The question of boundaries became the prime concern of both Cossacks and government bureaucrats in the decade after the conquest of Azov. Who in Moscow had the authority to demand the mapping of Cossack territories and populations? Which lands would the Cossacks retain under a new order in the steppe? How could legitimate Cossacks be distinguished from fugitives from Rus'? The climate of uncertainty made it unclear whether cooperation or resistance would better serve Cossack interests.

Historians have often mischaracterized this period as a time of great confrontation between the towering figure of Peter I and the Don Cossacks. Sergei Riabov recently asserted: “The acquisition of Azov and the mouth of the Don sealed the fate of the Don Host: the government of Peter I gained an opportunity to liquidate the political and social traditions of Don Cossackdom which it hated.” Rather than presuppose that Peter I or his government engaged in a conscious assault on Don Cossack autonomy, this chapter instead suggests that the lack of a coordinated policy towards the region contributed to the outbreak of conflicts.

MAKING COSSACK COMMUNITIES LEGIBLE TO RUSSIAN OFFICIALS

The decade after the taking of Azov, in which both the government and the Cossacks were searching for ways to live with each other, has largely been overshadowed by the Bulavin rebellion (Chapter 11), which was an uprising against a new order in the “old steppe.”