Expert board:

• Scientific Council of RAS on economic history;
• Research and Educational Center «The economic history of Central Russia and the Middle Volga region» of Ogarev Mordovia State University;
• Center of Economic History of  Lomonosov Moscow State University

ISSN 2409-630X (Print), ISSN 2618-916X (Online)

DOI: 10.24412/2409-630X.071.021.202504.375-386

Natalya A. Vlasova1, Olga V. Koshina2

1 Nizhny Novgorod Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve (Nizhny Novgorod, Russia),

e-mail: hatawaa@mail.ru

2 National Research Ogarev Mordovia State University (Saransk, Russia),

e-mail: koshinaolga@rambler.ru

 

Economic Activities of Mordvins based on Newspaper Materials Nizhny Novgorod Provincial Gazette and Nizhny Novgorod Diocesan Gazette

 

Abstract

Introduction. The relevance of the research is due to the importance of studying the regional features of the economic development of multinational Russia. Representatives of Russian, Mordovian, Mari, Tatar and Chuvash cultures originally live in the Nizhny Novgorod Region. The study of the features of the economic structure of the Mordovian Nizhny Novgorod province makes it possible to produce materials from the regional periodicals Nizhny Novgorod Provincial Gazette and Nizhny Novgorod Diocesan Gazette, which regularly published local history materials about the rural population of the province.

Materials and Methods. The source-based nature of the work involved the use of the following research methods: systematic (analysis of materials from a regional periodical in the system of historical sources on the material culture of the Finno-Ugric peoples of the region); functional (identification of the possibilities of the periodical press of the Nizhny Novgorod province in obtaining information about the economic occupations of the Mordovians), phenomenological (referring to regional periodicals as a phenomenon of the second half of the 19 th century – the beginning of the 20th century); the method of content analysis (analysis of form and content, evaluation and interpretation of the texts of the newspapers Nizhny Novgorod Provincial Gazette and Nizhny Novgorod Diocesan Gazette).

Results. The Nizhny Novgorod Provincial Gazette and the Nizhny Novgorod Diocesan Gazette are an important historical source on the economic activities of the Mordovians of the Nizhny Novgorod Region in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The newspaper notes contain information about agriculture, trade, crafts and crafts of the Nizhny Novgorod Mordovian region. Based on the materials of regional periodicals, it can be concluded that the main occupations of Mordovia in the second half of the 19th – early 20th century were agriculture, beekeeping, handicrafts, latrines and trade. Сarpentry, leather, blacksmithing, wheel, furnace, tailoring and shoemaking developed in the Mordovian village of the region.

Discussion and Conclusions. In the second half of the 19th – early 20th century, due to the abolition of serfdom, the economic structure of the rural population of the region changed: the naturalness of the economy was destroyed, the peasants were actively involved in waste management, commercial activities, commodity-money relations. With the beginning of active deforestation in the Nizhny Novgorod region at the end of the 19th century, beekeeping became widespread. With a shortage of fertile arable land, some Mordovian villages rented land from their neighbors. Mordvins sold agricultural goods and handicrafts at the Nizhny Novgorod fair and at fairs in neighboring provinces. Local peasants were engaged in the resale of bread, bast and eggs at the Nizhny Novgorod Fair and at other regions of Russia. Thus, the socio-economic reforms of the second half of the 19th – early 20th century contributed to the development of crafts, latrines, the growth of the marketability of the economy of Mordovian peasants, and their involvement in market relations within the Nizhny Novgorod province and beyond.

Keywords: economic occupations, agriculture, handicrafts, crafts, trade, Mordovia, Nizhny Novgorod Provincial gazette, Nizhny Novgorod Diocesan gazette.

For citation: Vlasova N. A., Koshina O. V. Economic Activities of Mordvins based on Newspaper Materials Nizhny Novgorod Provincial Gazette and Nizhny Novgorod Diocesan Gazette. Ekonomicheskaya istoriya = Russian Journal of Economic History. 2025; 21(4): 375–386. (In Russ.). DOI: 10.24412/2409-630X.071.021.202504.375–386.

 

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