who were the cossacks of the russian domain
Cossacks (Ukrainian: козаки́, kozaky, Russian: казаки́, translit. kazaki, Belarusian: казакi, Polish: kozacy, Czecho-Slovak: kozáci, Hungarian: kozákok) were a group of predominantly East Slavic-speaking people who became known as members of democratic, self-governing, semi-military communities, predominantly located in Southern Russia and in South-Eastern Ukraine. They inhabited sparsely populated areas and islands in the lower Dnieper, Don, Terek and Ural river basins and played an important role in the historical and cultural development of both Ukraine and Russia.