Yedisan

Yedisan (also Jedisan or Edisan) is a historical region in modern southwestern Ukraine and southeastern Moldova (southern Transnistria). The region lies to the north of the Black Sea between the Dniester and Dnieper rivers. It is east of Budjak and Bessarabia, south of Podolia and Zaporizhia, and west of Taurida.

Names

Previously called Dykra, the region was named for the Yedisan sept of the Nogai Horde, the region was sometimes referred to as Nogai Tartary or West Nogai, as the Yedisans were Nogai Tatars living in the west of Little Tartary. Yedisan was also sometimes referred to as Ochakov Tartary after Ochakov (Ochakiv), the main fortress of the region. Names for the region in different language include: Ukrainian: Єдисан ["Jedysan"] ; Russian: Едисан ["Yedisan"] ; Romanian: "Edisan"; Crimean Tatar and Turkish: "Yedisan"; German: "Jedisan"; Polish: "Jedysan".

History

In medieval times, Yedisan was home to Ulichs, Pechenegs, and later Cumans (Polovtsians). Following the Mongol invasions of the 13th century it was under control of the Khanate of the Golden Horde. In the 15th century it fell to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (when it was known as Dykra) then later to the Ottoman Empire’s vassal state, the Crimean Khanate. The nomadic Nogais began to inhabit the region after being forced first from Central Asia to the Kuban region. From there, one of the hordes moved westward after 1724 and gave its name to Yedisan, although Yedisan is anachronistically marked as such before the arrival of the Nogais on many contemporary historical maps. The area at times was incorporated into the Ottoman administrative structure as part of Silistra (Özi) Province with the fortresses of Khadjibey (Odessa) and Özi (Ochakiv) as major centers. It was also part of a larger nomadic conflict between the Nogais who were clients of the Ottoman Porte and the Russian-sponsored Zaporizhian Cossacks.

Imperial Russia under Catherine the Great began to expand into the area by the late 18th century and, in 1774, Yedisan east of the Southern Bug was annexed following the Russo-Turkish War of 1768-1774.

Through the 1792 Treaty of Jassy (Iaşi) which concluded the Russo-Turkish War of 1787-1792, the Russian frontier was extended to the Dniester River and the takeover of Yedisan was complete. Most of the Nogai inhabitants were then deported by the Russians to the east leaving the land essentially depopulated. Following the Russian takeover, the city of Odessa was founded in 1794 and the area was settled as part of New Russia by Moldovan, Russian and Ukrainian colonists along with a significant German element. The area came to form parts of the Kherson governorate and is now part of the Ukrainian Odessa and Mykolaiv oblasts.