Duchy of Lithuania

At the time of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, having escaped the Mongol-Tartars, progressed its expansion on the former Kievan Rus' lands. When in 1362, Great Prince Olgerd destroyed the Mongol army in the battle at Synya Vodanow, the territory of Cherkasy region and the city itself admitted the Lithuanian authority.

From then Cherkasy, Kaniv, and Zvenyhorodka became district cities and important military points in the defense line on the Grand Duchy of Lithuania's southern border. To set better defense against the newly created Crimean Khanate (1449), vassal Tartars and Caucasians were invited to serve and to live in Cherkasy and Kaniv neighbourhood.

The life on the border was especially dangerous because of the constant Tartar sorties, with their traditional route along the Hnylyi Tikych River (Chornyi Shlyach) and the other-through Uman. In 1483, Cherkasy first challenged the army of a mighty Tartar chan Menhli-Hirey, and in less than 15 years prince Kostyantyn of Ostroh got the glorious victory at Uman River. When in 1532, the enemy took the fortress of Cherkasy into siege, they couldn't break the resistance of its defenders. No matter how dangerous the region might be, its rich lands and deposits drew the attention of numerous migrants and runaways. The ever-present threat of Tartar o Turkey invasions as well the national and religious pressure of the Polish nobility (which took the place of the Lithuanian one in the 16th century) were the key factors, that triggered the formation of a special social layer – the Cossacks.

Yet in 1533, Cherkasy hetman Ostafiy Dashkovich proposed to build a fortress on one of the islands behind the Dnipro cascade to prevent the Tartar raids. His idea was put into life only in the mid of the 16th century by another Cherkasy and Kaniv headman prince Bayda Vyshnevetskyi, who built the fortification on the island Mala Chortytsya – the prototype of the legendary Zaporozhian Sich. The Lithuanian-Polish period was marked by the land concentration in the hands of nobility and the introduction of the frillwork system, that presupposed turning peasants into serfs. The wheat grown on Ukrainian fields and the potash produced out of Ukrainian wood were the main sources of the feudal prosperity. In cities industry specialization trigged the emergence of first trade unions called Tsekhy. At last in 1584 the Magdeburg Law was granted to Korsun’, in 1592 – to Chyhyryn, and in 1600 – to Kaniv.

The increase of feudal pressure caused a series of Cossack-peasantry rebels headed by K. Kosynsky (1591–1593), S. Nalyvayko (1594–1594), M. Zhmaylo (1625), T. Fedorovych (1630), I. Sulyma (1635), P. Pavlyuk (1637), D. Hunya (1637–1638), and Y. Ostryanyna (1638).

In 1648, at the very beginning of the Liberation War the people of Cherkasy were unanimous in their support of their prominent leader – Bohdan Khmelnytskyi. The administrative division into districts was substituted by the military division into regiments. Thus, there appeared Chyhyryn, Cherkasy, Kaniv, Korsun-Shevchenkivskyi, Uman, Kropyvyansk, and Lysianka regiments that performed duties of the administrative and military units. Cherkasy region became the centre of political life in Ukraine. Hetman's residence in Chyhyryn was the port of destination for Russian, Polish, Turkish, and Swedish ambassadors. It was the place where hetman signed more than 300 Bills (Universals), defining the strategic lines of Ukrainian Cossack State home foreign politics.

Bohdan Khmelnytskyi’s death in 1657 made impossible the very existence of the independent state and put an end to people’s aspirations. Andrusivskyi treaty of 1667 and "Eternal Peace" treaty signed by Russia and Poland in 1686 split Ukraine into parts along the Dnieper River. The left-bank part of Cherkashchyna was given to the Russian Empire, its right-bank part – to Poland. In the history of the right-bank Ukraine, this period is known as the Ruin.

The century to follow was characterized by social and national oppression of Ukrainian peasantry that resulted in numerous revolts and culminated in Koliivshchyna – the Haydamaka upraise under the leadership of M. Zaliznyak, I. Honta, Y. Shelest.

The right-bank Ukraine was reunited to the left-bank after the final collapse of Poland. Thus, there appeared five new districts of Poltava region as well as five new districts of Kiev region, namely Zvenyhorodka, Kaniv, Uman, Cherkasy and Chyhyryn districts. Their population was split into 5 social layers: nobility, philistine, cossacks, serfs and state peasants.