|Part of a series on| Cossacks (Ukrainian: козаки́, kozaky;
Russian: казаки, kazaki), are a group of predominantly East
Slavic people who originally were members of democratic, semi-
military and semi-naval communities in Ukraine and Southern
Russia. They inhabited sparsely populated areas and islands in
the lower Dnieper, Don, Terek, Ural basins, and played an
important role in the historical development of both Ukraine and
Russia. Today self-identification "Cossack" is an important part
of cultural heritage of people in modern Ukraine, Southern
Russia, Volga, Ural, Siberian regions and the Russian Far East.
Cossack societies exist throughout Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and
worldwide. The origins of the first Cossacks are disputed,
though the Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk claimed Khazar origin of
Cossacks. ”The traditional post-imperial historiography dates
the emergence of Cossacks to the 14th or to 15th centuries when
two connected groups emerged, the Zaporozhian Sich of the
Dnieper and the Don Cossack Host. The