The Cossack Hetmanate was a semi-autonomous state in the 17th and 18th centuries, located in what is now central Ukraine. It emerged after the Khmelnytsky Uprising in 1648, when the Cossacks, led by Bohdan Khmelnytsky, sought independence from Polish-Lithuanian control. The Hetmanate was governed by a Hetman, who was elected by the Cossack assembly. The Cossack Hetmanate had its own military, legal system, and administrative structure. It maintained a complex relationship with neighboring powers, including the Russian Empire and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Hetmanate gradually lost its autonomy, culminating in its incorporation into the Russian Empire in the late 18th century.