Merchants of the Middle Urals in the Socio-Economic Development of Russia

Abstract

The aim of the study is to assess the place and role of the Middle Urals merchant class in the socio-economic and socio-cultural life of Russia. The authors define the features, character and status of the merchant class, reveal the history of its emergence in the Urals, the specifics of its activities at different stages of the country's historical development. The participation of the Middle Urals merchants in world economic relations since the early Middle Ages has been proven by numerous finds of Iranian silver and various monetary instruments (eastern Dirhams, European Dinars, Volga-Bulgar coins, etc.) on the territory of the Urals. The article reveals the structure of the merchant class and the various practices of the Urals merchants, including the organization of trade, transport communications, crafts, large-scale production, insurance, and charitable activities. The authors advance a thesis about the continuity between the merchants of the Middle Urals and those of Novgorod, who originally developed the Northern and Middle Urals. The article studies the development of the Middle Urals “provincial merchant class”, its dynamics and composition in the ХVII–ХIХ centuries. On the example of merchant dynasties of the Middle Ural towns of Yekaterinburg, Irbit, Kungur, Nizhny Tagil, Perm and others, the authors reveal the contribution of merchant dynasties to the development of domestic and foreign trade, specific sectors of urban economy. They also put forward and argue the thesis of the steady development of trading capital in the Middle Urals and its merger with industrial capital on the basis of large industrial enterprises (manufactories, factories, plants).