Historical factors of the formation of settlements (by the example of the Black Sea coast of Krasnodar region)

Abstract

Background. Nowadays, when determining the level of well-being of a particular region, not only its economic, resource, natural, spatial components are taken into account, but also its historical fate. In the process of the conquest, exploration and development of the Russian Black Sea coast, in connection with its gradual entry into the Russian Empire, the boundaries of the studied territory were changing. The ethnic, sex, age, and confessional composition of the population was also changing. All this led to a certain uniqueness of the region. The purpose of this article is to restore a holistic picture of the phased development and to study the Russian part of the Black Sea coast. The chronological framework of the study is from 1839 when the city of Novorossiysk was founded to the overthrow of the autocracy in 1917. Materials and methods. The author used documents from administrative institutions of the Russian Empire, in particular, the Overview of the Black Sea Province by years from 1899 to 1915. The study was based on the comparative historical and retrospective methods. Results. After the annexation of a part of the Black Sea coast to Russia and the eviction of the indigenous peoples who resisted, the authorities began to colonize the new territories, since they were important not only geopolitically, but also economically. For this purpose, favorable conditions were created for the colonists. Resettlement was encouraged, both from different provinces of the country and from neighboring states. Most of those who wanted to settle in the new lands were landless peasants, but some peoples moved there because of national and religious oppression. The Russian authorities, taking into account all these circumstances, deliberately formed a multi-ethnic composition of settlements in order to avoid conflicts of this kind in the region in the future. Conclusions. The investigated territory, due to its favorable geographic location and climatic conditions, was attractive for settlement, both in the imperial and Soviet periods of Russian history.

Keywords

• black sea coast
• black sea province
• settlement history
• ottoman empire
• novorossiysk
• colonists
• “eastern question”
• benefits