Kalnyshevsky, Petro

Kalnyshevsky, Petro [Kalnyševs’kyj], b 1690, d 31 October 1803 on the Solovets Islands, Arkhangelsk gubernia. The last Kish otaman of the New Sich (1762, 1765–75). An able administrator and diplomat, he did much for the economic and cultural development of the Zaporizhia and the defense of its independence. He encouraged the colonization of Zaporozhian territory and the expansion of grain production and trade. Several times he was sent as an envoy to Saint Petersburg to defend the territorial rights of the Zaporizhiafrom encroachment by the Russian government and the foreign army colonies that were established in Southern Ukraine (New Serbia and Sloviano-Serbia). He did not succeed, however, in preventing the ultimate destruction of the New Sich in 1775. In 1776 he was exiled to a monastery on the Solovets Islands, where he was kept a prisoner in extremely difficult conditions until his release in 1801. After his release, he became a monk there at the age of 110.