RUSSIAN PEASANTRY IN THE MULTI-ETHNIC SPACE OF THE «UDMURT UYEZDS» OF THE KAMA-VYATKA REGION IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE XIX CENTURY (migration and demographic processes, inter-ethnic relations)

Abstract

The article deals with the issues of the settlement of the Russian peasantry, demographic processes, certain aspects of interaction and mutual influence of ethnic groups’ cultures in the multi-ethnic space of the «Udmurt uyezds» of the Kama-Vyatka region in the post-reform period. The Russian peasantry settled on the designated territory for a long period and with varying degrees of intensity. The pacemaker process before the Great Reforms of Alexander II was migration from various Russian regions. In the second half of the XIX century, the priority direction was the process of internal migration. The Russians are becoming a numerically predominant ethnic group in the «Udmurt uyezds». In Glazovsky Uyezd, the increase in the number of Russian peasants was associated with the formation of settlements around mining and metallurgical enterprises. As a result, their population became mono-ethnic. In Sarapul uyezd, the main part of the settlements was formed in the second half of the XVIII – early XIX centuries. In the second half of the XIX century, there was a change in the ethnic composition of individual villages. The Russian newly-arrived peasantry more often settled in the already existing Udmurt small settlements and villages. There are cases of Russian peasants ousting representatives of other ethnic groups from the territories they inhabited. Similar trends can be traced in Malmyzh district. Based on the actual material of this uyezd, the reasons for the contradictions that arise between different ethnic groups are viewed. Most often, they occurred in the field of farming, which is characterized by technological techniques, established community traditions and ethno-confessional commitments. In Yelabuga uyezd, in contrast to Malmyzh uyezd, the process of cultures’ mutual influence developed widely. A joint good-neighborly settlement of the Russian, Udmurt, and Mari peasantry brought fruitful results in the exchange of agricultural experience and technological techniques in craftsman enterprises. Moreover, heterogeneous marriages often occurred here, which intensified interaction of ethnic traditions. Cases of indigenous population displacement by migrants were rather an exception. The dynamics of interethnic relations development in uyezds had its own peculiarities, however in the Kama-Vyatka region in the post-reform period, it can be described as moderately good-neighborly. Peasants of various ethnic groups exchanged economic and cultural experience.