New Sich

New Sich (Nova Sich, aka Pokrovska Sich). The last Zaporozhian Sich. It was founded in 1734 by Cossacks who returned to Russian-ruled Ukraine from the Oleshky Sich. The fortress was built 3–5 km from the earlier Chortomlyk Sich on land jutting into the Pidpilna River, a tributary of the Dnipro River, near what is today the town of Pokrovske, in Nikopol raion, Dnipropetrovsk oblast. The large territory of the Zaporizhia belonging to the New Sich was divided among eight palankas. A total of nearly 100,000 people (Cossacks, Cossack helpers, and peasants) lived in the New Sich and over 100 free villages (slobody) and 4,000 zymivnyky. On 16 June 1775 a Russian army commanded by Gen P. Tekeli destroyed the New Sich on the orders of Catherine II.