A stanitsa ( rus, станица, p=stɐˈnʲitsə; uk, станиця, stanytsya) is a village inside a

Cossack host A Cossack host ( uk, козацьке військо, translit=kozatske viisko; russian: каза́чье во́йско, ''kazachye voysko''), sometimes translated as Cossack army, was an administrative subdivision of Cossacks in the Russian Em ...

( uk, військо, viys’ko; russian: казачье войско, kazach’ye voysko, sometimes translated as "Cossack Army"). Stanitsas (russian: станицы, stanitsy) — Cossack military settlements — were the primary unit of Cossack hosts. While the word ''stanitsa'' survives in modern usage, the stanitsa as a social system in its historic context was effectively destroyed in the aftermath of the 1917 Russian revolution, when the

Russian Civil War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Russian Civil War , partof = the Russian Revolution and the aftermath of World War I , image = , caption = Clockwise from top left: {{flatlist, *Soldiers ...

(1917–1922) and subsequent collectivisation (1928–1940) of the land by the state in the Stalinist period and the Holodomor (1932–1933) destroyed the culture and the economic foundations of stanitsas.

Historical definition

Historically, the stanitsa was a unit of economic and political organisation of the Cossack peoples — primarily in the southern regions of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

. Each stanitsa held much of the local land in common, subject to annual allocation to Cossack families by the Ataman, the appointed leader of the community. This was a fully democratic, unique process, characteristic of Russia's South only. (A similar democratic system operated only in the

Novgorod Republic The Novgorod Republic was a medieval state that existed from the 12th to 15th centuries, stretching from the Gulf of Finland in the west to the northern Ural Mountains in the east, including the city of Novgorod and the Lake Ladoga regions of mod ...

, prior to its annexation by the Grand Duchy of Moscow in 1478.)

Modern usage

In modern

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

, the administration classifies a stanitsa as a type of

rural locality In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are describ ...

. Stanitsas mostly predominate in the southern regions of Rostov Oblast, Krasnodar and Stavropol Krais and most of the Republics of the

Northern Caucasus The North Caucasus, ( ady, Темыр Къафкъас, Temır Qafqas; kbd, Ишхъэрэ Къаукъаз, İṩxhərə Qauqaz; ce, Къилбаседа Кавказ, Q̇ilbaseda Kavkaz; , os, Цӕгат Кавказ, Cægat Kavkaz, inh, ...

Historical definition

Modern usage

See also