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What is "cossackia"

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Cossackia
This article pertains to the American geopolitical term for the ethnic Cossack regions of modern-day Russia and Ukraine, designated as Captive Nations under the Soviet Union. It also pertains to the modern desire for an independent Cossack state. For the formerly autonomous, historical Cossack state, see State of the Zaporizhian Host (also referred to as the Cossack Hetmanate and Cossackia). For the annexation of Cossackia by Tsarist Russia, see Treaty of Pereyaslav.

Cossackia is a term sometimes used to refer to the traditional areas where the Cossack communities live in Russia and Ukraine, and to the lands of the Zaporizhian Host. Depending on its context, "Cossackia" may mean the ethnographic area of Cossack habitat or a proposed Cossack state independent from the Soviet Union.

The name "Cossackia" became popular among the Cossack émigrés in Europe after the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the ensuing civil war. It was used to designate a union of seven Cossack territorial "units" — the Don, Kuban, Terek, Astrakhan, Ural, Orenburg, and the Kalmuk district. Calls for an independent Cossackia emerged within the vibrant émigré Cossack community in Prague, Czechoslovakia, later in the 1920s. A project of a constitution for Cossackia was also devised and envisaged the creation of the state of Cossackia and its secession from the Soviet Union. During World War II, some proponents of "Cossackia" rallied behind Germany attempted to establish a notionally independent Cossack state. After the war, the idea of independent Cossackia retained some support among the Cossack émigrés in Europe and the United States. The 1959 U.S. public law on Captive Nations listed Cossackia among the nations living under oppression of the Soviet regime.