Isyangulov Sh. N. Family divisions in the South Ural village in the second half of the 19th — early 20th centuries // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2025. V.10. №4. P. 72-91.

EDN: HATXCK

Annotation

The article considers the dynamics of family divisions in rural areas of the Orenburg and Ufa Provinces in the second half of the 19th — early 20th centurits. The author shows that most family divisions in the Southern Urals in the post-reform period were carried out without the permission of the rural assembly, and legislative measures could not stop fragmentation of farms. The author presents the prevalence rate of family divisions (per 1,000 average annual population) among various groups of the peasantry in the Ufa Province in 1880. Bashkirs, free grain farmers and mining peasants had the highest rate of family divisions, former landowner peasants had the lowest, while the figures for the former state and specific peasants turned out to be average. The article explains the main reasons for family divisions as described in the sources: quarrels, cramped quarters and polygamy boiled down to the natural cycle of family development. The author emphasizes that military and political factors had a great influence on the rate of family divisions, whether it was the peasant reform of 1861, introduction of universal military service in 1874, Stolypin agrarian reform, liquidation of family property or destruction of the peasant community. The deterioration of the economic situation of the peasant economy due to famine, crop failures and wars hindered the fragmentation of farms.

Keywords

Family divisions, Southern Urals, peasantry, causes, factors, rural gathering.  

About the author

Shamil N. Isyangulov, PhD (History), Senior Researcher, Department of Contemporary History of Bashkortostan, Order of Honor Institute of History, Language and Literature, Ufa Federal Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Prosp. Oktyabrya, 71, Ufa, 450054.
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