Azov Cossack Host (Ukrainian: Азовське козацьке військо; Russian: Азовское Казачье Войско) was a Cossack host that existed on the northern shore of the Sea of Azov, between 1832 and 1862.

The host was made up of several Cossack groups who were re-settled there. The most numerous were the former Danubian Sich Cossacks, who previously returned to Russian Patronage in 1828. The host was the only one in the Russian Empire whose primary task was Naval Coast Guard duties, participating extensively in the course of the Caucasus and Crimean wars.

Zadunaets za Azovom

During the Russo-Turkish War (1828–1829), the Danubian Sich Cossacks, previously living in exile in Ottoman controlled Danube Delta were split in loyalty towards the Orthodox Russian Empire, who they left in 1775 and Islamic Ottoman Empire, which was about to start another war with Russia. Led by their Kosh ataman Osip Gladky, some of the Cossacks, chose to defect to Russia, where they were pardoned by Nicholas I in 1828. The Tsar formed a Special Zaporozhian Host out of them, who took extensive part in the war.

A Cossack host (Ukrainian: Козаче військо, kozache viysko), sometimes translated as Cossack army, was an administrative subdivision of Cossacks in Ukraine. The word host is an archaic word for army.

List of hosts

Imperial Russia

The Cossack host consisted of a certain territory with Cossack settlements that had to provide military regiments for service in the Imperial Russian Army and for border patrol. Usually the hosts were named after the regions of their dislocation. The stanitsa, or village, formed the primary unit of this organization.

Azovè is an arrondissement in the Kouffo department of Benin. It is an administrative division under the jurisdiction of the commune of Aplahoué. According to the population census conducted by the Institut National de la Statistique Benin on February 15, 2002, the arrondissement had a total population of 22,853.

References

Coordinates: 6°57′N 1°42′E / 6.950°N 1.700°E / 6.950; 1.700

Azov (Russian: Азов), formerly known as Azoff, is a town in Rostov Oblast, Russia, situated on the Don River just 16 kilometers (9.9 mi) from the Sea of Azov, which derives its name from the town. Population: 82,937 (2010 Census); 82,090 (2002 Census); 80,297 (1989 Census).

History

Early settlements in the vicinity

The mouth of the Don River has always been an important commercial center. At the start of the 3rd century BCE, the Greeks from the Bosporan Kingdom founded a colony here, which they called Tanais (after the Greek name of the river). Several centuries later, in the last third of 1st century BCE, the settlement was burned down by king Polemon I of Pontus. The introduction of Greek colonists restored its prosperity, but the Goths practically annihilated it in the 3rd century. The site of ancient Tanais, now occupied by the khutor of Nedvigovka, has been excavated since the mid-19th century.

In the 5th century, the area was populated by Karadach's Akatziroi who came under the rule of Dengizich the Hun before Byzantium gave the land to the Hunugurs in the 460s to become known as Patria Onoguria under his brother Ernakh the Hun. The Kutrigur Hun inhabitants of Patria Onoguria became known as the Utigur Bulgars when it became part of the Western Turkic Kaghanate under Sandilch. Then in the 7th century Khan Kubrat ruler of the Unogundurs established Old Great Bolgary there before his heir Batbayan surrendered it to the Khazars.

Azov (Russian: Азов) was a 74-gun ship of the line of the Imperial Russian Navy. Azov was built in 1826 to compensate the losses of the disastrous 1824 Saint Petersburg flood. In the same year Azov, commanded by Mikhail Lazarev, became the flagship of Admiral Login Geiden's First Mediterranean Squadron and sailed to the Aegean on a joint English-French-Russian peacekeeping mission. On October 20, 1827 Azov spearheaded the Russian squadron in the Battle of Navarino. She engaged numerous enemy ships and sustained heavy damage.

After refit at Malta Azov continued her service as Geiden's flagship and enforced naval blockade of Greece and the Dardanelles. In the beginning of 1830 Azov returned to Kronstadt. By this time the ship was literally rotten owing to poor workmanship and combat damage. She was retired in the same year and broken up in 1831 after only four years in service.

Five officers of Azov who fought at Navarino became admirals in the Russian Navy: captain Mikhail Lazarev, Vladimir Istomin, Vladimir Kornilov, Pavel Nakhimov and Yevfimy Putyatin.