Sloboda Ukraine

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Sloboda Ukraine (Ukrainian: Слобiдська Україна, translit. Slobids'ka Ukrayina, Russian: Слободская Украина, translit. Slobodskaya Ukraina) or Slobozhanshchyna (Russian and Ukrainian: Слобожанщина, Russian translit. Slobozhanshchina) was a historical region which developed and flourished in the 17th and 18th centuries on the frontier of the principality of Muscovy and its successor state, Imperial Russia. The area comprised the Southern border of the Russian Empire at the time. The territory of Sloboda Ukraine corresponds to the territory of the present-day Ukrainian oblasts (provinces) of Kharkiv (in its entirety), and parts of the Sumy, Donetsk, and Luhansk Oblasts, as well as parts of the Belgorod, Kursk, and Voronezh Oblasts of Russia.

The name Sloboda Ukraine is derived from the word sloboda (Russian and Ukrainian: cлободa), a slavic term meaning freedom (or liberty), and also the name of a type of settlement. The settlers of a sloboda were freed from the obligation of paying taxes and fees for a certain period of time, which proved to be very enticing for settlers. By the end of the 18th century, 523 slobodas (slobody) had been settled in Sloboda Ukraine.

Most of the settlement was done by Cossacks, as well as by peasants and townspeople, many from Right and Left-bank Ukraine (particularly following the partition of the Treaty of Andrusovo). From 1650–1765, the territory referred to as Sloboda Ukraine became increasingly organized according to Cossack military custom, similar to that of the Zaporozhian Host and the Hetmanate, and more so following the destruction of the Zaporizhian Sich. The relocated cossacks became known as Sloboda Cossacks (Ukrainian: Слобiдськi козаки, translit. Slobids'ki kozaky, Russian: Слободские казаки, translit. Slobodskie kazaki). There were five regimental districts (polky) of Sloboda Cossacks, named after the towns of their sustained deployment, and subdivided into company districts (sotni): Ostrogozhsky (or Ostrohzkyi), Kharkovsky (or Kharkivskyi), Akhtyrsky, Sumsky, and Izyumsky.

Under Catherine the Great, the regiments of Slobozhanshchina were disbanded and Cossack privileges were abolished by the decree of July 28, 1765. The semiautonomous region became a province (namestnichestvo), also called Sloboda Ukraine. The regimental administrations were replaced by Russian hussar regiments, and Cossack higher ranks (starshinas) were granted officership and dvoryanstvo (nobility). Those who wished to remain Cossacks were allowed to move to the Kuban territory which was being actively colonised at that time.

In 1835, the province of Sloboda Ukraine was abolished, ceding most of its territory to the new Kharkov Guberniya, and some to Voronezh and Kursk, which were under the Little Russian governorship of Left-bank Ukraine. The region was to be reorganized several times under Soviet Ukraine, until the borders of present-day Kharkiv Oblast were established in the 1930s.