Demographic history of Russia

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This article presents the demographic history of Russia covering the period of Kievan Rus, its successor states, the Mongol domination and the unified Tsardom of Russia. See Demographics of Russia for a more detailed overview of the current and 20th century demographics.

Contents

Kievan Rus, Mongol invasion and vassalage

Principalities of Kievan Rus Principalities of Kievan Rus' (1054-1132) en.svg
Principalities of Kievan Rus

Population

Kievan Rus was a loose federation of East Slavic, Norse and Finnic peoples in Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century. The population of Kievan Rus is estimated to have been between 4.5 million and 8 million, however in the absence of historical sources these estimates are based on the assumed population density. [1] The great majority of the population was rural and lived in small villages with no more than ten households, except for some exceptionally fertile areas such as Zalesye. [2] The urban populations were estimated by Tikhomirov based on the data from the chronicles: militia size, fortified area, number of churches, epidemic victims and burned houses. Kiev had tens of thousands of inhabitants, the population of Novgorod numbered 10–15 thousand in the beginning of 11th century and 20–30 thousand 200 years later. Smolensk, Polotsk (currently a city in Belarus), Vladimir and Chernigov (now Volodymyr-Volynskyi and Chernihiv in Ukraine) were comparable in size to Novgorod, while the great majority of the other cities had no more than 1000 citizens. Subsequent archeological research produced similar numbers for the biggest cities: up to 35 thousand in Novgorod and up to 50 thousand in Kiev. [3]

The Mongol invasion in the 13th century devastated most of Kievan Rus, with only the North-West (Novgorod, Pskov, Smolensk) escaping the widespread destruction. Out of 74 major cities, 49 were destroyed and many of them were abandoned or became villages. Two thirds of settlements in the Moscow region disappeared. [4] The recovery started in the beginning of the 14th century, with new lands entering cultivation, new settlements appearing and monumental construction growing quickly. [4] In Novgorod Land, which was less fertile than the North-East and could support lower population density, there are signs of over-population starting from the 1360s: epidemics, high food prices, famines, peasants falling into arrears and losing their lands to nobles and monasteries. The North-East was hit by Edigu's invasion and by pestilence in the beginning of 15th century which led the author of the chronicle to remark that few people remained in all the Russian land (и мало людий во всей Русской земле остася). This was followed by the Muscovite Civil War. [4]

The Mongols carried out several censuses to set the tribute during the period of their domination. The 16th century miniature depicts the census in Vladimir in 1257 Facial Chronicle - b.06, p.255 - Mongol census in Vladimir in 6766.png
The Mongols carried out several censuses to set the tribute during the period of their domination. The 16th century miniature depicts the census in Vladimir in 1257

Internal migrations

The lands of Rostov-Suzdal Principality were settled by Slavs in this period, with the native Finno-Permic speakers being gradually assimilated. In the North the territories between Onega and Ladoga lakes and along Svir, Northern Dvina and Vyatka rivers attracted Novgorodian settlers. The Mongol invasion triggered an internal migration from less secure Southern lands to the forested regions of Moscow, Tver and Upper Volga. [5]

Social stratification

The population of Kievan Rus consisted of nobility (boyars), free and partially free peasants (smerd, zakup, ryadovich) and kholops whose status was similar to that of slaves. [6]

Tsardom of Rus’

Population

The first reliable data on the number of households dates to the late 15th century, when Ivan III carried out several censuses of the newly incorporated Novgorod land. As these censuses counted adult heads of households the total population estimates of Novgorod land vary between 500 and 800 thousand. [7]

By the end of 15th century most of East Slav lands formerly belonging to Kievan Rus were divided between the Grand Duchy of Moscow and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The population of the former was estimated to be around 5.8 million in 1500, growing to 9–10 million by 1550. Vodarsky estimates the population in mid-16th century to be 6.5 million, growing to 7 million by the end of it. [8] The contemporary population of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania numbered 3.6 million, with Ruthenians constituting the majority (see Demographic history of Poland). [9] [10]

As the population of Muscovy was growing the size of the average peasant allotment declined (though there were significant regional variations) and the wages declined as well while the grain prices soared. [11] The Livonian War led to the increase of tax burden on the peasants and when the crops failed in 1567 and 1568 a famine ensued, followed by a plague of 1570-1571. [12] In the best-documented Novgorod land some regions lost between 40 and 60% to famine, decease and emigration. [13] [14]

The relatively calm period of 1584–1600 was followed by the Time of Troubles when a few consecutive crop failures led to a famine and a collapse of the Russian state, foreign interventions and widespread destruction. The population size only reached the 1600 level fifty years later. [15]

According to the census of 1678 there were 950,000 households in Russia. The estimates for the total population range between 10.5 and 11.5 million depending on the assumptions of the average number of individuals in a household and of the percentage of population that avoided the census. [16] [17] As the census was used to determine poll taxes due, both peasants and landlords had the incentive to minimise the number of counted households. They could conceal them, combine several households into one or report peasants as household servants (дворовые люди) who were not taxed. [18]

The biggest cities in the 16th century were Moscow (41,500 households), Pskov (6,000) and Novgorod (5,500), [19] while in the 17th century Yaroslavl became the second biggest city after Moscow. [20]

Internal migrations

The settlement of southern borderlands continued during this period. The former Wild Fields became safer as the new defence lines and fortresses were founded and its rich soils attracted settlers from the central Russia. [21] The conquest of Siberia started in late 16th century and within one hundred years most of Siberia belonged to Russia. At that time there were 40 thousand Russian peasants in Siberia and the settlement gathered pace in the beginning of 18th century. [22]

Social stratification

Peasants constituted 90% of households in 1678, with 3% of townsfolk (посадские люди) and 7% of untaxed classes (service class people and clergy) according to the census of 1678. Serfs living on the lands belonging to the nobility, the church or the royal family accounted for the majority or the peasants, with the remainder consisting of personally free peasants and yasak-paying non-Russians. [23] Almost half of all serfs owned by nobles belonged to 535 richest landowners while the other 14,500 landowners owned the rest. The odnodvortsy were part of the service class people and thus did not pay taxes even though they normally did not own any serfs (hence the name, literally one-householders). [24]

Ethnic composition

The conquest of the Kazan and Astrakhan Khanate brought a large Muslim Tatar population alongside Chuvash, Mari and Mordvin people into Russia. [25]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Russia</span>

The history of Russia begins with the histories of the East Slavs. The traditional start date of specifically Russian history is the establishment of the Rus' state in the north in the year 862, ruled by Varangians. In 882, Prince Oleg of Novgorod seized Kiev, uniting the northern and southern lands of the Eastern Slavs under one authority, moving the governance center to Kiev by the end of the 10th century, and maintaining northern and southern parts with significant autonomy from each other. The state adopted Christianity from the Byzantine Empire in 988, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium. Kievan Rus' ultimately disintegrated as a state due to the Mongol invasions in 1237–1240. After the 13th century, Moscow emerged as a significant political and cultural force, driving the unification of Russian territories. By the end of the 15th century, many of the petty principalities around Moscow had been united with the Grand Duchy of Moscow, which took full control of its own sovereignty under Ivan the Great.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus'</span> 13th-century Mongol military campaign in Europe

The Mongol Empire invaded and conquered much of Kievan Rus' in the mid-13th century, sacking numerous cities including the largest: Kiev and Chernigov. The siege of Kiev in 1240 by the Mongols is generally held to mark the end of the state of Kievan Rus', which had already been undergoing fragmentation. Many other principalities and urban centres in the northwest and southwest escaped complete destruction or suffered little to no damage from the Mongol invasion, including Galicia–Volhynia, Novgorod, Pskov, Smolensk, Polotsk, Vitebsk, and probably Rostov and Uglich.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vladimir-Suzdal</span> Medieval principality in Eastern Europe

Vladimir-Suzdal, formally known as the Principality of Vladimir-Suzdal or Grand Principality of Vladimir (1157–1331), also as Suzdalia or Vladimir-Suzdalian Rus', was one of the major principalities emerging from Kievan Rus' in the late 12th century, centered in Vladimir-on-Klyazma. With time the principality grew into a grand principality divided into several smaller principalities. After being conquered by the Mongol Empire, the principality became a self-governed state headed by its own nobility. A governorship of the principality, however, was prescribed by a jarlig issued from the Golden Horde to a Rurikid sovereign.

<i>Russkaya Pravda</i> Legal code of Kievan Rus

The Russkaya Pravda was the legal code of Kievan Rus' and its principalities during the period of feudal fragmentation. It was written at the beginning of the 12th century and remade during many centuries. The basis of the Russkaya Pravda, the Pravda of Yaroslav, was written at the beginning of the 11th century. The Russkaya Pravda was a main source of the law of Kievan Rus'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Novgorod Republic</span> Russian city-state (1136–1478)

The Novgorod Republic was a medieval state that existed from the 12th to 15th centuries in northern Russia, stretching from the Gulf of Finland in the west to the northern Ural Mountains in the east. Its capital was the city of Novgorod. The republic prospered as the easternmost trading post of the Hanseatic League, and its people were much influenced by the culture of the Byzantines, with the Novgorod school of icon painting producing many fine works.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the administrative division of Russia</span>

The modern administrative-territorial structure of Russia is a system of territorial organization which is a product of a centuries-long evolution and reforms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smerd</span> Serf in the medieval Slavic states of Central and East Europe

A smerd was a free peasant and later a feudal-dependent serf in the medieval Slavic states of East Europe. Sources from the 11th and 12th centuries mention their presence in Kievan Rus' and Poland as the smardones. Etymologically, the word smerd comes from a common Indo-European root meaning "ordinary man" or "dependent man".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">European Russia</span> Western and most populated part of Russia

European Russia is the western and most populated part of the Russian Federation. It is geographically situated in Europe, as opposed to the country's sparsely populated and vastly larger eastern part, Siberia, which is situated in Asia, encompassing the entire northern region of the continent. The two parts of Russia are divided by the Ural Mountains and Ural river, bisecting the Eurasian supercontinent. European Russia covers the vast majority of Eastern Europe, and spans roughly 40% of Europe's total landmass, with over 15% of its total population, making Russia the largest and most populous country in Europe. It is divided into five Federal districts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Medieval demography</span> Human demography in Europe and the Mediterranean during the Middle Ages

Medieval demography is the study of human demography in Europe and the Mediterranean during the Middle Ages. It estimates and seeks to explain the number of people who were alive during the Medieval period, population trends, life expectancy, family structure, and related issues. Demography is considered a crucial element of historical change throughout the Middle Ages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Serfdom in Russia</span> Unfree peasant class of Tsarist Russia

The term serf, in the sense of an unfree peasant of tsarist Russia, meant an unfree person who, unlike a slave, historically could be sold only together with the land to which they were "attached". However, this stopped being a requirement by the 19th century, and serfs were practically indistinguishable from slaves. Contemporary legal documents, such as Russkaya Pravda, distinguished several degrees of feudal dependency of peasants. While another form of slavery in Russia, kholopstvo, was ended by Peter I in 1723, the serfdom was abolished only by Alexander II's emancipation reform of 1861; nevertheless, in times past, the state allowed peasants to sue for release from serfdom under certain conditions, and also took measures against abuses of landlord power.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kholop</span> Feudal Russian serf

A kholop was a type of feudal serf in Kievan Rus' in the 9th and early 12th centuries. Their legal status in Russia was essentially the same as slaves. They were sold as any other property of their master until the emancipation reform of 1861. The term kholop was excluded from official use in 1724, but it remains in vernacular use as a type of insult.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kievan Rus'</span> State in Europe, c. 880 to 1240

Kievan Rus', also known as Kyivan Rus', was the first East Slavic state and later an amalgam of principalities in Eastern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century. Encompassing a variety of polities and peoples, including East Slavic, Norse, and Finnic, it was ruled by the Rurik dynasty, founded by the Varangian prince Rurik. The name was coined by Russian historians in the 19th century to describe the period when Kiev was at the center. At its greatest extent in the mid-11th century, Kievan Rus' stretched from the White Sea in the north to the Black Sea in the south and from the headwaters of the Vistula in the west to the Taman Peninsula in the east, uniting the East Slavic tribes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rurikids</span> Noble lineage, rulers of Kievan Rus

The Rurik dynasty, also known as the Rurikid or Riurikid dynasty, as well as simply Rurikids or Riurikids, was a noble lineage allegedly founded by the Varangian prince Rurik, who, according to tradition, established himself at Novgorod in the year 862. The Rurikids were the ruling dynasty of Kievan Rus' and its principalities following its disintegration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Veliky Novgorod</span> City in Novgorod Oblast, Russia

Veliky Novgorod, also known simply as Novgorod (Новгород), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the oldest cities in Russia, being first mentioned in the 9th century. The city lies along the Volkhov River just downstream from its outflow from Lake Ilmen and is situated on the M10 federal highway connecting Moscow and Saint Petersburg. UNESCO recognized Novgorod as a World Heritage Site in 1992. The city has a population of 224,286 (2021 Census).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Novgorod Land</span> Historic region of Russia

Novgorodian Land was one of the largest historical territorial–state formations in Russia, covering its northwest and north. Novgorod Land, centered in Veliky Novgorod, was in the cradle of Kievan Rus' under the rule of the Rurikid dynasty and one of the most important princely thrones of the era. During the collapse of Kievan Rus' and in subsequent centuries, Novgorod Land developed as the Novgorod Republic: an autonomous state with republican forms of government under the suzerainty of the great princes of Vladimir-Suzdal. During the period of greatest development, it reached north to the White Sea, and in the east it has been claimed that it did spread beyond the Ural Mountains. It had extensive trade relations within the framework of the Hanseatic League and with the rest of Rus'. The Principality of Moscow conquered the Novgorod Republic in 1478, and annexed it in 1578, although Novgorod Land continued to exist as an administrative unit until 1708.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slavery in Russia</span>

While slavery has not been widespread on the territory of what is now Russia since the introduction of Christianity in the tenth century, serfdom in Russia, which was in many ways similar to landless peasantry in Feudal Europe, only ended in February 19th, 1861 when Russian Emperor Alexander II issued The Emancipation of the serfs in 1861. Emancipation of state-owned serfs occurred in 1866.

The armies of the Rus' principalities emerged in the 13th century out of the military of Kievan Rus', shattered by the Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus'. The princely Rus' armies from 1240 to 1550 were characterised by feudalism, consisting of cavalry armies of noble militia and their armed servants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Poles in Transnistria</span> Minority in Transnistria

The history of Polish people in Transnistria goes back centuries when the communities along the lower Dniester river were part of Podolia in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and later the Russian Empire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crisis of the late 16th century in Russia</span>

Russia suffered from an economic and social crisis in the second half of the 16th century which led to famines, depopulation and the abandonment of agricultural lands. The economic crisis overlapped with the oprichnina and happened at the time when Russia waged the Livonian War. The crisis is considered to be one of the precursors of the Time of Troubles.

References

  1. ↑ Gorskaya 1994, pp. 48–49.
  2. ↑ Gorskaya 1994, pp. 55.
  3. ↑ Gorskaya 1994, pp. 49–51.
  4. 1 2 3 Нефедов, С. А. (2002). "О демографических циклах в истории средневековой Руси". Клио. 3: 193–203.
  5. ↑ Gorskaya 1994, pp. 58–59.
  6. ↑ The Cambridge history of Russia . Perrie, Maureen, 1946–, Lieven, D. C. B., Suny, Ronald Grigor. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2006. p. 576. ISBN   9780521812276. OCLC   77011698.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  7. ↑ Gorskaya 1994, pp. 94.
  8. ↑ Gorskaya 1994, pp. 93–96.
  9. ↑ Samsonowicz, Henryk (1997). "Probe einer demograpischen Einschätzung Polen um das Jahr 1500". Studia Historiae Oeconomicae (in German). 22: 17–24. doi: 10.18276/pdp.2015.2.37-01 .
  10. ↑ Based on 1618 population map Archived 2013-02-17 at the Wayback Machine (p.115), 1618 languages map (p.119), 1657–1667 losses map (p.128) and 1717 map Archived 2013-02-17 at the Wayback Machine (p.141) from Iwo Cyprian Pogonowski, Poland a Historical Atlas, Hippocrene Books, 1987, ISBN   0-88029-394-2
  11. ↑ Turchin & Nefedov 2009, pp. 244–247.
  12. ↑ Turchin & Nefedov 2009, pp. 252.
  13. ↑ Turchin & Nefedov 2009, pp. 253.
  14. ↑ Gorskaya 1994, pp. 133.
  15. ↑ Gorskaya 1994, pp. 93, 96.
  16. ↑ Gorskaya 1994, pp. 93, 95.
  17. ↑ Moon gives the number of 4.8 million males (excluding armed forces) in Moon, David (2014). The Russian Peasantry 1600–1930: The World the Peasants Made. Routledge. p. 21. ISBN   9781317895190.
  18. ↑ Седашев, В. (1912). Очерки и материалы по истории землевладения Московской Руси в XVII веке. Москва: В. Рихтера. p. 203.
  19. ↑ Turchin & Nefedov 2009, pp. 246.
  20. ↑ Fedorčuk 2006, p. 37
  21. ↑ Gorskaya 1994, pp. 121.
  22. ↑ Gorskaya 1994, pp. 109.
  23. ↑ Gorskaya 1994, pp. 108.
  24. ↑ Gorskaya 1994, pp. 112–113.
  25. ↑ Geraci, Robert; Khodarkovsky, Michael (2018). Of Religion and Empire: Missions, Conversion, and Tolerance in Tsarist Russia. Cornell University Press. p. 121. ISBN   9781501724305.

Bibliography

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