further east along the Samara River, i.e. through what is today the city of Dnipropetrovsk. It was in this time that there appeared a new force � the free people � Cossacks. They later became known as Zaporozhian Cossacks (Zaporizhia � the lands south of Prydniprovye, translate as "The Land Beyond the Weirs [Rapids]"). This was a period of raids and fighting causing considerable devastation and depopulation in that area; the area became known as the 'Wilderness'.
16th�18th centuries
The first fortified town in what is now Dnipropetrovsk was probably built in the mid-16th century, and is now referred to as "Stari Kodaky" [Old Kodaky]. In 1635, the Polish Government built the Kodak fortress above the Dnieper Rapids at Kodaky (on the south-eastern outskirts of modern Dnipropetrovsk), partly as a result of rivalry in the region of Poland, Turkey and Russia, and partly to maintain control over Cossack activity (i.e. to suppress the Cossacks raiders and to prevent peasants moving out of the area). Some historians date foundation of the city as 1635 because of this. On the night of 3/4 August 1635, the Cossacks of Ivan Sulyma captured the fort by surprise, burning it down and butchering the garrison of about 200 West European mercenaries under Jean Marion. The fort was rebuilt by French engineer Guillaume le Vasseur de Beauplan for the Polish Government in 1638, and had a mercenary garrison. Kodak was captured by Zaporozhian Cossacks on 1 October 1648, and was garrisoned by the Cossacks until its demolition in accordance with the Treaty of the Pruth in 1711. The ruins of the Kodak are visible now. There is a currently a project to restore it and create a tourist centre and park-museum.
Under the Treaty of Pereyaslav of 1654, the territory became part of the Russian Empire. For practical purposes, the Prydniprovye lands remained a self-governing border area until the destruction of the Zaporizhian Sich in 1775.
