An unknown early 19th c. historical source on the subsistence activities of the population of the Lower Irtysh River basin: analysis of the information potential

Abstract

This paper reports on a previously unpublished document — a survey of the traditional subsistence activities of the popu-lation of the Lower Irtysh River basin and the adjacent part of the Ob River (Denshchikov Commissariat of the Tobolsk Gover-norate, Russia), prepared in 1805 by a local official, D.S. Kochetovsky. The survey contains detailed information on fishing, hunting, and gathering practices of the Russian and Ugric populations, and it was intended for the preparation of the Governor's report to the Minister of Internal Affairs. The study is aimed at assessing the information potential of the historical source and determination of the socio-political context of its production. In the paper, a historical-ethnographic analysis of the document has been carried out against other sources of the 18th–19th centuries, and its main text with annotations is published. The document attests to a high level of competence of the government official in the subsistence economy of the region accountable to him, although that was not fully detailed knowledge. It is not replete with unique data, but at the same time confirms the deep histori-cal tradition and conservatism of the local subsistence economy in which the ethnically mixed population was occupied. Unlike most of the published sources of the second half of the 18th c., the survey describes the economy of the clearly defined area of Northwestern Siberia, notably, as a whole complex, with the seasonal distribution of activities. Particularly valuable is the infor-mation characterising the flexibility of the economic structure, depending on the annual specifics of the fluctuation of natural resources. The authors of the paper concluded that the document under study constitutes one of the early experiences of com-piling a survey of the economy at a lower managerial level, marking the formation of a new model of interaction between state institutions and local communities. The model was based upon the collecting of statistical and factual data on all Russian regions, which towards the middle of the 19th c. adopted by then a regular and formalised order.