The Volga Cossacks were free Cossack

Cossack

Cossacks are a group of predominantly East Slavic people who originally were members of democratic, semi-military communities in what is today Ukraine and Southern Russia inhabiting sparsely populated areas and islands in the lower Dnieper and Don basins and who played an important role in the...

 communities, formed from among the runaway peasants along the Volga River

Volga River

The Volga is the largest river in Europe in terms of length, discharge, and watershed. It flows through central Russia, and is widely viewed as the national river of Russia. Out of the twenty largest cities of Russia, eleven, including the capital Moscow, are situated in the Volga's drainage...

 in the 16th century in Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

.

The Volga Cossacks participated in Yermak's conquest of Siberia

Siberia

Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...

. Due to the creation of the Tsaritsyn fortified line in the 18th century, the central government decided to form the Volga Cossack Host (Волгское казачье войско) consisting of 1057 families (mostly Don Cossacks

Don Cossacks

Don Cossacks were Cossacks who settled along the middle and lower Don.- Etymology and origins :The Don Cossack Host was a frontier military organization from the end of the 16th until the early 20th century....

) with the center in Dubovka

Dubovka, Volgograd Oblast

Dubovka is a town and the administrative center of Dubovsky District of Volgograd Oblast, Russia, located on the right bank of the Volga River northeast of Volgograd. Population:...

 (north of Tsaritsyn). The Volga Cossacks participated in the Pugachev Rebellion

Pugachev's Rebellion

Pugachev's Rebellion of 1774-75 was the principal revolt in a series of popular rebellions that took place in Russia after Catherine II seized power in 1762...

 in 1773-1775.

In 1770 and 1777 the majority of the Volga Cossacks were relocated to the North Caucasus

North Caucasus

The North Caucasus is the northern part of the Caucasus region between the Black and Caspian Seas and within European Russia. The term is also used as a synonym for the North Caucasus economic region of Russia....

 to form the Mozdok and Volga regiments of the Terek Cossack Host. The Volga Cossack Host proper was abolished. The remnants of the Volga Cossack Host were merged with the Astrakhan Cossack Host

Astrakhan Cossacks

Astrakhan Cossack Host was a Cossack host of Imperial Russia drawn from the Cossacks of the Lower Volga region, who had been patrolling the banks of the Volga River from the time of Russia's annexation of Astrakhan Khanate in 1556.- History :In 1737, the Russian government relocated a number of...

in the early 19th century.