The Spatial Model of the Ukrainian Early Modern State in the Beliefs of the Cossack Elite and the Ruling Elites of Muscovy

Abstract

The article is devoted to research of the concepts about the Ukrainian domain boundaries in early modern Muscovy. The aim is to examine the reaction of the Muscovite elites and both the early modern Ukrainian elites — traditional (princes and noblemen) as well as the “Cossack nation” of the Hetmanshchyna to the “symbolic geography”.

The conceptual strategy is based on the historicism principle, contextual analysis, and comparative methods.

The main results. It was figured out that the concepts of early modern Muscovite elites regarding the borders of the Ukrainian spatial resonated with the fundamental ideas of the Ukrainian elites. Moreover, on the official documentation level (tsar and Senate acts, diplomatic correspondence), the Muscovites accepted the concepts of noblemen and Cossacks related to the Ukrainian spatial boundaries in most directions. Muscovy openly signaled that it recognized the Northern Black Sea coast as a natural border of the Zaporozhian Lower Host. Pidliashshia and the ethnographic Polish-Ukrainian boundary were accepted as a western border. The Muscovite diplomatic correspondence considered the Northern Dnipro region apart from the Smolensk region as a northern border. Tsar’s and Senate acts legitimated the colonization of the left bank of the Don River (up to the rivers of Tulushivka and Pidhirna) by Sloboda Cossacks, and the border between Zaporozhian Lower Host and Don Host was defined by the Kalmius River. Even though this border cut off a considerable part of the Zaporozhzhia, it reflected the Cossacks’ territorial gains. The results of the research are not only important for the intensification of further research on the Ukrainian space and the related problems. They also make it possible to revise existing stereotypes concerning Ukrainian spatial boundaries as well as the civilizational nature of a number of historic regions and to disprove a conception regarding of the alleged historical motivation of contemporary Russian territorial claims.