Tomsk Villages in the 1900s-1920s: Dynamics of Population and Size

Abstract

The article gives a comparative description of the development of the rural settlement network of the Tomsk county/district in three time slices: for 1904, 1911 and 1926. The object of the study is a network of rural settlements of the named sub–region, the subject is their number, typical structure and size in terms of the number of yards and the number of inhabitants. The author uses historical-comparative, historical-typological and problem methods of research, as well as the method of graphical visualization of the statistical data obtained on the development of the Tomsk settlement network. The influence of political, socio-economic and other factors on the state of the network of rural settlements is traced. On the basis of a comparative analysis of the "Lists of Populated places", which have become the main source for studying rural settlements of the county/district under consideration, the dynamics of their number, number and population are investigated, qualitative changes in the structure of the settlement network are revealed. The conclusion is made about the gradual expansion of the scale of the rural settlement network in the Tomsk subregion, the reduction of the yard and the population of the Tomsk village by 1926, its unbundling. Attention is focused on structural changes in the settlement network caused by the new agrarian and resettlement policy of the state, as well as the economic and socio-cultural modernization of the country and its individual territories.