Скачать или смотреть Запорізька Січ / The island Khortytsia with the history of the Zaporozhian Cossacks

The major part of the reserve (historic park) covers the Zaporizhian Cossack Museum that includes the Cossack horse show.

The expo area of the museum was accounted for 1,600 m2 (17,000 sq ft) portraying the following themes: Khortytsia in ancient times, history of Zaporizhian Cossacks, history of Zaporizhia at times of construction of socialism.

The museum contains exhibits dating from the Stone Age through the Scythian period (c.750 - 250 BC) down to the 20th century.

The island has played an important role in the history of Ukraine, especially in the history of the Zaporozhian Cossacks.

In the Early Middle Ages, Khortytsia was a key centre for the trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks. The Kyiv Rus' prince Svyatoslav I was attacked and killed during his attempt to cross the rapids in 972.

The earliest record about a stronghold known as a sich refers to the one was located on the island of Small Khortytsia and was established by the Volhynian prince Dmytro Vyshnevetsky. The uprising led by Bohdan Khmelnytsky was started at the Mykytyn Sich in 1648. Legends state, that cossacks wrote the notorious Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks to Sultan Mehmed IV of the Ottoman Empire on Khortytsia. In 1775, the Sich was destroyed by the Russian general Tekhely on the order of Catherine the Great. The Zaporozhian Cossacks, as a result, were displaced, many eventually settling on the Kuban river in the Caucasus area. These Cossacks became known as Kuban cossacks. A part of the Zaporozhian Cossacks escaped to beyond the Danube to become vassals of the Ottoman Sultan. They dwelt at the mouth of the Danube river. In 1830 many of these Cossacks moved and established a new Sich on the Azov sea shore between Mariupol and Berdiansk.

In 1789, Danzig Mennonites from Prussia were invited by the czar to form settlements on the vast steppes of the Russian Empire. One of these settlements was located on the island of Khortytsia. They farmed on the rich island soil. Some of their profitable business was trading in lumber from the Khortytsia groves and woods. In 1916 the Mennonite colonists sold Khortytsia Island to the Olexandrivsk city council.