Settlers from the Caucasus in Tomsk Province (1800–1808)

The first settlers from the Caucasian region appeared in the Tomsk area in the early 19th century. This minor wave of migration remains understudied by researchers of Russian colonization in Siberia. Caucasian settlers altered the demographic landscape and played an important role in the development of the Tomsk Province. They increased the number of Russian villages in the region and significantly expanded the arable lands. This article highlights the resettlement of small-scale farmers from the Caucasus to the Tomsk Province in 1800–1808. It examines the causes behind the migration, its progress, the timeframe, and the new settlements founded by the newcomers. A comparative analysis of various sources made it possible to compile personal data for most migrant families, as well as to trace their routes from Caucasus Province to both newly founded and oldtimers’ Russian villages in the Kiya River valley. In addition, archival documents enabled the author to assess the role of central and local authorities in the resettlement process.

1. Alexandrov V. A. The Russian population of Siberia of the 17th – early 18th centuries in Yenisei region. Moscow: Nauka, 1964, 303. (In Russ.)

2. Alishina G. N. In search of "a place of one’s own": Peasant colonization in Tomsk province. Quaestio Rossica, 2020, 8(4): 1307–1320. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.15826/qr.2020.4.529

3. Andrievich V. K. Siberia in the 19th century. Pt. 1. The period from the death of Empress Catherine II to 1806. St. Petersburg: Tip. i lit. V. V. Komarova, 1889, 298. (In Russ.)

4. Arkannikov F. F. Nikolaevskaya Stanitsa: Statistical and ethnographic description. Kuban collection. Proceedings of the Kuban Regional Statistical Committee, ed. Felitsyn E. D. Ekaterinodar: Kubanskii obl. stat. kom., 1883, vol. 1, 548–617. (In Russ.)

5. Asochakova V. N. Russian colonization and economic development of the Khakass-Minusinsk Region. Vestnik Khakasskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta im. N. F. Katanova, 2018, (25): 35–38. (In Russ.) https://elibrary.ru/yrjkyx

6. Bakhrushin S. V. A historical sketch of the settlement of Siberia before the mid-19th century. Essays on the history of colonization of the North and Siberia. Petrograd: Redaktsionno-izdatelskii komitet Narodnogo komissariata zemledeliya, 1922, iss. 2, 18–84. (In Russ.)

7. Belikov D. N. The First Russian peasants-inhabitants of the Tomsk region and different features in the conditions of their life and life: General essay for the XVII and XVIII centuries. Tomsk: Tipo-lit. M. N. Kononova i I. F. Skulimovskogo, 1898, 138. (In Russ.)

8. Boyarshinova Z. Ya. The settlement of Siberia by Russians from the 16th to the first half of the 19th centuries. Results and objectives of the study of Siberia of the pre-Soviet period, ed. Okladnikov A. P. Novosibirsk: Nauka. Sib. otd-nie, 1971, 40–56. (In Russ.)

9. Bykonya G. F. Russian settlement of the Yenisei region in the XVIII century. 2nd ed. Krasnoyarsk: KSPU, 2013, 348. (In Russ.) https://elibrary.ru/tpckzn

10. Vatin V. A. The village of Minusinskoye: A historical sketch. Minusinsk: Tip. A. F. Metelkina, 1914, 179. (In Russ.)

11. Grigoriev A. D. The arrangement and settlement of the Moscow highway in Siberia from the point of view of studying Russian dialects. Tomsk, 1921, 116. (In Russ.)

12. Grigoriev V. Yu. The population of the Kansk, Krasnoyarsk, Achinsk, and Minusinsk districts of the Yenisei province. Irkutsk: Tip. K. I. Vitkovskoi, 1893, 176. (In Russ.)

13. Gromyko M. M. Western Siberia in the 18th century. The Russian population and agricultural development. Novosibirsk: Nauka, 1965, 267. (In Russ.)

14. Emelyanov I. F. The settlement of the Middle Ob region by Russians in the feudal era. Tomsk: Tomsk University, 1981, 181. (In Russ.)

15. Ilyina E. V. Features of studying peasant clans genealogy in the Kolyvano-Voskresensky (Altay) mountain district. Izvestiya of Altai State University, 2010, (4/1): 115–119. (In Russ.) https://elibrary.ru/navybz

16. Kabuzan V. M. The settlement of Siberia and the Far East in the late 18th – early 20th century (1795–1917). Istoriya SSSR, 1979, (3): 24–38. (In Russ.) https://elibrary.ru/vrlbjz

17. Kolesnikov V. A. Odnodvortsy-Cossacks: On the 200th anniversary of the founding of Rozhdestvenskaya, Kamennobrodskaya, Sengileevskaya, and Novotroitskaya Stanitsas. St. Petersburg: Nestor, 2000, 318. (In Russ.)

18. Kosovets V. I. Settlement and development of Yurga, the adjacent Middle Tom Valley, and the Ob Valley: Settlement and development of the territories of the Yurga, Yashkino, and Bolotnoye districts. Yurga: YuFGUDP TsNII "Kompleks", 2010, 142. (In Russ.)

19. Kostomarov V. M., Krestyannikov K. Yu. Spatial characteristics of Russian pioneers' settlement system in Siberia of the 17th–18th centuries of Tobol river basin in the context of landscape (GIS optics). Tyumen State University Herald. Humanities Research. Humanitates, 2022, 8(4): 134–153. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.21684/2411-197X-2022-8-4-134-153

20. Kostrov N. A. The legal customs of the peasant old-timers of the Tomsk province. Tomsk: Tomsk. Gub. tip., 1876, 117. (In Russ.)

21. Kuzmin O. Yu. Population dynamics of the village of Chumay in the XIX – early XX centuries. Vestnik Kemerovskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta, 2021, 23(3): 634–644. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.21603/2078-8975-2021-23-3-634-644

22. Kuzmin O. Yu. Settlement of the Kiya river basin by the Russians: Case study of the foundation of the village of Chumay in the Chebulinsky district of Kemerovo region. Vestnik Kemerovskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta, 2020, 22(1): 28–35. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.21603/2078-8975-2020-22-1-28-35

23. Lichkov L. S. New data on the history of the settlement of Siberia. Kiev: Tip. Korchak-Novitskogo, 1894, 50. (In Russ.)

24. Mamsik T. S. The Chaus-Ob’ Region: Population and economy: Experience of retrospections based on the materials of the 17th–19th centuries. Novosibirsk: SB RAS, 2009, 228. (In Russ.) https://elibrary.ru/tghtnf

25. Prozritelev G. N. The first Russian settlements in the North Caucasus and in the present Stavropol Province: Proceedings of the Stavropol Scientific Archival Commission. Stavropol: Tip. Gubernskogo Pravleniya, 1912, 18. (In Russ.)

26. Rezun D. Ya. Russians in the Middle Chulym River Valley in the 17th–19th centuries. Novosibirsk: Nauka, 1984, 196. (In Russ.) https://elibrary.ru/xhajrx

27. Sirota O. A., Romanenko M. Migrants to Siberia. The history and problems of research. Proceedings of the Second Interregional West Siberian Genealogical Scientific and Practical Conference, Novosibirsk, 13 Oct 2019. Novosibirsk: Agro-Sibir, 2020, 93–97. (In Russ.)

28. Tvalchrelidze A. I. Stavropol province in statistical, geographical, historical, and agricultural relations. Stavropol: Tip. M. N. Koritskogo, 1897, 744. (In Russ.)

29. Uskov I. Yu. Dynamics of the number of the Russian population of the Left-bank Prichulym'e in the ХVIII – first half of the ХIХ century. Vestnik Kemerovskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta, 2017, (3): 91–95. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.21603/2078-8975-2017-3-91-95

30. Uskov I. Yu. Formation of the peasant population of the Middle Tom region from the 17th to the first half of the 19th century. Kemerovo: Kuzbassvuzizdat, 2005, 130. (In Russ.) https://elibrary.ru/qozwvl

31. Khvostov V. S. The Tomsk Province and the population living along the Great Siberian Highway to the Irkutsk border. St. Petersburg: Tip. Imp. Akad. nauk, 1809, 107. (In Russ.)

32. Khorokhordin G. S. Application of cartographic materials of the late XIX – early XX century to characterize the development of the settlement network of Tomsk County of Tomsk province. Tomsk State University Journal of History, 2021, (70): 144–151. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.17223/19988613/70/20

33. Shlomova A. I. Settlement characteristics on the territory of Prichulym'e in the middle of the XIX century. Klio, 2024, (6): 202–210. (In Russ.) https://elibrary.ru/ihgubc

34. Shcherbina F. A. The history of the Kuban Cossack army. Vol. 2. The history of the war of the Cossacks with the Transcuban highlanders. Ekaterinodar: Tip. Tovarishchestva Pechatnogo i Izdatel'skogo dela pod firmoiu "Pechatnik", 1913, 848. (In Russ.)

35. Elert A. Kh. G. F. Miller's expedition materials as a source on the history of Siberia. Novosibirsk: Nauka, 1990, 247. (In Russ.) https://elibrary.ru/uaehxf