Okhtyrka regiment

Okhtyrka regiment [Охтирський полк; Ohtyrskyi polk]. An administrative territory and military formation (see Regimental system) established in 1655–8 in Slobidska Ukraine to protect Muscovy's southern frontier from raids by the Crimean Tatars and the Nogay Tatars. The regimental capital was Okhtyrka. Its first settlers were 456 families of peasants and Cossacks from Right-Bank Ukraine. By 1732 the regiment had 20 companies. Its male population was over 41,000, including 7,200 elected Cossacks and 17,100 Cossack helpers. In the administrative reform of Slobidska Ukraine in 1765, the Cossack regiment was replaced by a hussar regiment, and the lands of Okhtyrka regiment were incorporated into the Slobidska Ukraine gubernia.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 3 (1993).]