GREEKS OF THE NORTHERN AZOV SEA REGION IN THE MATERIALS OF DEMOGRAPHIC STATISTICS OF THE 18th AND 19th CENTURIES: INFORMATIVE OPPORTUNITIES, PROBLEMS OF PRESERVATION AND ACCESS

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The article examines the materials of demographic statistics, presented by the IV-X revisions, salary books, materials from the census of the population of the Russian Empire of 1897, metrical books, as well as registers compiled by Russian officials and representatives of Greek society. Until now, the heuristics of the source-base for the history of the Mariupol Greeks is complicated by the fact that the archival materials of the State Archives in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the State Archives of the Donetsk Region remain in the temporarily occupied territories, and their fate remains unknown today. Materials from the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts and the Russian State Historical Archive are not accessible to Ukrainian researchers. In this regard, the following become extremely relevant: the Concept of restoring the true history of the Greeks of Ukraine without distortion and falsification; the formation of historical memory and national identity on the basis of research with digitized archival or preserved copies of sources from private Greek archives. It is notable that the population census is one of the main sources of statistical information about the socio-economic history and everyday life of the Greek community of the Northern Azov Sea region at the end of the 18th – 19th centuries. The information potential of the revision lists provides the opportunity to pose questions on the age structure of the population of Greek villages and the city of Mariupol, the average life expectancy of Greeks, etc. The data from the revision lists were embodied in the salary books of the early 80s of 18th century, which are stored in the collection of the Russian State Historical Archive «Expeditions on State Revenues». They are the only general document reflecting the dynamics of the Greek population. Among the sources of demographic statistics, in terms of the number of reliable and organized information, materials from the population census of the Russian Empire of 1897 and metrical books stand out. The information from the registers of births has high information capabilities and makes it possible to study the seasonal distribution of natality, cases of births of illegitimate children, track the number of early marriages, causes of death of the Greek population, etc.