Are the Cossacks Slavic people?

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Tranquility

No they aren't.
The greatest, bravest and trusted warriors of czarist Russia.
They were the elite force for the protection of the czar and his family.
The upbringing of their youth was similar to the old Sparta.

â‰

This answer is potentially very complex. It also depends on what you define as "ethnicity". In a generally accepted sense, no, Cossacks are not Slavs and are given special recognition as "Cossack" even under modern Russian government but you will find many identified Cossacks who ALSO identify themselves as Slavs.

The answer could also be complex when defining who is a Slav and who is not. Generally you will read that "Slavs" are not bound by genetics/bloodline but by culture and language. Yet, generally people accept Slavs to be "white" Indo European people with roots in ancient Eastern Europe, although over hundreds of years many other varieties of mostly Europid peoples have been absorbed into Slavic gene pool.

Therefore, Cossacks are not entirely or exclusively Slavic. Many Cossacks are not so much "Slavic" in the sense that people usually view Slavs (Indo European). Many Cossacks are still obviously rather Turkic/Mongol to some degree, while some appear very Europid or what average people might call "Slavic". From a long line of registered Cossacks, my physical features are very Europid, blonde hair, hazel eyes, have been classified as East Baltid/Nordid by anthropologists. There is much debate and speculation on the "true" origin of and story behind the original formation of what became known as "Cossacks". It's almost certain that Cossacks origins do lie in nomadic people of the Turk/Mongol sphere and that large majority of first generations of Cossacks were of this genetic stock primarily. Over years though, MANY different ethnic groups of various genetic stock were absorbed into the Cossack ranks. Throughout much of time, only requirement for joining the ranks as a Cossack was to profess faith in Christ, besides a variety of requirements based in attitude and mentality. There were some branches of Cossacks who practiced other religious beliefs but they are minority and not large enough to gain much recognition. This could take all night to try to cover but no Cossacks are not entirely or ONLY Slavs culturally, many Cossacks today ARE of ethnic Russian genetic stock but even still many Cossacks are of at least some recognizable degree of Turk/Mongol genetic stock. (Still you will encounter many people that classify Cossacks as Slavs and Cossacks who indentify themselves as ALSO Slavic in addition to being Cossacks) Maybe that at least helps.

Cossak

Turks came to Byzantia in 15 century,southern slavs lived in southern steppes of Russia before,Tmutarakan' kingdom had been before 10 D.C,so there before slavs were been sciffians,they might be ancestry of south slavs,in 12 D.C in literature some notes about cossacks Kozaks are slavic horserider pirats,kazaks are asian horseriders who live in east from kozaks,any way cossacks now as 2 or 5 ages ago nation which close to ukrainian...any way they called cherkassians(not cherkessians),some says they came from Egypt area.
Come on man!!!! We have East Slavs region))),here south slavs are ukrainians and cossacks,north slavs are belorussians and russians,Yugoslavs are another brunch of slavs of those region where north yugoslavs and south yugoslavs,that i meant)))

Raptor

Not really Slavic, but mixed nowadays.
Tolstoyevski - what is wrong with the panting of group of man having fun.
Are you such a bore? Unwind your self.

xanthochroi

they were originally turkic also their language was part of turkic family because byzantine writers of the 10th century described them as a separate group than slavs their state came into existence after tartar invasions they fought on the side of russians these steppes between central asia and black sea had been crossed by the many peoples of the great migration so after slavs settled these territories maybe communities mixed

wschmerz

The word "cossack" was used many times through history to name absolutely different groups of people. Some of those groups consisted of mostly slavic people, some had a number of Slavs, some were not slavic at all.

Zheka L

of course they slavs, who do you think lives in heart of the Russia? :~0

Tolstoyevsky

Not that I'd call this "evidence" in any way, but here is perhaps the most famous painting depicting the Cossacks. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Reply_of_the_Zaporozhian_Cossacks_to_Sultan_Mehmed_IV_of_Turkey

Click on the painting to get an enlarged version, and study the faces that Repin painted. The prevailing opinion, at least at that time, was that attitude is more important than ethnicity in determining whether or not you are a Cossack...

...and, as with all Ukrainians, sobriety is optional.
----
"What's wrong?" I Love that painting above all others. I could stare at it for hours and find more to be delighted with. (and note that I omitted the usual nationalistic rant by not pointing out that Repin's birthplace near Kharkhiv is Ukrainian soil). Come on, Sparky: Meet me half-way at least.

5 star

Only Comrade "Cossack" can answer this as he is knows about Cossacks judgeing from his I.D name.

Alex A

I've heard, a special genetic research dedicated to this (origins of cossacks) has been recently started. Let's wait for the results...

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