Kazacky Square

It is known that the lands of Zaporizhia and Dnipropetrovsk are the cradle of the Zaporozhye Cossacks. But still the fact that our Donetsk region has long been known as a Cossack land surprises many people today. Indeed, a significant territory of the present Donetsk region in the 16th century was mastered by Zaporozhye Cossacks. The Cossack version claims that the city of Mariupol was founded by the Cossacks of Zaporozhian Host as the fortress of Kalmius. Since 1734, it became the center of a huge Kalmius palanca. There was a fortress, a church, a garrison of 200 Cossacks, merchants’ shops, even from Taganrog and Rostov, and a vast tributary area – from Mariupol to Slavyansk. In Kalmius there was a palanca administration headed by a colonel who had his own seal. Kalmius Palanka was the largest of the seven palanques, but with the smallest number of inhabitants. The main task of the Cossacks of the Kalmius Palanca was the protection of the Azov region and the Salt route from the Tatars from the Crimean Khanate and the Nogai Horde. In the creek of Kalmius, the Domaha fortress was built by palanca. It was a settlement that gave rise to the present Mariupol.