The origins of the Cossacks are disputed. Originally, the term referred to semi-independent Tatar groups (qazaq or "free men") who inhabited the Pontic–Caspian steppe, north of the Black Sea near the DnieperRiver.

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Max Vasmer's etymological dictionary traces the name to the Old East Slavic word козакъ, kozak, a loanword from Cuman, in which cosac meant "free man" but also "adventurer". The ethnonym Kazakh is from the same Turkic root.
In written sources, the

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It is unclear when people other than the Brodnici and Berladnici (which had a Romanian origin with large slavic influences ) began to settle in the lower reaches of major rivers such as the Don and the Dnieper after the demise of the Khazar state.

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The native land of the Cossacks is defined by a line of Russian town-fortresses located on the border with the steppe, and stretching from the

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In early times, an ataman (later called hetman) commanded a Cossack band. He was elected by the Host members at a Cossack rada, as were the other important officials: the judge, the scribe, the lesser officials, and the clergy. The ataman's symbol of power was a

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Ethnic, or "born" (prirodnye), Cossacks are those who can trace, or claim to trace, their ancestry to people and families identified as Cossack in the Tsarist era. They tend to be Christian,

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Zaporozhian Cossacks
The Zaporozhian Cossacks lived on the Pontic–Caspian steppe below the Dnieper Rapids (Ukrainian: za porohamy), also known as the Wild Fields. The group became well known, and its numbers increased greatly between

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