They engaged in both, with farming becoming far more common as the security of their regions increased. Later Cossacks were very much farming villages.
Hello my friend, excellent video as always, can you please provide your source for the soundtrack at minute 11:45 i know it's the Cossacks Lezginka but ive been trying to find that version for ages but it's been scraped from the internet, could you please provide the source?
Hello! I'm glad you liked the video :) I love that song as well, it's by a folk Cossack band called 'Bratina' ("Братина"). The song 10:45 - 12:15 is called 'Oi Dusya, Oi Marusya' (Ой, Дуся, ой, Маруся ). From what I understand 'Cossack's Lezginka' is the alternative name for the song. I love the way they perform this one, but another (easier to find version) is by Otava Yo (Отава Ё) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-0HtvH34CmZY.html PS: Drop me an email if you want an MP3 version of the song.
Yes, I skimmed over the Chinese Cossack community (as the video was already pretty long) - the majority of Russians in Northern China are descended from the 1920 refugees, but a very small percentage do claim to date back to that Albazin settlement.