SETTLEMENT MOVEMENT

SETTLEMENT MOVEMENT, in Russia, in the middle of the 16th to the beginning of the 20th centuries, a movement of population owing to economic or political factors, organized both by the government, and a spontaneous event. After the accession of Bashkortostan to Russia, a spontaneous S.m. began among peoples from the Volga territory. Since 1770, the so-called pustoporozhniye (empty) lands of the Bashkirs were declared state-owned and identified as the foundation for the land allotment to immigrants (ref. Land Policy). In 1818—32, the settlement on the Bashkir holders of patrimonial estate lands (ref. Patrimonial Law of the Bashkirs) was made difficult by the ban on the Bashkir land. The most active was the settlement of Trans-Urals, the territory between the Miass and Uya Rivers, and the Guberniya’s southwestern part. At the end of the 18th century, in the Orenburg Gub. there were 427 thous. people, while in the middle of the 19th century its population already amounted to 2.4 million people. Both the Peasant Reform of 1861 and the Canton System abolition contributed to the S.m. strengthening and the plundering of the Bashkir lands. In 1871, a decree was issued on vesting officials with land at the expense of state-owned possessions, most of which were later sold or rented to immigrants. The growth of S.m. was influenced by the opening of a Peasant Land Bank branch in Ufa (1883), which provided loans to migrants on the security of purchased land, as well as the introduction of the Samaro-Zlatoustovskaya Railway, which made it easier for the peasants to move. Between 1879—94, the cost of a land dessiatine in Ufa Gub. was about 10 rubles, in Kursk Gub. — 65 rubles, in Penza Gub. — 51 rubles, and in Kazan Gub. — 36 rubles. In the 2nd half of the 19th century, about 200 thous. people arrived in Ufa Gub.; in Orenburg Gub. — approx. 125 thous. people. The immigrants’ inclusion into the Bashkir communities led to the buying up of holders of patrimonial estate lands by well-to-do immigrants. Peasants were provided with a loan and they were exempted from state payments and land duties for 5 years. Between 1904—14, approx. 65.5 thous. people migrated from Central Gub. to Orenburg Gub. and approx. 43.8 thous. people moved to Ufa Guberniya. Local small-scale peasants, deprived of the opportunity to rent nearby lands, went to Siberia (from Ufa Gub. — 52.7 thous. people, from Orenburg Gub. — 30 thous. people). However, some of them returned (18.5% and 19.3% respectively). According to the 1912—13 census, in the Ufa Gub. approx. 330 thous. people arrived after 1861, which accounted for 13% of the total rural population. The largest number of immigrants was in Sterlitamak (26%) and Ufa (24%) uyezds. During the S.m., the ethnic composition of the population in Bashkortostan changed. There appeared areas of Russians continuous settlement such as the area to the north of Ufa, near Sterlitamak. The rural settlements of Belarusians, Latvians, Germans, Ukrainians, Estonians, etc also appeared.