Kuban Cossacks

Kuban Cossacks (Russian: Кубанские кaзаки, Kubanskiye Kаzaki; Ukrainian: Кубанські козаки, Kubans'ki Kozaky) or Kubanians (кубанцы, кубанці) are Cossacks who live in the Kuban region of Russia. Most of the Kuban Cossacks are descendants of two major groups of Cossacks who were re-settled to the western Northern Caucasus in the late 18th century. The western part of the host (Taman Peninsula and adjoining region to the northeast) was settled by the Black Sea Cossack Host who were originally the Zaporozhian Cossacks of Ukraine, from 1792. The eastern and southeastern part of the host was previously administered by the Khopyour and Kuban regiments of the Caucasus Line Cossack Host, who were re-settled from the Don from 1777.

The Kuban Cossack Host (Кубанское казачье войско), the administrative and military unit composed of Kuban Cossacks, formed in 1860 and existed until 1918. During the Russian Civil War, the Kuban Cossacks proclaimed a Kuban People's Republic, and played a key role in the southern theatre of the conflict. During the Second World War, Cossacks fought both for the Red Army and Wehrmacht. The modern Kuban Cossack Host was re-established in 1990.

Although Cossacks lived in the region prior to the late 18th century (one theory of Cossack origin traces their lineage to the ancient Kasog peoples who populated the Kuban in 9th-13th centuries), the landscape prevented permanent habitation. Modern Kuban Cossacks claim 1696 as their foundation year, when the Don Cossacks from the Khopyor took part in Peter's Azov Campaigns. Sporadic raids reached out into the land, which was partially populated by the Nogay, though territorially part of the Crimean khanate. In 1784 the lower Kuban passed to Russia, after which its colonisation became an important step in the Empire's expansion.

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