Sokulskіy A. The island of Khortytsya and its historical and cultural importance in the process of arising and formation of the Zaporozhian Cossackdom.

The historical and cultural significance of the island of Khortytsya in the process of the arising and formation of the Zaporozhyan Cossackdom is being formed in the dissertation. The unknown and well-known facts of the historical and cultural phenomenon of the Khortytsya Island, the cradle of the Zaporozhyan Cossacks, are being ascertained. The characteristic is being given to the strategic position of the island on the important communications of the Ukrainian border area, the geopolitical features of the island are being revealed. The main content of the dissertation relates the preconditions of the arising of the early Cossackdom, the functioning of the 11-14th c. large city-port “Protolche”, the southern outpost of Rus, that served as the forerunner of the Khortytsya Zaporozhyan Sich. The character of activities of outstanding Ukrainian hetmans Dmytro Vyshnevetsky, Yakov Shakh, Petro Sagaydachny on the island is being developed.