Don Cossacks are Cossacks who settled along the middle and lower Don. Historically, they have been located within what was the Don Cossack Host , which was either an independent or an autonomous democratic republic in the present day Southern Russia and the Donbas region of Ukraine, from the end of the 16th century until 1918. As of 1992, by the presidential decree of the Russian Federation, Cossacks can be enrolled on a special register. A number of Cossack communities have been reconstituted to further the Cossack cultural traditions, including those of the Don Cossack Host.