After the Khanate of Kazan became part of the Russian Empire in 1552, the voyevoda, or military chief Ivan Nagoi fortified the city of Ufa, in 1574. In 1586 Ufa was granted the status of a city, and it became Russia’s main strategic settlement in the lands of the Bashkir people.

In 1725 the Ural Cossacks founded the city of Sakmarsk. After the Lesser and Middle Hordes of the Kirghiz-Kaisak became Russian subjects, in 1734, the fortress of Orenburg was constructed on the River Or. In the following year the construction of fortifications to the north, in the direction of Siberia, began. By 1739 all the lands populated by the Bashkirs were encircled by a ring of fortified cities.

At the same time as the foundation of the fortress, Admiral Ivan Ivanovich Neplyuev, the governor of Orenburg Territory, was taking steps to ensure that the Cossacks were firmly established in the region, as he saw their presence as the most effective way to defend the Empire’s boundary. On the basis of Orders from the Empress, the Ural Cossacks were withdrawn from Siberia and transferred to Orenburg. Under the Order issued in 1736 ‘state service veterans’ were collected and sent to the Orenburg territory.

Together, in accordance with Admiral Neplyuev’s plan, these Cossack units were combined in 1748 to form the Orenburg Irregular Corps, or Orenburg Irregular Host. Only a small proportion of these Cossacks received a regular salary.

The Bashkirs had a special place among the various people of the Ural region forming part of the Ural and Cossack Armies. They had always stood out for their warrior spirit, their natural hardiness and ability to endure the region’s harsh climate, their courage and their discipline. As well as defending the Orenburg Line, from the middle of the XVIII Century the Bashkirs started to serve in the Cossack host.

The Pugachev uprising, as well as the regular attacks by Kirghiz warriors, cause serious damage to the morale of the Cossacks defending the Line, and in 1798 the Orenburg Cossacks were reorganized into a new administrative form: the Cossacks and non-native residents of the Orenburg territory were divided into 24 cantons, each headed by a canton chief, supported by an assistant and a scribe.

On June 8 1803 a regulation on the Orenburg Cossacks was approved, under which they were reorganized into 5 cantons and a thousand-strong Orenburg Cossack regiment, and provided with a uniform for the first time.

After the Patriotic War of 1812, the Cossacks found themselves in possession of several thousand prisoners of war from Napoleon’s army. These Orenburg Frenchmen, and their descendants, were given Russian citizenship and became members of the Orenburg Cossack Host.