How did Novorossiya begin? Development of Novorossia from the 18th to the beginning of the 20th centuries

territory, which included 20th century historical Russian provinces: Kherson, Yekaterinoslav and Tauride (except Crimea), - cut through by the lower reaches of the Dnieper, Dniester and Bug. This flat steppe space imperceptibly merges with the steppes of eastern Russia, passing into the Asian steppes, and therefore has long served as the dwelling of tribes moving from Asia to the West. On the same coast of the Black Sea, a number of Greek colonies were founded in antiquity. permanent shift population continued until the Tatar invasion. In the XIII-XVI centuries. the Tatars dominated here, making it impossible for the peaceful colonization of the country by neighboring peoples, but in the middle. 16th century military colonization began. Below the rapids on the Dnieper island of Khortitsa was founded by the Cossacks Sich. All R. 18th century new settlers appear here - immigrants from the Slavic lands, Bulgarians, Serbs, Volokhi. The government, meaning to create a military border population, gave them benefits and various privileges. Two districts were formed in 1752: New Serbia and Slavic Serbia. At the same time, lines of fortifications were created. After the 1st Turkish War, fortified lines captured new spaces. The annexation of the Crimea in 1783, making Novorossia unsafe from the Tatars, gave a new impetus to the colonization of the region. The 2nd Turkish war gave the Ochakov region into the hands of Russia. (i.e. the western part of the Kherson province.). Since 1774, the head of the administration of the Novorossiysk Territory was placed Prince. G.A. Potemkin, who remained in this position until his death (1791). He divided the country into provinces: Azov to the east of the Dnieper and Novorossiysk to the west. Potemkin's concern was the settlement and comprehensive development of the region. In the types of colonization, privileges were given to foreigners - immigrants from Slavic lands, Greeks, Germans and schismatics, huge land holdings were distributed to dignitaries and officials with the obligation to settle them. Simultaneously with the government colonization, there was a free colonization from Great Russia and Little Russia. The Russian colonists, like foreigners, did not use help from the treasury, but they did not encounter any obstacles to settling in new places, there was a lot of land, and its owners willingly allowed them to settle on it. They also condescendingly looked at the settlement of fugitive peasants in the region, the number of which, with the development of serfdom in the 18th and n. 19th century everything was growing. Under Potemkin, a number of cities were founded in Novorossia - Yekaterinoslav, Kherson, Nikolaev, etc. Odessa was later founded. Administratively, Novorossiya was redrawn several times. In 1783 it was named Yekaterinoslav viceroy. In 1784, the Tauride Region was formed, and in 1795, Voznesenskaya Province. Under Paul I, part of the Yekaterinoslav vicegerency was separated, and the Novorossiysk province was formed from the rest. Under Alexander I, the provinces of Yekaterinoslav, Kherson and Tauride were established here, which, together with the Bessarabian region annexed from Turkey, formed the Novorossiysk Governorate-General. The administrative center of Novorossia, as well as industrial and cultural, in the XIX century. became Odessa.

Education of Novorossia

The beginning of the 18th century was marked by a large-scale modernization of Russia in the military-political, administrative and other spheres of life. The most important directions This modernization was the elimination of the military-political and economic blockade, and not only in the Baltic, but also in other areas - the Caspian and the Black Sea.

As a result of the Northern War, Russia established itself in the Baltic as one of the leading European states, with the interests of which the "old" Europe already had to take into account.

During the Caspian campaign (1722 - 1724), Peter I thwarted an attempt to capture Caspian territories Turkey and ensured the safety of navigation and trade in the region. Thus, a window to Asia was cut through. Symbolically, this was done in a dugout in the city of Petrovsk (now Makhachkala).

In the Black Sea direction, attempts to break the blockade were less successful. Russia failed in the time of Peter the Great to establish itself in the Black Sea and Azov regions. This was due to a number of reasons, one of the most important of which was the lack of human resources in this area. The region, in fact, was the so-called "Wild Field"- deserted abandoned land.

The raids of the Crimean Tatars on Russia were also systematic in the second half of the 16th century. Almost the entire adult male population of the khanate took part in these raids. The goal was one robbery and capture of prisoners. At the same time, hunting for live goods was the main branch of the economy of the khanate, and slaves were its main export product.

The captives captured in the raids were mainly bought right there in the Crimea by merchants of predominantly Jewish origin, who later resold their “goods” at a big profit. The buyer of slaves was mainly the Ottoman Empire, which widely used the labor of slaves in all spheres of economic life.

In addition, in the XIV - XV centuries, Slavic slaves were bought by merchants of the Italian urban republics that were experiencing the Renaissance, as well as France. Thus, neither the "most Christian" monarchs, nor the pious bourgeois, nor the humanists of the Renaissance saw anything shameful in buying Christian slaves from Muslim lords through Jewish intermediaries.

The interests of ensuring the security of Russia demanded the elimination of the Crimean Tatar and Turkish threat and the return of access to the Black Sea. This, in turn, implied the need to attract large human resources to the region, capable of not only developing fertile fertile lands, but also protecting them from raids and invasions.

The beginning of this process was laid by Peter I. Having not found allies in the fight against Turkey in Europe, he decided to find them among the population of the peoples enslaved by her. To this end, he issued a number of decrees calling for the resettlement of representatives of the South Slavic and other Orthodox peoples of the Balkans in order to participate in the defense of the southern borders of Russia from the attacks of the Crimean Tatars and Turks.

This was facilitated by the position of the Balkan peoples themselves, who saw in Russia a force capable of crushing the Ottoman Empire and freeing them from Turkish domination. Belief in the power and messianism of the "divine power" came at the end of the 17th century to replace the hope for a Catholic leader in Eastern Europe - the degrading Commonwealth. This belief was reinforced by the statements of Russian officials. In particular, for example, the representative of Russia on Karlowitz Peace Congress (1698)) P.B. Voznitsyn pointed out that "if the sultan is the patron of the entire Islamic world, and the Austrian emperor is the patron of the Catholics, then Russia has the right to stand up for the Orthodox in the Balkans."

Subsequently, until the collapse of the Russian Empire in 1917, this became the leitmotif of its foreign policy.

Because of this, since the end of the 16th century, representatives of the highest Orthodox clergy, as well as the political and military elite of the Balkan peoples, have been sent to Russia with requests for patronage in the fight against the Ottoman Empire and proposals for a joint fight against it.

In practice, this manifested itself during the Russian-Turkish war of 1711-1713. To help Russia in the Balkan provinces of Austria, a 20,000-strong Serbian militia was formed, but it could not connect with the Russian army, since it was blocked by Austrian troops. As a result, in the body Boris Petrovich Sheremetiev due to the Austrian blockade in the summer of 1711, only 148 Serbs under the command of Captain V. Bolyubash managed to break through.

Subsequently, the number of Serb volunteers increased, amounting to about 1,500 people by 1713.

Equally small were volunteers from Hungary (409 people) and Moldova (about 500 people).

At the end of the campaign, most of the volunteers returned to their homeland. At the same time, some of them could not return, since in Austria they would inevitably be subjected to repression. Therefore, at the end of the war, they were placed in the cities of Sloboda Ukraine: Nizhyn, Chernigov, Poltava and Pereyaslavl. And on January 31, 1715, the Decree of Peter I was issued "On the allotment of land to Moldavian, Volosh and Serbian officers and soldiers for settlement in the Kiev and Azov provinces and the issuance of salaries to them." At the same time, special attention in the Decree was paid to the settlement of Serbian officers and privates, who determined not only places to live, but also an annual salary. In addition, the Decree of Peter I contained a call "to attract other Serbs - to write to them and send to Serbia special people who would persuade other Serbs to enter the Russian service under the command of Serbian officers."

Thus, the 150 Serbs who remained in Russia after the war became in fact the first settlers in the region, which would later be called Novorossia. The significance of this act lies in the fact that it actually laid the foundation for attracting volunteer settlers to the region, capable of not only developing it, but also protecting the southern borders of Russia from Tatar-Turkish aggression.

Subsequent events related to the approval of Russia's positions in the Baltic for some time postponed the implementation of this plan. But already after the conclusion of the Nishtad Peace Treaty (1721), which marked the victory of Russia in the Great Northern War, in the course of preparations for the next Russian- Turkish war Peter I, who by this time had become Emperor at the request of the Senate and the Synod of Russia, returned to the idea of ​​strengthening the borders of the state in the Azov-Black Sea direction by attracting volunteers - immigrants from Balkan Peninsula. This position of Peter I was largely determined, on the one hand, by his skeptical attitude towards the Ukrainian Cossacks after the betrayal of Hetman I. Mazepa, and on the other hand, by a high assessment of the fighting qualities and loyalty to Russia of Serbian volunteers.

To this end, on October 31, 1723, "Universal of Peter I with a call to the Serbs to join the Serbian hussar regiments in Ukraine", providing for the creation of several cavalry hussar regiments, consisting of Serbs.

For this purpose, it was planned to create a special commission headed by Major I. Albanez, which was supposed to recruit volunteers for the regiments from the Serbian ethnic territories of Austria. A number of privileges were provided - the preservation of the rank that they had in Austrian army; promotion to the rank of colonel if they bring a whole regiment; the issuance of land for settlement and subsistence, if they move with their families, etc. With the funds issued, Major I. Albanez manages to attract, according to the Collegium of Foreign Affairs dated November 18, 1724, 135 people, and by the end of the year - 459. Among them were not only Serbs, but also Bulgarians, Hungarians, Volohs, Muntians and others. In 1725, another 600 Serbs moved to settle in the Azov province.

Subsequently, the idea of ​​Peter I on the formation of the Serbian hussar regiment was confirmed by the Decree of Catherine I of 1726, and by the Decree of Peter II of May 18, 1727, the "Serbian military team" was renamed into "Serbian Hussar Regiment".

By decree of the Supreme Privy Council of May of the same year, the Military Collegium was obliged to resolve the issue of the settlement of the Serbs in the Belgorod province.

Thus, Russia begins a policy of settling the southern regions and ensures the protection of the country from the Tatar-Turkish invasions. However, at that time, a centralized policy for the resettlement of the Balkan settlers had not yet been implemented, and the Petrine idea did not lead to mass migration of representatives of the South Slavic peoples to Russia.

A new campaign to attract Serbs to Russia began on the eve of another Russo-Turkish war (1735-1739). To implement this task, the consent of the Austrian Emperor Charles VI was obtained to recruit 500 people from the Austrian possessions to replenish the Serbian Hussar Regiment.

Thus, by the beginning of 1738, the number of Serbs in the service of the Russian army amounted to about 800 people. It remained so until the beginning of the 50s of the 18th century, when the next stage of the resettlement of Serbs to Russia began.

Paradoxically, but to a certain extent, this was facilitated by the policy of the Austrian authorities to Germanize the Serbian population of the territories bordering on Turkey, the so-called frontiers. This was expressed, on the one hand, in the imposition of Catholicism, as a result of which a significant part of the Serbs-borders became Croats, and on the other hand, in the approval of the German language as the official language in all territories of their residence. In addition, the leadership of the Holy Roman (Austrian) Empire decided to gradually resettle the Serbs-borders from the Military Border on the Tisza and Maros rivers to other areas, or turn them into subjects of the Kingdom of Hungary (which was part of the Austrian Empire).

This provoked an increase in inter-ethnic tension in the region and stimulated the outflow of Serbs to other places, including outside the Holy Roman Empire.

At the same time, this was exactly the contingent that Russia needed to equip its border lines in the Azov-Black Sea direction. "Borderiers" had rich experience in organizing military settlements and combining agricultural activities with military and border service. In addition, the enemy from whom they had to protect the borders of the Russian Empire in the Azov-Black Sea direction was the same one they faced in the Austrian borderlands - Turkey and the Crimean Khanate, its vassal.

The beginning of the process of resettlement of "borderiers" in Russia was laid by the meeting of the Russian ambassador in Vienna, M.P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin with a Serbian colonel I. Horvath(Horvat von Kurtic), who submitted a petition for the resettlement of the Serbs-borders in Russian empire. At the same time, I. Horvath, according to the ambassador, promised to bring a hussar regiment of 1,000 people to Russia, for which he demands to receive the rank of major general for life, and to appoint his sons as officers of the Russian army. Subsequently, he promised, if possible, to create an infantry regiment of regular pandurs (musketeers), numbering 2,000, and to get it to the Russian borders.

This, of course, corresponded to the interests of Russia. Therefore, Empress Elizaveta Petrovna satisfied the request of Colonel I. Horvat, declaring on July 13, 1751, that not only Horvat and his closest associates from among the border guards, but also any Serbs who wish to transfer to Russian citizenship and move to the Russian Empire, will be accepted as co-religionists. The Russian authorities decided to give the borders of the land between the Dnieper and Sinyukha, on the territory of the modern Kirovograd region, for settlement. The resettlement began in accordance with the Decree of December 24, 1751, which marked the beginning of New Serbia - a Serbian colony on the territory of the Russian state. At the same time, it was initially autonomous, subordinated in military-administrative terms only to the Senate and the Military Collegium. I. Horvat, promoted to major general for organizing the resettlement of Serbs, became the de facto leader of this autonomy.

At the same time, the intention of I. Horvath to transfer 600 people to Russia at the same time was not carried out. The first group of settlers, or, as it was called, the “team”, arrived in Kyiv, through which their path to the places of future accommodation passed, on October 10, 1751. In its composition, according to the "List of the Headquarters and Chief Officers of the Serbian Nation who Arrived from Hungary to Kyiv", there were 218 people. In total, by the end of 1751, only 419 people arrived in New Serbia, including military personnel, their families and servants.

This, of course, was far from the number of border settlers that the Russian leadership was counting on. Therefore, to staff the regiments, I. Horvath was allowed to recruit not only Serbs, former Austrian subjects, but also Orthodox immigrants from the Commonwealth - Bulgarians and Vlachs, as well as representatives of other peoples. As a result, I. Horvat managed to create a hussar regiment staffed by settlers, for which he received the next military rank - lieutenant general.

Following the creation of New Serbia, by the decision of the Senate of March 29, 1753, another administrative-territorial entity was established for Serbian volunteer settlers - Slavic-Serbia- on the right bank of the Seversky Donets, on the territory of the Luhansk region.

At the origins of its creation were Serbian officers Colonel I. Shevic and Lieutenant Colonel R. Preradovich, who until 1751 were in the Austrian military service. Each of them led his own hussar regiment. The regiment of I. Shevich was located on the border with the modern Rostov region, and R. Preradovich - in the Bakhmut area. Both of them, like I. Horvat, received major general ranks. At the same time, the composition of these regiments was also multi-ethnic, like that of I. Horvat in New Serbia.

The central points of the new settlements were Novomirgorod and the fortress of St. Elizabeth (modern Kirovograd) in New Serbia, Bakhmut (modern Artemovsk) and Belevskaya fortress (Krasnograd, Kharkov region) in Slavic-Serbia.

Thus, in the 50s of the 18th century, two colonies of military settlers were created, which, together with the Cossacks (Don and Zaporozhye), ensured the security of the southwestern borders of Russia. The Serbian hussar regiments also showed themselves excellently during the Seven Years' War (1756-1763) between Russia and Prussia.

At the same time, the current situation in the regions of the compact settlement of Serb-borderiers did not fully satisfy the Russian leadership. This was especially true of the direct management of settlements. After Catherine II, who became Empress in 1762, heard rumors about the financial and official abuses of I. Horvat, she decided to immediately remove him from his post. To analyze the situation in the region and develop measures for more effective management two special committees were created (on the affairs of New Serbia, as well as Slavic-Serbia and the Ukrainian fortified line).

In the spring of 1764, their conclusions were presented to Catherine II. The fragmentation and lack of control over the actions of the heads of local administrations and military authorities were recognized as the main obstacle to the effective development of the region.

The term "Novorossia" was officially enshrined in the legal acts of the Russian Empire in the spring of 1764. Considering the project of Nikita and Peter Panin on the further development of the province of New Serbia, located in the Zaporozhye lands (between the Dnieper and Sinyukha rivers), the young Empress Catherine II personally changed the name of the newly created province from Catherine to Novorossiysk.

In accordance with the Decree of the EC to Catherine II dated April 2, 1764, the Novo-Serbian settlement and the military corps of the same name were transformed into the Novorossiysk province under the unified authority of the governor (chief commander). In the summer of the same year, the Slavic-Serbian province, the Ukrainian fortified line and the Bakhmut Cossack regiment were subordinated to the province.

To ensure better controllability of the province, it was divided into 3 provinces: Elizabethan (with the center in the fortress of St. Elizabeth), Catherine's(with the center in the Belevskaya fortress) and Bakhmutskaya.

Fortress Belev. XVII century: 1 - Kozelskaya travel tower, 2 - Likhvinskaya travel tower, 3 - Bolkhovskaya travel tower, 4 - Bolkhovskaya (Field) travel tower, 5 - Lyubovskaya corner tower, 6 - Spasskaya corner tower, 7 - Moscow (Kaluga) travel tower, 8 - Vasilyevsky corner tower, 9 - Tainichnaya tower.

In September 1764, within the boundaries of Novorossia, at the request of local residents Little Russian shtetl was included Kremenchug. Later, until 1783, it was the center of the Novorossiysk province.

Thus, Peter's idea of ​​settling the Azov-Black Sea region by representatives of the Slavic peoples was not realized, but it marked the beginning of the implementation of a larger project - Novorossia, which became not only an outpost of Russia in the southwestern direction, but also one of its most developed in socio-economic plan of the regions. And this despite the fact that a significant part of the Novorossiysk province at the stage of its formation was still a Wild Field - uninhabited wild spaces. Therefore, one of the top priorities Russian leadership was the development of these spaces in the economic sense and, accordingly, their protection from various kinds of invasions.

The solution to this problem involved attracting human resources to the region, both from other regions of the country and from abroad.

Significant in this respect was manifesto Catherine II of October 25, 1762 "On allowing foreigners to settle in Russia and the free return of Russian people who fled abroad". The continuation of this document was the manifesto of July 22, 1763 "On allowing all foreigners entering Russia to settle in different provinces of their choice, their rights and benefits."

Catherine II with her manifestos urged foreigners "to settle mainly for the development of our crafts and trade", that is, in other words, she actually formed the country's human capital due to the influx of "brains". This was the reason for such significant preferences given to new settlers from paying the costs of moving to Russia at the expense of the treasury, to exemption for a long period (up to 10 years) from various taxes and duties.

The program of attracting the population from abroad took on a complex character and the military and civil administrations of the region were involved in it. Along with land plots, military and civil officials received permits (“open lists”) for the withdrawal from abroad of free “people of all ranks and nations, to be assigned to regiments or settled on their own or state lands.” With the successful completion of this task, officials were entitled to substantial incentives. For the withdrawal of 300 people, the rank of major was assigned, 150 - captain, 80 - lieutenant, 60 - warrant officer, 30 - sergeant major.

The most important provision of Catherine's manifestos was the declaration of freedom of religion. This permission was also actively used by the Old Believers who lived in Poland, Moldova and Turkey. The resettlement of the Old Believers became so massive that in 1767 the government was forced to impose restrictions on this process.

In 1769, the resettlement to the Novorossiysk Territory began. Talmudic Jews from western Russia and Poland.

At the same time, minor benefits were established for this category of migrants: they had the right to keep distilleries; they were given a benefit from camping and other duties for only a year, they were allowed to hire Russian workers for themselves, to freely practice their faith, etc. Despite minor benefits, their resettlement in the cities was successful. Attempts to arrange Jewish agricultural colonies were unsuccessful.

The most numerous were settlers from Little Russia, both the Left Bank (which was part of Russia), and the Right Bank or Zadneprovskaya, which was the property of Poland. Settlers from the central regions of Russia were represented mainly by state (non-serf) peasants, as well as Cossacks, retired soldiers, sailors and artisans. Another important resource for replenishing the population of the Novorossiysk Territory was the resettlement by the nobles, who acquired land in the south, of their own serfs from the central provinces of Russia.

Taking into account the lack of women at the initial stage of development, measures were developed to stimulate their recruitment for resettlement in Novorossiya. So, “one Jew recruiter was paid 5 r. for every girl. Officers were awarded ranks - whoever scored 80 souls at his own expense was given the rank of lieutenant.

Thus were created the necessary conditions for multinational, but predominantly Great Russian-Little Russian (or Russian-Ukrainian) colonization New Russia.

The result of this policy was the rapid growth of the population in the southern limits European Russia. Already in 1768, excluding regular troops stationed in the region on a temporary basis, about 100 thousand people lived in the Novorossiysk Territory (at the time the province was formed, the population of Novorossia was up to 38 thousand). The Russian Empire literally before our eyes was acquiring the most important stronghold for the struggle for dominance in the Black Sea.

A new stage in the development of the former steppes of the Wild Field, which became Novorossia, and the expansion of the southern borders of the Russian Empire was connected with the successful end of the Russian-Turkish war (1768-1774).

As a result, the Kyuchuk-Kainarji peace treaty was signed, under the terms of which the territory of the Black Sea estuary between the Southern Bug and the Dnieper, where the Turkish fortress of Kinburn was located, went to Russia. In addition, Russia secured a number of fortresses on the Kerch Peninsula, including Kerch and Yeni-Kale. The most important result of the war was the recognition by Turkey of the independence of the Crimean Khanate, which became a protectorate of the Russian Empire. Thus, the threat to the southern regions of the country from the raids of the Crimean Tatars was finally eliminated.

Together with the coasts of the Black and Azov Seas, Russia received access to the sea, and the value of the Novorossiysk Territory increased significantly. This predetermined the need to intensify the policy of development of this region.

An exceptionally important role in this was played by Prince Grigory Alexandrovich Potemkin. For a long time in Russian historiography, his role in the transformation of Novorossia was either distorted or ignored. The phraseologism "Potemkin villages" came into wide use, suggesting a demonstration to Catherine II during her inspection of the edge of fake villages, with their subsequent movement along the route of the empress.

In fact, these so-called "Potemkin villages" were real settlements of immigrants, both from the interior regions of the country and from abroad. Subsequently, numerous villages and cities grew up in their place, including such large ones as Kherson, Nikolaev, Yekaterinoslav (Dnepropetrovsk), Nikopol Novomoskovsk Pavlograd and others.

The brilliant, talented administrator, military leader and statesman G.A. Potemkin was endowed with extremely broad powers by the Empress. In his jurisdiction was not only the Novorossiysk Territory, but also the Azov and Astrakhan provinces.

Thus, he was actually the plenipotentiary representative of Catherine II in the south of Russia. The range of activity of G.A. was also extremely wide. Potemkin: from the development of the wild territories of the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov and the Black Sea, including the Kuban, to the leadership of the actions of Russian troops in the Caucasus. In addition, he supervised the construction of the merchant and navy, port infrastructure on the Black and Azov Seas. During the second (during the time of Catherine II) Russian-Turkish war of 1788 - 1791 years commanded the Russian troops.

During the period of his governorship in Novorossia and in the Crimea, the foundations of horticulture and viticulture were laid, and the sown area was increased. During this period, about a dozen cities arose, including, along with those mentioned above, Mariupol (1780), Simferopol (1784), Sevastopol (1783), which became the base of the Black Sea Fleet, the construction manager of which and the commander-in-chief G.A. Potemkin was appointed in 1785. All this characterized him as an outstanding Russian statesman of the era of Catherine the Great, who, perhaps, most accurately described her governor in Novorossia: “He had ... one rare quality that distinguished him from all other people: he had courage in his heart, courage in mind, courage in the soul.

It was G.A. Potemkin came up with the idea of ​​annexing Crimea to Russia. So, in one of his letters to Catherine II, he wrote: “Crimea is tearing our borders with its position ... Assume now that Crimea is yours and that this wart on your nose is no longer there - all of a sudden, the position of the borders is beautiful ... There are no powers in Europe that would not be divided between Asia, Africa and America. Acquisition of the Crimea can neither strengthen nor enrich you, but only bring peace. On April 8, 1782, the Empress signed a manifesto definitively assigning Crimea to Russia. The first steps of G.A. Potemkin on the implementation of this manifesto became construction of Sevastopol as a military and seaport of Russia and the creation of the Black Sea Fleet (1783).

It should be noted that the annexation of Crimea to Russia itself was implemented within the framework of another even more ambitious project, the so-called Greek project of G.A. Potemkin - Catherine II, who assumed the restoration of the Greek Empire with its capital in Constantinople (Istanbul). It is no coincidence that on the triumphal arch at the entrance to the city of Kherson founded by him was written "The Way to Byzantium."

But still, the main activity of G.A. Potemkin was the arrangement of Novorossia. The laying of cities, the construction of a fleet, the cultivation of orchards and vineyards, the promotion of sericulture, the establishment of schools - all this testified to the increase in the military-political and socio-economic significance of the region. And in this, Potemkin's administrative abilities were clearly manifested. According to contemporaries, "he dreamed of turning wild steppes into fertile fields, build cities, plants, factories, create a fleet on the Black and Azov Seas. And he succeeded. In fact, it was he who turned the Wild Field into a prosperous New Russia, and the Black Sea coast into the southern border of the Russian Empire. And he is rightly called the organizer of Novorossiya.

To a large extent, this was due to the effective resettlement policy implemented during the period of his administration of the region. First of all, this concerned the institutionalization of the so-called “free” colonization of Novorossia by peasants from the central provinces of Russia. Having eliminated the Zaporozhian Sich in 1775, he, nevertheless, retained one of the basic principles of its functioning - "There is no extradition from the Sich."

Therefore, the serfs who left their owners found refuge in Novorossia.

Moreover, on May 5, 1779, at his insistence, Catherine II published a manifesto “On the summoning of military lower ranks, peasants and pospolit people who arbitrarily went abroad.” The manifesto not only allowed all fugitives to return to Russia with impunity, but also provided them with a 6-year exemption from paying taxes. The serfs, therefore, could not return to their landlords, but move to the position of state peasants.

In addition to this, a centralized resettlement of state peasants took place in Novorossia. Thus, in accordance with the Decree of Catherine II of June 25, 1781, 24,000 peasants who were under the jurisdiction of the College of Economy were resettled “to the empty lands” of the Azov and Novorossiysk provinces, i. state peasants.

A new impetus during the period of G.A. Potemkin found resettlement in the region of foreign settlers. So, in particular, after the Crimea gained independence from the Ottoman Empire, in 1779 many Greek and Armenian families moved out of it.

Greek settlers (about 20 thousand people), on the basis of a charter, were allotted land for settlement in the Azov province, along the coast of the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov and were granted significant benefits - the exclusive right to fish, state-owned houses, freedom from military service and others. On the territories allotted for settlement on the coast of the Sea of ​​Azov, the Greeks founded about 20 settlements, the largest of which later became Mariupol.

Together with the Greeks, Armenians began to move to Novorossia. During 1779-1780, 13,695 people from the representatives of the Armenian community of Crimea were resettled

75,092 rubles were spent on the transfer of Greeks and Armenians from Crimea. and, in addition, 100 thousand rubles. in the form of compensation "for the loss of subjects" received the Crimean Khan, his brothers, beys and murzas.

During this period, the resettlement to Novorossia and Moldovans also intensified. At the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries, they founded cities and villages along the river. Dniester - Ovidiopol, New Dubossary, Tiraspol, etc.

Voluntary resettlement to Novorossia begins in 1789 German colonists. Despite the fact that the attraction of German colonists began as early as 1762, they began to be attracted to the Novorossiysk Territory only when the successful results for Russia of the last Russo-Turkish war in the 18th century (1788-1791) and, accordingly, the consolidation of behind it is the northern Black Sea region.

The first German settlements in Novorossia were seven villages founded by immigrants from Prussia, the Mennonite Germans (Baptists) in the Yekaterinoslav province on the right bank of the Dnieper near Khortitsa, including the island itself. Initially, 228 families were settled in Novorossia, later their number increased, amounting to an extensive population by the middle of the 19th century. German colony of almost 100 thousand people. This was facilitated by much more favorable preferences provided to the German colonists in comparison with other foreign settlers.

On July 25, 1781, a decree was issued that ordered the transfer of economic (state) peasants to Novorossia “voluntarily and according to own will". Settlers in their new places received "a benefit from taxes for a year and a half, so that during this time taxes would be paid for by the inhabitants of their former village," who received the land of those leaving for this. Soon, the period of benefits from paying taxes for land was significantly extended. According to this decree, it was ordered to transfer up to 24 thousand economic peasants. This measure encouraged the migration, above all, of middle and prosperous peasants who were able to organize strong farms on the settled lands.

Along with the legal resettlement sanctioned by the authorities, there was an active popular unauthorized resettlement movement from the central provinces and Little Russia. B about Most of the unauthorized settlers settled in the landowners' estates. However, in the conditions of Novorossia, serf relations took the form of so-called allegiance, when the peasants living on the landowner's land retained personal freedom, and their obligations to the owners were limited.

In August 1778, the transfer of Christians to the Azov province began. (Greeks and Armenians) from the Crimean Khanate. Settlers were exempted for 10 years from all state taxes and duties; all their property was transported at the expense of the treasury; each new settler received 30 acres of land in a new place; the state built houses for the poor "settlers" and supplied them with food, seeds for sowing and draft animals; all settlers were forever freed "from military posts" and "summer cottages in the army recruit." According to the decree of 1783, in “villages of Greek, Armenian and Roman laws” it was allowed to have “courts of Greek and Roman law, Armenian magistrate».

After Crimea was annexed to the empire in 1783, the military threat to the Black Sea provinces was significantly weakened. This made it possible to abandon the military-settlement principle of the administrative structure and extend the action of the Institution on the provinces of 1775 to Novorossia.

Since the Novorossiysk and Azov provinces did not have the required population, they were united into the Yekaterinoslav governorate. Grigory Potemkin was appointed its Governor-General, and the immediate ruler of the region - Timofey Tutolmin, soon replaced Ivan Sinelnikov. The territory of the governorship was divided into 15 counties. In 1783, 370 thousand people lived within its borders.

Administrative transformations contributed to the development of the region's economy.

Agriculture spread. In a review of the state of the Azov province in 1782, the beginning of agricultural work was noted on "a vast expanse of fertile and fat lands, which were previously neglected by the former Cossacks." Lands and state money were allocated for the creation of manufactories, the creation of enterprises that produced products that were in demand by the army and navy: cloth, leather, morocco, candle, rope, silk, dye and others were especially encouraged. Potemkin initiated the transfer of many factories from the central regions of Russia to Yekaterinoslav and other cities of New Russia. In 1787, he personally reported to Catherine II about the need to transfer part of the state-owned porcelain factory from St. Petersburg to the south, and always with the masters.

IN last quarter XVIII century in the Northern Black Sea region (especially in the Donets basin) began an active search for coal and ores. In 1790 the landowner Alexey Shterich and mining engineer Carl Gascoigne instructed to search for coal along the rivers Northern Donets and Lugan, where construction began in 1795 Lugansk foundry.

A village of the same name arose around the plant. To provide this plant with fuel, the first mine in Russia was laid, in which coal was mined in industrial scale. At the mine, the first mining village in the empire was built, which laid the foundation for the city of Lisichansk. In 1800, the first blast furnace was launched at the plant, where pig iron was produced using coke for the first time in the Russian Empire.

The construction of the Lugansk foundry was the starting point for the development of South Russian metallurgy, the creation of hard coal mines and mines in the Donbass. Subsequently, this region will become one of the most important centers of Russia's economic development.

Economic development strengthened trade links between separate parts Northern Black Sea region, as well as between Novorossia and the central regions of the country. Even before the annexation of Crimea, the possibilities of transporting goods across the Black Sea were intensively studied. It was assumed that one of the main export items would be bread, which would be grown in in large numbers in Ukraine and the Black Sea region.

Odessa monument to Catherine II

To stimulate the development of trade, in 1817 the Russian government introduced a "porto-franco" (free trade) regime in the port of Odessa, which at that time acted as the new administrative center of the Novorossiysk General Government.

Duke of Richelieu, Count Langeron, Prince Vorontsov

Odessa allowed free and duty-free importation of foreign goods, including those prohibited for import into Russia. The export of foreign goods from Odessa into the country was allowed only through the outposts according to the rules of the Russian customs tariff with the payment of duties on a general basis. The export of Russian goods through Odessa was carried out in accordance with the existing customs rules. At the same time, the duty was levied at the port when loading onto merchant ships. Russian goods imported only to Odessa were not subject to duty.

The city itself received huge opportunities for its development from such a system. Buying raw materials without duty, entrepreneurs opened factories within the free port area that processed these raw materials. Insofar as finished products, produced at such factories, was considered manufactured in Russia, it was sold without duties within the country. Often, products made from imported raw materials within the Odessa free port did not go beyond customs posts at all, but were immediately sent abroad.

Quite quickly, the port of Odessa turned into one of the main transshipment points of the Mediterranean and Black Sea trade. Odessa grew rich and grew. By the end of the expiration of the free port, the capital of the Novorossiysk Governor-General became the fourth largest city in the Russian Empire after St. Petersburg, Moscow and Warsaw.

Center of Odessa at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries

The initiator of the experiment on the introduction of free port was one of the most famous governor-generals of Novorossia - Emmanuil Osipovich de Richelieu( Armand Emmanuel du Plessis Richilier).

He was the great-great-great-great-nephew of the French Cardinal Richelieu. It was this official who made the decisive contribution to the mass settlement of the Black Sea Territory. In 1812, through the efforts of Richelieu, the conditions for the resettlement of foreign colonists and internal migrants to the region were finally equalized.

Local authorities received the right to issue cash loans to needy migrants from other provinces of the empire “from the sums for the wine farming” and bread for crops and food from bread shops.

At first, food was prepared for the settlers in new places, part of the fields were sown, tools and draft animals were prepared. For the construction of dwellings, peasants received building materials from new places. In addition, they were given 25 rubles for each family free of charge.

This approach to resettlement stimulated the migration of economically active and enterprising peasants to Novorossia, who formed a favorable environment for the spread of free labor and capitalist relations in agriculture.

Almost twenty years Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov was the head of the Novorossiysk General Government.

As a result, Vorontsov is indebted to: Odessa - hitherto unprecedented expansion of its commercial value and increase in prosperity; Crimea - the development and improvement of winemaking, the construction of an excellent highway, bordering South coast peninsula, breeding and multiplication of various types of cereals and other useful plants, as well as the first experiments in afforestation. The road in Crimea was built 10 years after the arrival of the new governor. Thanks to Vorontsov, Odessa was enriched with many beautiful buildings built according to the designs of famous architects. Primorsky Boulevard was connected to the port by the famous Odessa stairs(Potemkinskaya), at the foot of which was installed Monument to the Duke of Richelieu.

The Novorossiysk General Government lasted until 1874. During this time, it absorbed the Ochakov region, Tauris and even Bessarabia. Nevertheless, the unique historical path, combined with a number of other factors, continues to determine the general mentality of the inhabitants of the Northern Black Sea region. It is based on the synthesis of various national cultures (primarily Russian and Ukrainian), love of freedom, selfless work, economic enterprise, rich military traditions, and the perception of the Russian state as a natural defender of its interests.

Novorossiya is beginning to develop rapidly, the population has been growing year by year, literally the “Novorossiysk boom” has begun. All this, in addition to the revival of life in Novorossia itself, changed the attitude towards it as a wild and almost burdensome land for the state treasury. Suffice it to say that the result of the first years of managing Vorontsov was an increase in the price of land from thirty kopecks per tithe to ten rubles or more. This, in addition to employment, gave money to both people and the region. Not relying on subsidies from St. Petersburg, Vorontsov set out to put life in the region on the principles of self-sufficiency. As they say now, the subsidized region could soon provide for itself. Hence Vorontsov's transformational activity, unprecedented in scale.

All this contributed to attracting an active socio-economically active population to the region. Only in two decades (1774 - 1793) the population of the Novorossiysk Territory increased more than 8 times from 100 to 820 thousand people.

This was the result of a competent and effective resettlement policy, the main provisions of which were:

• not spreading serfdom to the regions of resettlement;
• freedom of religion;
• privileges for the clergy;
• equalization of the rights of the Crimean Tatar nobility with the Russian nobility (“Charter to the nobility”);
• approval of the right to buy and sell land;
• freedom of movement;
• exemption of the indigenous population from military service;
• exemption of foreign settlers from paying taxes for up to 10 years;
• implementation of the program for the construction of cities and villages, through which the population was transferred to sedentary life and others.

All this, in the end, stimulated the resettlement of a significant number of socially, economically and militarily active population to Novorossia.

At the same time, the most important specificity of this policy was, on the one hand, voluntary resettlement, and, on the other hand, the multinational composition of immigrants. Most of them were Russians and Ukrainians. Along with them, Serbs, Bulgarians, Moldavians, Greeks, Armenians, Tatars, Germans, Swiss, Italians and representatives of other nations also moved to the region.

In the end, on your own ethnic composition it was perhaps the most multiethnic region of the country. It remained such until the collapse of the Russian Empire in 1917, and then the collapse of the USSR in 1991, when the nationalist card, which came on the wave of socio-political cataclysms, began to be actively played by the local Ukrainian elites, and at the same time distorted development history wild field and the creation of Novorossiya.

The very fact of the voluntary colonization of the region, contributed to its transformation into one of the most socio-economically and culturally developed regions of the Russian Empire, and subsequently Ukraine (both Soviet and independent) remains a fact. It is impossible to delete it from history, it can only be silenced or distorted.

Bocharnikov Igor Valentinovich

Following the Russian Empire, the name Novorossiya has sunk into history for a long time. Now this name is again on everyone's lips, it is now known not only in Russia and neighboring countries, but all over the world. We will try to plunge into history and consider what this land was like, how it was mastered, what names are associated with it.

Of course, these places were inhabited many centuries ago, but they began to actively develop after the time of Peter the Great. Here, after all, access to the Black and Azov Seas, and hence the development of trade with European, and maybe other countries. Once, in the 13th-16th centuries, the Crimean Tatars ruled here. In the steppe for many miles there was not a single tree or village. Only robbers were enough - from among the Tatars.

There were few infertile soils and they were located closer to the sea. The most full-flowing rivers were the Dnieper, Dniester and Bug, the rest of the small rivers disappeared during frequent droughts. There was an abundance of fish in the rivers, on land - deer, fallow deer, saigas, wild boars and horses, foxes, badgers, many kinds of birds. “Wild horses were found here in herds of 50-60 heads, and it was extremely difficult to tame them; they were hunted, and horse meat was sold on a par with beef. The climate of the region is warmer than in many other areas of Russia. All together, this created favorable conditions for attracting Russian settlers.

However, the paths of history are not simple. Life in the steppe was associated with many inconveniences, and for a person of the 17th century. was extremely difficult. So, because of the dry continental climate, winters were severe, with winds and blizzards, and droughts often occurred in summer. The steppes were open on all sides to the action of the winds, the north wind brought cold with it, and the east wind brought terrible dryness and heat. An insufficient amount river water and the rapid absorption of vapors by the atmosphere due to dry winds led to the fact that in summer all the rich vegetation dried up.

Springs and wells in the southeastern part of the Novorossiysk Territory were located only near the banks of the rivers, and there was not a single one on the mountain in the steppe, so the roads were laid near the rivers. In addition to drought, swarms of locusts, as well as clouds of midges and mosquitoes, were a real misfortune. All this was a serious obstacle to the full-fledged occupation of cattle breeding and agriculture, not to mention the constant danger of an attack by the Tatars. Thus, the first colonists were forced to fight both with nature and with the Crimean Tatars, performing a defensive function.

The beginning of the settlement of the Novorossiysk steppes in the first half. 18th century

The first settlers of the Novorossiysk steppes were the Zaporozhye Cossacks, who founded their Sich behind the Dnieper rapids on the island of Khortitsa in the second half of the 16th century. Since that time, the places of the Sich have changed - either on the island of Tomakovka, then on Mikitin Rog, then on Chertomlytsky Rechishche, then on the river. Kamenka, then in the tract Oleshki, then over the Podpolnaya river. Resettlement from one place to another was due to many reasons, natural conditions played a big role.

At the first time of its historical existence in the XVI - early. 17th century The Zaporizhzhya Sich was a military brotherhood hiding from the Tatars on the Dnieper Islands, refusing, of necessity, many forms of correct civil life- from the family, personal property, agriculture, etc. The second goal of the brotherhood was the colonization of the steppe. Over time, the limits of Zaporozhye extended more and more to the account of the Wild Field, the Tatar steppe. In the XVIII century. Zaporizhzhya Sich was a small "enclosed city, containing one church, 38 so-called kurens and up to 500 kuren Cossack, trading and artisan houses."

It was the capital of the army, destroyed in 1775. The Zaporozhye lands occupied the territory on which the Yekaterinoslav and Kherson provinces were subsequently formed, with the exception of the Ochakov region, that is, the area lying between the Bug and the Dniester. They stretched mainly along the river. Dnieper.

Zaporizhzhya settlements were scattered over a vast area, the population was engaged in cattle breeding, agriculture, and other peaceful crafts. Exact data on the number of inhabitants is unknown. “According to the official statement compiled by Tevelius at the time of the destruction of the Zaporizhzhya Sich, there were (except for the Sich in the strict sense of the word) 45 villages and 1601 winter quarters, all the inhabitants were 59637 hours of both sexes.” The historian of the Novorossiysk Territory, Skalkovsky, counted 12,250 people on the basis of original documents from the Sich archive. The land of the Zaporizhian Army, which constituted most of Novorossiya, became part of Russia in 1686 under the "eternal peace" with Poland.

Russian state colonization of Novorossia in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Atlas of the Russian Empire. 1800 year. Sheet 38. Novorossiysk province of 12 counties

At the beginning of the reign of Catherine II, in 1770, the so-called Dnieper line was built, which was the result of victories in the Turkish war (the capture of Azov and Taganrog) This line was supposed to separate the entire Novorossiysk province, together with the Zaporizhzhya lands, from the Tatar possessions; from the Dnieper it went to the Sea of ​​Azov, passing along the rivers Berda and Horse Waters, and crossed the entire Crimean steppe. Her last fortress, St. Petra was located near the sea near modern Berdyansk. In total, there were 8 fortresses in this line.

In 1774, Prince Potemkin was appointed Governor-General of the Novorossiysk Territory, who remained in this position until his death in 1791. He dreamed of turning wild steppes into fertile fields, building cities, factories, factories, and creating a fleet on the Black and Azov Seas. The full implementation of the plans was hindered by the Zaporozhian Sich. After Russian-Turkish wars she was inside the Russian possessions, and the Cossacks no longer had anyone to fight with. However, they owned a vast territory and were unfriendly to the new settlers.

Then Potemkin decided to destroy the Sich. In 1775, General Tekeli was ordered to occupy the Sich and destroy the Zaporozhye army. When the general approached the Zaporozhye capital, at the insistence of the archimandrite, the ataman surrendered, and the Russian troops occupied the Sich without a fight. Most of the Cossacks went to Turkey, others dispersed to the cities of Little Russia and New Russia. Thus ended the history of one city and began the history of many.

The lands of the Cossacks began to be distributed to private individuals who assumed the obligation to populate them with freemen or serfs. These lands could be received by officials, headquarters and chief officers and foreigners; only single-dvortsy, peasants and landowners were excluded. Thus, large-scale landownership was artificially created in that region, which until now had almost no landowner and serf element. The minimum plot was 1,500 acres of convenient land. The conditions for obtaining land were very favorable: for 10 years, a privilege was given from all duties; during this time, the owners had to populate their plots in such a way that for every 1,500 acres there were 13 households. The size of the plots ranged from 1,500 to 12,000 acres, but there were individuals who managed to get several tens of thousands of acres.

These lands, after 10 years, could become the property of these persons. After the destruction of the Sich, its entire military and senior treasury was confiscated and the so-called city capital (more than 120 thousand rubles) was formed from it for issuing loans to residents of the Novorossiysk province.

The accession of the Crimea in 1783 had a huge impact on the successful settlement of the Black Sea steppes. Together with the coasts of the Black and Azov Seas, Russia received access to the sea, and the value of the Novorossiysk Territory increased significantly. Thus, from the 2nd floor. 18th century active colonization of the region begins, which was divided into two types: state and foreign.

On the initiative of Potemkin, all military fortified lines were built, except for the last one, the Dniester. His main merit lies in the construction of new cities: Kherson, Yekaterinoslav and Nikolaev.

Construction of cities in the Novorossiysk Territory

Kherson. The first city built on the initiative of Prince Potemkin was Kherson. The decree of the empress on its construction dates back to 1778 and was caused by the desire to have a new harbor and shipyard closer to the Black Sea, since the former ones, for example Taganrog, presented significant inconvenience due to shallow water. In 1778, the Empress ordered to finally choose a place for a harbor and a shipyard on the Dnieper and call it Kherson. Potemkin chose the Alexander-Shanz tract.

The production of works was entrusted to the descendant of the famous Negro and godson of Peter V. Hannibal, 12 companies of craftsmen were given at his disposal. Under future city they took a fairly large territory, and sent 220 guns to the fortress. The leadership of this business was entrusted to Potemkin, who wanted to make the city as flourishing and famous as the ancient Tauric Chersonesos. He expected to arrange an admiralty, a warehouse in it - as Peter I did in St. Petersburg. Construction did not cause difficulties: the quarry was located practically in the city itself, timber, iron and all the necessary materials were brought along the Dnieper. Potemkin distributed the lands lying around the city for the construction of country houses, gardens, etc. Two years later, ships with cargo under the Russian flag were already arriving in Kherson.

Industrialists rushed here from all sides. Foreigners brought commercial houses and offices in Kherson: French trading firms (Baron Antoine and others), as well as Polish (Zablotsky), Austrian (Fabry), Russian (merchant Maslyannikov). Baron Antoine played a very important role in expanding trade relations between the city of Kherson and France. He sent Russian grain bread to Corsica, to various ports of Provence, to Nice, Genoa and Barcelona.

Baron Antoine also compiled a historical sketch of trade and maritime relations between the ports of Cherny and mediterranean seas. Many Marseille and Kherson merchants began to compete with Baron Antoine in trade with southern Russia and Poland through the Black Sea: during the year, 20 ships arrived from Kherson to Marseille. Trade was conducted with Smyrna, Livorno, Messina, Marseille and Alexandria.

Faleev was an energetic collaborator of Potemkin. He offered the prince to clear the Dnieper channel at the rapids at his own expense in order to make the river route from the interior regions of the state to Kherson convenient. The goal was not achieved, but, according to Samoilov, already in 1783 barges with iron and cast iron passed directly to Kherson from Bryansk, and ships with provisions also passed safely. For this, Faleev received a gold medal and a diploma for nobility.

Many soldiers worked in Kherson, and shipbuilding also attracted many free workers here, so that the city grew rapidly. Food supplies were brought from Polish and Sloboda Ukraine. At the same time foreign trade began in Kherson. In 1787, Empress Catherine II, together with the Austrian emperor and the Polish king, visited Kherson and was satisfied with the newly acquired land. They carefully prepared for her arrival: they laid new roads, built palaces and even entire villages.

The city was built very quickly, since Potemkin did not lack material resources. He was granted emergency powers, and the prince disposed of large sums almost uncontrollably. In 1784, by the highest command, an extraordinary amount for that time in the amount of 1,533,000 rubles was released for the Kherson Admiralty. in excess of the amount that was previously issued and released by the state annually.

For 9 years, Potemkin achieved a lot, but the hopes placed on the new city still did not materialize: with the capture of Ochakov and the construction of Nikolaev, the importance of Kherson as a fortress and admiralty fell, and meanwhile, huge sums were spent on the construction of its fortifications and shipyards . The former admiralty buildings, made of wood, were sold for demolition. The place turned out to be not very successful, trade developed poorly, and soon Kherson lost in this regard to Taganrog and Ochakov. The hope of making the Dnieper navigable at the rapids did not come true, and the plague that broke out at the beginning of the settlement of the city almost ruined the whole thing: the settlers from the central provinces of Russia were sick from the unusual climate and marsh air.

Yekaterinoslav(now Dnepropetrovsk). Initially, Yekaterinoslav was built in 1777 on the left bank of the Dnieper, but in 1786 Potemkin issued an order to move the city upstream, since it often suffered from floods in its former place. It was renamed Novomoskovsk, and the new provincial city of Yekaterinoslav was founded on the right bank of the Dnieper in the place of the Zaporozhye village of Polovitsy. According to the project of Potemkin, the new city was supposed to serve the glory of the empress, and its size was assumed to be significant. So, the prince decided to build a magnificent temple, similar to the church of St. Peter in Rome, and dedicate it to the Transfiguration of the Lord, as a sign of how this land was transformed from barren steppes into a favorable human abode.

The project also included state buildings, a university with a music academy and an academy of arts, a court, made in the Roman style. Large amounts(340 thousand rubles) were allocated for the construction of a state-owned factory with cloth and hosiery departments. But of all these grandiose projects, very few came to fruition. The cathedral, university and academies were never built, the factory was soon closed.
Paul I decreed July 20, 1797 ordered to rename Yekaterinoslav to Novorossiysk. In 1802 the former name was returned to the city.

Nikolaev. Back in 1784, it was ordered to build a fortress at the confluence of the Ingul with the Bug. In 1787, the Turks of the Ochakovo garrison, according to legend, ravaged the one located on the river. Bug near the confluence of the river. Ingul the dacha of the foreigner Fabry. He asked the treasury to reward him for his losses. In order to calculate the amount of losses, an officer was sent, who reported that there was a place near Fabry's dacha convenient for the shipyard. In 1788, on the orders of Potemkin, barracks and a hospital were built in the small village of Vitovka, and on the river. A shipyard was opened in Ingule.

The very foundation of the city of Nikolaev dates back to August 27, 1789, since it was on this date that Potemkin's order addressed to Faleev was dated. The city got its name from the name of the first ship of St. Nicholas, built at the shipyard. In 1790, the Supreme Order followed on the establishment of an admiralty and a shipyard in Nikolaev. The Kherson shipyard, despite its convenience, was shallow for ships of high rank, and gradually Black Sea Fleet was transferred to Nikolaev.

Odessa. The decree of the empress on the construction of a military and merchant harbor and the city of Khadzhibey dates back to 1794, after the death of Potemkin. The construction was entrusted to de Ribas. Under the new city took more than 30 thousand. acres of land, about 2 million rubles were allocated for the construction of a port, admiralty, barracks, etc. An important moment in the original history of Odessa was the settlement of Greek immigrants both in the city itself and in its environs.

In 1796 there were 2349 inhabitants in Odessa. On September 1, 1798, the coat of arms was presented to the city. Foreign trade was encouraged in Odessa, and soon the city received the status of a free port - duty-free port. It did not last long and was destroyed by a decree of December 21, 1799. By a decree of December 26, 1796, Paul I ordered “The Commission for the construction of southern fortresses and the port of Odessa, located in the former Voznesenskaya province, we order to be abolished; stop the very same buildings. After this decree, at the beginning In 1797, the founder of Odessa and the main producer of the work of the southern fortresses, Vice Admiral de Ribas left the city, and handed over his command to Rear Admiral Pavel Pustoshkin, the former commander of the Nikolaev port.

In 1800, construction was allowed to continue. To rebuild the harbor, the monarch ordered a loan of 250,000 rubles to Odessa, sent a special engineer, and presented the city with an exemption from duties and a drinking sale for 14 years. As a result, trade in Odessa greatly revived. In 1800, the turnover of trade barely amounted to 1 million rubles, and in 1802 - already 2,254,000 rubles. .

With the accession of Alexander I, the inhabitants of Odessa received many important privileges. By a decree of January 24, 1802, Odessa was granted a privilege from taxes for 25 years, freedom from camping troops, a large amount of land was allotted for distribution to residents for gardens and even agricultural dachas, and finally, to complete the harbor and other useful institutions, it was ceded to the city 10- I'm part of the customs fees of it. From now on, Odessa becomes an important trading market and the main port for selling the works of the southwestern part of the empire.

In 1802, there were already more than 9 thousand people in Odessa, 39 factories, plants and mills, 171 shops, 43 cellars. Further progress in the population and trade in Odessa is associated with the activities of de Richelieu, who took the post of mayor here in 1803. He arranged a port, quarantine, customs, a theater, a hospital, completed the construction of temples, established an educational institution, and increased the population of the city. up to 25 thousand people. Also, thanks to de Richelieu, trade has grown significantly. Being a passionate lover of gardening and tree cultivation in general, he patronized the owners of dachas and gardens in every possible way, and was the first to order from Italy the seeds of white acacia, which luxuriously took root on Odessa soil. Under Richelieu, Odessa became the center of trade relations between the Novorossiysk Territory and European coastal cities: its trade turnover in 1814 amounted to more than 20 million rubles. The main subject of the holiday trade was wheat.

Further settlement of Novorossiya

In addition to Kherson, Yekaterinoslav, Nikolaev and Odessa, several more important cities in the Novorossiysk Territory that also arose through colonization can be indicated: these are Mariupol (1780), Rostov, Taganrog, Dubossary. Taganrog (formerly the Trinity Fortress) was built during the reign of Peter I, but was abandoned for a long time and was resumed only in 1769. In the early 80s. it had a harbor, a customs house, an exchange, a fortress. Although its harbor was distinguished by many inconveniences, foreign trade still flourished in it. With the advent of Odessa, Taganrog lost its former importance as the most important trading point. An important role in the economic growth of the cities of the Novorossiysk Territory was played by benefits provided by the government to the population.

In addition to the construction of fortified lines and cities, the colonization activity of the Russian state and people was expressed even in the foundation of a number of different settlements - villages, villages, settlements, towns, farms. Their inhabitants belonged to the Little Russian and Russian people (not counting foreigners). In the Little Russian colonization, three elements are divided - Zaporizhzhya settlers, immigrants from the Zadneprovskaya (right-bank) Little Russia and immigrants from the left-bank and partly Sloboda Ukraine.

Russian villages were mixed with Little Russian ones. All lands intended for settlement were also divided into state, or state, and private, or landlords. Therefore, the entire Russian population of the Novorossiysk Territory can be divided into two large groups - free settlers who lived on state lands, and owner-occupied, landlord peasants who settled on the lands of private individuals and became dependent on them. Many people from the Hetmanate came to the villages founded by the former Cossacks.

As for the Russian colonists, they were state and economic peasants, single-palace residents, Cossacks, retired soldiers, sailors, deacons, and schismatics. From the Yaroslavl, Kostroma, Vladimir provinces, state-owned peasants who knew any skill were called. At the beginning of the XIX century. the state settlements were already quite numerous and very crowded.

By decree of 1781, up to 20,000 economic peasants were ordered to be resettled in Novorossia and up to 24,000 voluntary settlers were selected from among them. However, the first place among Russian settlers was occupied by schismatics. They began to settle in Novorossia as early as the reign of Anna Ioannovna and even earlier in the Kherson province, near Ananyev and Novomirgorod, which later arose, but their number was small. Much more dissenters appeared in the 50s of the XVIII century, when the government itself summoned them from Poland and Moldavia with manifestos. They were given land in the fortress of St. Elisaveta (Elisavetgrad) and its environs, where they founded a number of villages, distinguished by their population and prosperity.

A special and extremely numerous group among the colonists were fugitives, both Russians and Little Russians. In order to quickly populate the Novorossiysk Territory, the government, one might say, sanctioned the right of asylum here. The local authorities did not disdain criminals either. Prisoners from the Moscow, Kazan, Voronezh and Nizhny Novgorod provinces were sent to Taganrog to settle.

After the war with Turkey 1787-1791. Russia received the Ochakiv region between the Bug and the Dniester, which later became the Kherson province. It also needed to be protected by a line of border fortifications. In the Ochakov region, before joining Russia, there were 4 cities - Ochakov, Adzhider (later Ovidiopol), Khadzhibey (Odessa) and Dubossary, about 150 villages inhabited by Tatars and Moldavians and Khan's settlements inhabited by runaway Little Russians. According to a map drawn up around 1790, there were about 20,000 males there.

The first measures taken by the government to populate the newly acquired Ochakiv region from Turkey were as follows. First of all, Catherine II instructed the governor Kakhovsky to inspect the new territory, divide it into districts, appoint places for cities and present a plan about all this. Then he had to distribute the lands both for state-owned settlements and for landowners, with the obligation to populate these lands and ensure that state-owned settlements did not mix with landowners.

Arranging new fortresses in the Novorossiysk Territory, the government had to take care of contingents in case of hostilities. For this purpose, it used ethnographically diverse elements - Russians and foreigners; such were the Cossack regiments located along the fortresses of the Dnieper line, the descendants of the Cossacks - the Black Sea Cossack troops, the Serbs who formed the hussar regiments and other foreign colonists. In the middle of the XVIII century. significant measures were taken to defend the region, but gradually they lost their significance, especially after the annexation of the Crimea.

Foreign colonization in the XVIII-XIX centuries.

A characteristic feature of the settlement of the Novorossiysk Territory was the use of foreign colonists, who played an extremely important role. Since in Russia itself at that time the population was not very large, it was decided to resort to the help of foreigners to populate the Novorossiysk Territory. This decision also included the expectation that among the foreigners there might be people with knowledge and skills that the Russian settlers did not have. Apparently, this is why the German holiday of BEER is so popular in the city of Odessa, and there are a lot of cities in Odessa in the world.

The resettlement began with a decree of December 24, 1751, then a number of decrees were issued on the placement of foreigners in the "Zadneprsky places" and on the creation of New Serbia there. On the territory of New Serbia, there were two regiments under the command of Horvath and Pandursky. In 1753, Slavic-Serbia was formed near this settlement, between the Bakhmut and Lugan rivers, where colonists under the command of Shevic and Preradovich settled. Among them were not only Serbs, but also Moldovans, Croats. By that time, the Tatar raids had almost ceased.

Anna Ioannovna also built a number of fortresses on the northern borders of Novorossia, the so-called Ukrainian Line, where almost only soldiers and Cossacks lived since 1731. The central points of the new settlements were Novomirgorod and the fortress of St. Elizabeth in Novoserbia, Bakhmut and Belevskaya fortress in Slavic Serbia. The new settlers were assigned comfortable lands for perpetual and hereditary possession, were given monetary salaries, and were provided with duty-free crafts and trade. However, the Serbian settlements did not justify the hopes placed on them for the colonization of the region.

“Over 10 years, about 2.5 million rubles of state money were spent on the Serbs, and for food they had to take everything they needed from other residents. Serbian settlements were poorly arranged, and between the Serbs themselves there were almost daily quarrels and fights, and knives were often used. The Serbs immediately fell into a bad relationship with their neighbors, the Cossacks.

With the beginning of the reign of Catherine II, a new era opens in the history of foreign colonization of the Novorossiysk Territory. In a manifesto of 1763, she urged foreigners to settle mainly for the development of our crafts and trade. The most important benefits granted to the new settlers were the following:

• they could receive money for travel expenses from Russian residents abroad and then settle in Russia or in cities, or in separate colonies;
• they were granted freedom of religion;
• they were released for a certain number of years from all taxes and duties;
• they were given free apartments for half a year;
• an interest-free loan was issued with its repayment in 10 years for 3 years;
• settled colonies were given their own jurisdiction;
• all moths to import property duty-free and for 300 r. goods;
• everyone was exempted from military and civil service, and if someone wanted to become a soldier, then in addition to the usual salary, he had to receive 30 rubles;
• if someone started a factory that did not exist in Russia before, he could sell the goods he produced duty-free for 10 years;
• duty-free fairs and auctions could be opened in the colonies.

Lands for settlement were indicated in the Tobolsk, Astrakhan, Orenburg and Belgorod provinces. Although this decree does not say anything about Novorossia, but on its basis, foreigners settled there as well until the beginning of the reign of Emperor Alexander I.

After the death of Catherine in 1796, Pavel Petrovich ascended the throne. This is an important era in the history of the Novorossiysk Territory, the time important events in all parts of the administration. By decree of November 14, Emperor Paul I ordered the Novorossiysk province to be divided into 12 counties:

1. The Yekaterinoslav uyezd was established from the former Yekaterinoslav uyezd and part of the Aleksandrovsky uyezd.
2. Elisavetgradsky - from Elisavetgradsky and parts of Novomirgorodsky and Alexandria counties.
3. Olviopolsky - from parts of Voznesensky, Novomirgorodsky and the region of Bogopolsky district, which was located on the Ochakov steppe.
4. Tiraspol - from Tiraspol and part of Elen (located on the Ochakov steppe) counties.
5. Kherson - from part of Kherson and Voznesensky.
6. Perekop - from Perekop and Dnieper (i.e., the northern part of Crimea) counties.
7. Simferopol - from Simferopol, Evpatoria and Feodosia.
8. Mariupol - from parts of Mariupol, Pavlograd, Novomoskovsk and Melitopol counties.
9. Rostov - from the Rostov district and the land of the Black Sea army.
10. Pavlogradsky - from Pavlogradsky and parts of Novomoskovsky and Slavyansky.
11. Constantinograd - from Constantinograd and parts of Aleksopol and Slavic.
12. Bakhmutsky - from parts of Donetsk, Bakhmut and Pavlograd counties

The decree of October 8, 1802 put an end to the Novorossiysk province, again dividing it into three: Nikolaev, Yekaterinoslav and Tauride. Also in this decree it was said that the port cities of Odessa, Kherson, Feodosia and Taganrog would be provided with special advantages in favor of trade and, moreover, in each of them, for the patronage of traders, a special chief from the highest state officials would be appointed, who would depend only from the Supreme Power and the Ministers of Justice and the Interior.

Under Alexander I, foreign colonization within the Novorossiysk Territory begins to be conducted on different conditions. Decree of February 4, 1803: “For military officers who do not have a fortune and wish to start a farm in the empty lands of the Novorossiysk steppe, establish their own property, allocate it to eternal possession: headquarters officers 1,000 acres, and chief officers 500 acres of land.” The seat of the main Novorossiysk chief was transferred from Nikolaev to Kherson, and the Nikolaev province itself was renamed Kherson.

In the manifesto of 20 Feb. 1804, it was said that only such foreigners should be accepted for resettlement who, by their occupations, can serve as a good example for the peasants. For them, it is necessary to allocate special lands - state-owned or bought from landowners; these should be family and wealthy owners engaged in agriculture, cultivation of grapes or silkworms, cattle breeding and rural crafts (shoemaking, blacksmithing, weaving, tailoring, etc.); do not accept other artisans.

Natives were granted freedom of religion and exemption for 10 years from all taxes and duties; after this period, they will be obliged to bear the same duties as Russian subjects, excluding regular service, military and civil service, from which they are exempted forever. All colonists are given 60 acres of land per family free of charge. On these grounds, it was proposed to settle foreigners in various places in New Russia and in the Crimea. First of all, it was decided to give them land near harbors and ports, so that they could sell their products abroad.

From the beginning of 1804, they actively engaged in organizing the life of the nomadic hordes of the Nogai. By decree of April 16, 1804, Alexander I ordered the organization of the hordes and the establishment of a special administration between the Nogais, with the removal of Bayazet Bey. Soon a special administration was established, called the Expedition of the Nogai Hordes. In place of Bayazet Bey, Rosenberg appointed Colonel Trevogin as head of the Nogai hordes.

By decree of February 25, 1804, Sevastopol was appointed the main military port on the Black Sea and the main part of the fleet. For this, customs was withdrawn from the city and merchant ships could no longer trade in this port. To facilitate overland trade with Western Europe, especially with Austria and other German manufacturing states, transit trade was established in Odessa (decree of March 3, 1804).

Thanks to the strong support of the Russian government, the German colonies managed to gain a foothold on new and not always favorable ground for them. In 1845, there were 95,700 of all German settlers in Novorossiya. Romanesque colonization was quite insignificant: one village of Swiss, a few Italians and a few French merchants. Much more important were the Greek settlements. After the Crimea gained independence from the Ottoman Empire, in 1779 many Greek and Armenian families moved out of it (Greeks - 20 thousand).

On the basis of a letter of commendation, they were allotted land for settlement in the Azov province, along the coast of the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov. The letter of grant provided them with significant benefits - the exclusive right to fish, government houses, freedom from military service. Some of them died on the way from illness and deprivation, and the rest founded the city of Mariupol and 20 villages in its vicinity. In Odessa, the Greeks also enjoyed significant benefits and were in charge of local trade. Albanians settled in Taganrog, Krech and Yenikol, who were also well off.

Together with the Greeks, Armenians began to move to Novorossia, and in 1780 they founded the city of Nakhichevan. The beginning of the resettlement of Moldovans dates back to the reign of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna; they became part of Novoserbia in large numbers. Another batch of Moldovans in con. XVIII - early. 19th century founded cities and villages along the river. Dniester - Ovidiopol, New Dubossary, Tiraspol, etc. 75,092 rubles were spent on the transfer of Greeks and Armenians from Crimea. and, in addition, 100 thousand rubles. in the form of compensation "for the loss of subjects" received the Crimean Khan, his brothers, beys and murzas.

During 1779 - 1780. 144 horses, 33 cows, 612 pairs of oxen, 483 wagons, 102 plows, 1570 quarters of bread were distributed to Greek and Armenian settlers and 5294 houses and barns were built. In total, 24,501 people were dependent on the state out of a total of 30,156 migrants.

In 1769, the resettlement of Jewish Talmudists from western Russia and Poland to the Novorossiysk Territory began on the basis of a formal permit with the following conditions: they had to build their own dwellings, schools, but had the right to keep distilleries; they were given a benefit from camping and other duties for only a year, they were allowed to hire Russian workers, freely practice their faith, etc. Despite minor benefits, their resettlement in the cities was successful.

The situation with the organization of Jewish agricultural colonies was quite different. Their beginning dates back only to 1807, when the first batch of Jewish settlers formed colonies in the Kherson district. The government spent huge sums on their arrangement, but the results were deplorable: the agriculture of the Jews developed very poorly, and they themselves aspired to the cities and wanted to engage in petty trade, crafts, and brokerage. From the unaccustomed climate and bad water, epidemic diseases spread among them. Finally, the Gypsies completed the picture of the population of New Russia. In 1768 total number inhabitants in Novorossia amounted to 100 thousand people, and in 1823 - 1.5 million people.

Thus, in 1776-1782. observed exceptionally high rates of population growth in Novorossiya. For a short period (about 7 years), the population of the region (within the boundaries of the beginning of the 19th century) almost doubled (increased by 79.82%). main role this was played by immigrants from neighboring Left-Bank Ukraine. The influx of new settlers from the Right-Bank Ukraine and the Central Black Earth region of Russia was not great. Resettlements from abroad were important only for certain local territories (Aleksandrovsky, Rostov and Kherson districts).

In the 70s, the northern and central regions of Novorossia were still predominantly settled, and since 1777, the privately owned migration movement came to the fore. During this period, the tsarist authorities did not take effective measures to transfer large groups of migrants from abroad and other regions of the country to Novorossia. They handed out vast tracts of land into the hands of private owners, giving them the right to take care of their settlement themselves. This right was widely used by the landowners of Novorossiya. By hook or by crook, they lured peasants from neighboring Left-Bank and Right-Bank Ukraine to their lands.

By the Manifesto of June 24, 1811, 4 customs districts were created in the Novorossiysk Territory: Odessa, Dubossary, Feodosia and Taganrog. In 1812, the region consisted of the Kherson, Yekaterinoslav and Tauride provinces, Odessa, Feodosia and Taganrog city administrations. He also owned the Bug and Black Sea Cossack troops and the Odessa and Balaklava Greek battalions.

The settlement of the developed regions of the country in the 30s of the XIX century. was carried out on the basis of a decree of March 22, 1824. Only on April 8, 1843, new rules on resettlement were approved. legitimate reason before the resettlement of peasants, land shortage was recognized when a peasant family had less than 5 acres of convenient land per revision soul. Gubernias and counties were appointed for settlement, where there were more than 8 acres per revision soul, and in the steppe zone - 15 acres per revision soul.

The rules somewhat facilitated, in comparison with the regulation of 1824, the conditions for the settlement of settlers. In new places, food was prepared for them for the first time, part of the fields were sown, hay was accumulated to feed the cattle in the first winter, tools and draft animals were prepared. For all these purposes, 20 rubles were allocated for each family. Settlers were exempted from paying money for transportation across rivers and from other similar fees.

They were supposed to be released from their old places of residence at a convenient time of the year. The rules forbade the return of settlers back from the route or the place of new settlement. For the construction of dwellings, the peasants received forest in new places (100 roots per yard). In addition, they were given 25 rubles for each family irrevocably, and in the absence of a forest - 35 rubles. New settlers received a number of benefits: 6-year-old - from military billeting, 8-year-old - from the payment of taxes and other duties (instead of the previous 3-year-old), and also 3-year - from recruitment duty.

Simultaneously with these benefits, the regulation of 1843 abolished the right that existed until that year for the peasants themselves to choose for themselves suitable places for settlement. Based on these rules, the development of all regions of Russia was carried out in the 40s - 50s of the XIX century. The government, right up to the reform of 1861, tried to introduce Jews to agriculture and spent large sums of money on this.

In the second half of the 30-40s of the XIX century. Kherson province has lost its position as the leading populated region of Russia. The bulk of the settlers are foreign settlers, Jews and urban taxable estates. The role of the landowner resettlement movement is sharply reduced. Settled, as in more early periods, mainly southern counties: Tiraspol (with Odessa separated from its composition) and Kherson.

In the second half of the 30s-40s of the XIX century. the pace of settlement of the Yekaterinoslav province is increasing (due to the sparsely populated Aleksandrovsky district) and it is significantly ahead of the Kherson province. Thus, the Yekaterinoslav province is temporarily turning into the leading populated region of Novorossia, although the value of the latter as the main populated territory of Russia is falling. The settlement of the province is carried out, as before, mainly by legal immigrants. Mainly state peasants and non-taxable categories of the population arrive in the province. The significance of the landlord resettlement of peasants is declining. The Alexandrovsky district is settled mainly, where in 1841-1845. more than 20,000 male souls arrived.

Odessa remained the largest city in Russia, second only to St. Petersburg and Moscow in terms of the number of inhabitants. Among other cities in Russia, only Riga had approximately the same population (60 thousand inhabitants). big city country was also Nikolaev. In addition to the cities mentioned above, in terms of population it was second only to Kiev, Saratov, Voronezh, Astrakhan, Kazan and Tula.

In the second half of the 30s-40s of the XIX century. the pace of economic development of Novorossia intensified, but the inhabitants of this region were under the influence of the forces of nature. Harvest years alternated with lean years, drought - with locust raids. The number of livestock either increased or decreased sharply as a result of starvation or an epidemic. The population of the region in these years was mainly engaged in cattle breeding.

Thus, in the 40s, both agriculture and animal husbandry in Novorossia were on the rise, but in 1848-1849. they were hit hard. The farmers were unable to collect even the sown seeds, and the livestock breeders suffered greatly from the extremely destructive deaths of livestock. Nevertheless, the economy of the region developed, overcoming the effects of climate. Industry in the 1830-1840s had not yet received development, so agriculture remained the main occupation of the region's population.
In the 50s of the XIX century. The resettlement of the peasantry was carried out on the basis of the provisions of April 8, 1843.

In 1850, an audit was carried out in Russia, which counted 916,353 souls in Novorossia (435,798 souls in Yekaterinoslav and 462,555 in Kherson province).

Thus, throughout its history, the Novorossiysk Territory has been distinguished by a unique policy pursued by the Russian government in relation to it. It can be summarized as follows:
1. Serfdom did not apply to these areas. The runaway serfs did not return from there.
2. Freedom of religion.
3. Exemption of the indigenous population from military service.
4. Tatar murzas were equated with the Russian nobility (“Charter to the nobility”). Thus, Russia did not interfere in the conflict between the local aristocracy and the common people.
5. The right to buy and sell land.
6. Benefits for the clergy.
7. Freedom of movement.
8. Foreign settlers have not paid taxes for 5 years.
9. A city building program was planned, the population was transferred to a settled way of life.
10. The Russian political elite and the nobility were given lands with a term for development.
11. Resettlement of the Old Believers.
The Novorossiysk-Bessarabian general government was disbanded in 1873, and the term no longer corresponded to any territorial unit. After the 1917 revolution, Ukraine laid claim to Novorossiya. During the Civil War, certain areas of Novorossia more than once passed from white to red, Nestor Makhno's detachments operated here. When the Ukrainian SSR was created, most of Novorossia became part of it.

Novorossiya owes its birth to Catherine II the Great.

250 years ago, first in legal acts, then on geographical maps for the first time the name "Novorossiya" appeared. This name was given to the new Russian province, which was created on the former lands of the Zaporizhian army by transforming the military settlement region of New Serbia. New Serbia is an administrative-territorial unit in the Russian Empire (located on the territory of modern Ukraine), created by the government in the northwestern part of Zaporozhye (the territory of the Kodatskaya and Bugogardovskaya palanoks of the Zaporizhzhya Army), where immigrants from Serbia, Montenegro were resettled in 1751-1764, Wallachia, Macedonia and other Balkan regions. Proposals for the creation and arrangement of the Novorossiysk province were approved by Catherine II on April 2 (according to the old style - March 22), 1764.

It is curious that the initiators of the reforms proposed to name the new administrative unit Catherine's province (in honor of Catherine II), but the empress opposed. Her resolution on the corresponding document read: "to call the province Novorossiysk."

It is important to note that Catherine the Great paid great attention to security and the development of the southern borders of the Russian Empire. According to the apt expression of one of the first researchers of the history of the Novorossiysk Territory, A. A. Skalkovskiy, “34 years of the reign of Catherine are the essence of 34 years of the History of Novorossiysk”.

Shortly after gaining autocratic power, Catherine II took a number of steps that had a huge impact on the fate of the Novorossiysk Territory. The empress introduced significant benefits for immigrants: the provision of land, exemption from taxes and all sorts of duties, interest-free loans for housing and farming, to cover the costs of moving, buying food before the first harvest, livestock, agricultural implements or tools for artisans. Foreign settlers who created their own production were allowed to trade and even export goods abroad duty-free. New subjects received the right to freedom of religion and the opportunity to build their places of worship.

Subject special attention Russian government was the activity of the authorities of Novoserbskaya province. This attention was caused by insufficiently rapid colonization of the area with huge government appropriations for this project. In addition, one after another, complaints were received in St. Petersburg about abuses and arbitrariness that were happening in the provinces. Under these conditions, the Empress was forced to remove Ivan Horvat, the founder of the New Serbia colony, from his post.

The Croat was extremely unscrupulous in spending the money he received on the initial acquisition of new aliens; for the most part, he took this money for himself, and the settlers suffered all sorts of hardships. All management of the affairs of the region was concentrated in the chancellery established by the decision of the Senate in the city of Mirgorod, which was arranged by Horvat and served as his residence. But in this office sat all the relatives of Horvath, including his two young sons who were considered in the service.

The situation of ordinary migrant soldiers was especially difficult; one day a crowd of them, driven to despair by hunger, came to ask for bread right at Horvath's house; he gave the case such a look as if it were a riot, dispersed the crowd with buckshot and put the body of one of the dead on a wheel outside the city. It is not surprising that the settlers, forced by hunger, sometimes indulged in robbery; and Horvath himself organized raids on the Polish borders.

To determine the best device for the region, 2 special committees were established (on the affairs of New Serbia, as well as Slavic-Serbia and the Ukrainian Fortified Line).

Lieutenant-General Alexander Petrovich Melgunov, one of the most influential courtiers under the former Emperor Peter III, took part in the work of both committees, but fell into disgrace after his overthrow. It was A.P. Melgunov who was to become the first governor of Novorossiya. However, this was preceded by a very revealing story, demonstrating the mores of the high-ranking bureaucracy of that time.

When clouds began to gather over I. O. Horvat, he went to the capital and tried to bribe the most influential people at court, including A. P. Melgunov. The latter honestly told the emperor about the received offering. Peter III praised his favorite, took half the amount for himself and ordered the Senate to decide the case in favor of I. O. Horvath. However, after the change of autocrat, A.P. Melgunov had to more impartially investigate the sins of the former donor.

Catherine II approved the conclusions of the above committees. The fragmentation and lack of control over the actions of the heads of local administrations and military authorities were recognized as the main obstacle to the effective development of the region. In the spring of 1764, the Novoserbsk settlement and the military corps of the same name were transformed into the Novorossiysk province under the unified authority of the governor (chief commander). In the summer of the same year, the Slavic-Serbian province, the Ukrainian fortified line and the Bakhmut Cossack regiment were subordinated to the province.

To ensure better manageability of the province, it was divided into 3 provinces: Elisavetinskaya (with its center in the fortress of St. Elizabeth), Catherine's (with its center in the Belevskaya fortress) and Bakhmutskaya. In September 1764, at the request of local residents, the Little Russian town of Kremenchug was included within the boundaries of Novorossia. The provincial office was later transferred here.

These steps served as the beginning of the implementation of a large-scale plan for the development of the Novorossiysk province, developed by the first governor of the region. In May - June 1764, new trading cities and customs were identified. Outside the former Novoserbia, they were the fortress of St. Elizabeth, the port on the Khortitsky island and the town of Orlik (Olviopol) on the Southern Bug.

The most important measures for the development of the province consisted in streamlining land use. The entire land of the former Novoserbia, which amounted to 1421 thousand acres, was divided into 36400 plots assigned to local regiments. The territory of the province was divided between 8 regiments. On the right bank of the Dnieper (Elisavetinskaya province) there were the Black and Yellow Hussars, the Elisavetgrad pike regiments. On the left bank - the Bakhmut and Samara (former Moldavian) hussar regiments, as well as the Dnieper, Lugansk, Donetsk pikemen regiments. Later, on the basis of the regimental administrative-territorial division, a county structure was introduced.

Three types of settlements were established: state, landlord and military. Those wishing to settle down were given as much land as they could inhabit, but no more than 48 dachas. A lieutenant, an ensign, a regimental auditor, a quartermaster, a commissar, a doctor received 4 yards (plots), that is, 104-120 acres of land, in rank possession; captain, captain - 6 sections each (156‑180 acres); second major - 7 plots (182‑210 acres); colonel - 16 plots (416‑480 acres) of land. Having populated it, the owner of the rank dacha became its owner, if he did not think to populate it within the established time frame, he lost this right.

Along with land plots, military and civil officials received permits (“open lists”) for the withdrawal from abroad of free “people of all ranks and nations, to be assigned to regiments or settled on their own or state lands.” With the successful completion of this task, officials were entitled to substantial incentives. For the withdrawal of 300 people, the rank of major was assigned, 150 - captain, 80 - lieutenant, 60 - warrant officer, 30 - sergeant major.

The rapid settlement of Novorossia was facilitated by the permission to move within the new province for the inhabitants of Little Russia (previously, the resettlement of Little Russians to New Serbia was not welcome). This permission was also actively used by the Old Believers who lived in Little Russian towns. They actively moved to Elisavetograd, where a large community of Old Believers already existed. In the previously lifeless steppes, large villages arose: Zlynka, Klintsy, Nikolskoye, and others. Old Believer churches and even a printing house were erected in these villages (in the village of Nikolskoye). The resettlement of the Old Believers became so massive that in 1767 the government was forced to impose restrictions on this process.

Another important resource for replenishing the population of the Novorossiysk Territory was the resettlement by the nobles, who acquired land in the south, of their own serfs from the central provinces of Russia.

Thus, the necessary conditions were created for a multinational, but predominantly Great Russian-Little Russian colonization of Novorossia. The result of this policy was the rapid growth of the population in the southern limits of European Russia. Already in 1768, excluding regular troops stationed in the region on a temporary basis, about 100 thousand people lived in the Novorossiysk Territory (at the time of the formation of the province, the population of Novorossia was up to 38 thousand). The Russian Empire literally before our eyes acquired the most important stronghold for the struggle for dominance in the Black Sea - Novorossia.

Photographer Sergey Karpov and correspondent Sergey Prostakov asked the participants of the Russian March their opinion about Novorossiya.

"Russian March" is the largest action of nationalists, which has been held annually on November 4 on the Day of National Unity, since 2005. The event changed the location in Moscow and the composition of the participants. Deputies took part in the nationalist procession State Duma, the Eurasians of Alexander Dugin, the National Bolsheviks of Eduard Limonov. In 2011, Alexei Navalny actively encouraged people to visit the Russian March. By 2013, the Russian March had finally turned into a subcultural phenomenon of Russian nationalists, who were united by anti-Caucasian and anti-migrant slogans.

But in 2014, the fragile “anti-migrant” consensus came to an end. The entry of Crimea into Russia, the war in the Donbass, the formation of "Novorossia" split the camp of Russian nationalists. Some of them supported the actions of the Russian authorities and the Donetsk separatists, others sharply condemned them. As a result, on November 4, 2014, two “Russian marches” took place in Moscow, one of which was directly called “For Novorossiya”.

But even among those who attended the “classic” march in the Moscow district of Lyublino, there was also no unity: slogans against the war with Ukraine and in support of Novorossia were simultaneously heard in the crowd. Figures speak even more eloquently about the crisis among Russian nationalists: in previous years, the Russian March in Lyublino gathered at least 10 thousand participants, and in 2014 no more than three thousand came to the action.

Photographer Sergei Karpov and correspondent Sergei Prostakov asked ordinary participants in the ninth "Russian March" in Moscow: what is "Novorossiya"? Its supporters are sure that in the Donbass now there is a war for independence, opponents believe that "Novorossia" does not exist.

(Total 13 photos)

1. Sergey, 27 years old, freight forwarder(left): "Novorossiya" should be a white country with Russian orders, so today I support this formation only in part.
Dmitry, 33 years old, entrepreneur(right): "Novorossiya" is a new territorial-administrative unit, which I categorically support."

2. Ilya, 55, unemployed(left): “I have no idea what Novorossiya is, so I don’t support it.”
Andrey, 32 years old, programmer(right): "Novorossiya" is still a mythical association, which, as I hope, will take place as a state."

3. Yaroslav, 26 years old, engineer(left): Novorossiya is a Kremlin project that Russian nationalists cannot support.”
Nikita, 16, Russian nationalist(right): "I can't explain what Novorossiya is, but I support the idea."

4. Alexander, 54, journalist(left): “Novorossiya” today is something invented that has nothing to do with the Novorossiya that existed under Catherine II. Now there is a war going on there, so I can't support the death of people. And you can’t support Novorossia with the media that provide information from there.”
Tamara, 70 years old, Slavyanka women's movement, Union of Indigenous Muscovites(right): “Novorossiya” is part of historical Russia.”

5. Dmitry, 49 years old, freelance artist(left): "I have a rather complicated relationship with Novorossia - the more the Kremlin supports it, the less I support it."
Vera, 54, fitness club worker from Voronezh(right): "Novorossiya" is a part of Russia that wants to come back. I have relatives living there. In the Voronezh region, where I come from, there are now many refugees. So I know what's going on there first hand. That is why I support Novorossiya.

6. Lyubov, 33, entrepreneur(left): “I hate Novorossiya. This is part of the global struggle against the Russians.”
Konstantin, 50 years old, auto electrician(right): "Novorossiya" today is fighting against fascism.

7. Andrey, 48, unemployed(left): "Novorossiya" consists of bandits and scoundrels."
Alexander, 55, unemployed(right): "Novorossiya" is a remake. This is the new Russia. Russia, Ukraine, Belarus - it's all one Russia. I support the Russian Empire until 1917. Ukraine must be fully returned to the empire, and not pinched off a little. Besides, we don't have to fight - Ukrainians and I should be together."

8. Vyacheslav, 25 years old, worker(left): “In Russia, it is difficult to be objective about Novorossiya because the false media is talking about it. I try not to talk about it."
Dmitry, 32 years old, salesperson(right): “Novorossiya” is the LNR and the DNR. I support their fight."

9. Vitaly, 16 years old, schoolboy(left): "Novorossiya" is led by bandits. Nobody recognizes it on the world stage. This formation does not have long to exist.
Mikhail, 17 years old, schoolboy(right): “Novorossiya” is a part of Russia that is now fighting for independence from Ukraine”

10. Natalia, 19 years old, works in production(left): “I have no idea what Novorossiya is. What is this? How can you support "nothing"?
Sergey, 57 years old, artist(right): “After the referendum, Novorossiya is an independent state. I support this initiative."

11. Oleg, 25, leader of the Russian United National Alliance(left): "Novorossiya" is an alien entity for any Russian person. Just some wolf in sheep's clothing."
Alexander, 28 years old, worker(right): “Novorossiya is now a separate state. These territories never belonged to Ukraine. In addition, a fascist junta is now sitting in Kyiv.”

12. Denis, 39, unemployed(left): "Novorossiya" is fiction. I would support it if it was an independent project. Need to support territorial integrity Ukraine, although I agree that Crimea was returned.”
Mikhail, 26, member of the Central Committee of the National Democratic Party(right): “Novorossiya” today is the Russian regions of Ukraine that have decided to declare their independence and exercise the right of nations to self-determination.”

13. Vasily, unemployed(left): “I can’t say that I support Novorossiya because I don’t know who really controls it.”
Dometii, 34, member of the National Democratic Party(right): “Until 1917, southern Russia was called Novorossia. In the early 1920s, the Bolsheviks reported that Novorossiya had been destroyed because they had given it to Ukraine. Today, this is a movement that arose in the early 2000s, when the pro-Russian forces in Ukraine realized that it would no longer be possible to revive the USSR, but that it was necessary to unite with modern Russia. Today's "Novorossiya" is pro-Russian circles in Ukraine that share different ideologies that vaguely represent life in modern Russia but desiring Russian unity.