Skovoroda was born into a small-holder Ukrainian Cossack family in the village of Chernukhi in Kiev Governorate,[REF] Russian Empire (modern-day Poltava Oblast, Ukraine), in 1722 (his mother may have been of partial Crimean Tatar ancestry[REF]).
In the final quarter of his life he traveled by foot through Sloboda Ukraine staying with various friends, both rich and poor, preferring not to remain in one place for too long.