Keywords
How to Cite
Abstract
The topicality of studying the history of small indigenous peoples of Russia is due to their critical condition. Long-term assimilation processes resulted in their sharp downsizing. Preservation of history and culture of the people is a necessary component of its identity. The purpose of this study is to investigate the features of the demographic and social -economic development of the Vepsians of the North-West of Russia in the second half of the 19th – early 20th century. The main sources for us were the published statistical materials (the First General Population Census of the Russian Empire in 1897, the data from the municipal statistics), as well as the unpublished documents from the collections of the Russian archives. Upon the efforts invested, the nature of the ethnodispersity of the Vepsians in the late Imperial period was confirmed. Tending towards Lake Onega, most of the Vepsians lived in the territory of the Olonets province. The fronting of the North-West of Russia, manifested in the centuries-old economic and cultural contacts between the Vepsians (Chudis) and the Russians, led to the multidirectional consequences. The impact of the local Russian population on the age of marriage among the Vepsians has been revealed. The proximity of large cities and highways determined the level of their russification. During the development of the regional economy, the Vepsians joined seasonal works and began to engage actively in the non-agricultural pursuits. Despite their small numbers, big entrepreneurs (the Pimenovs) originated from their community. The paper is intended for the specialists in the field of history of the ethnic minorities.
References
Bashkarev, A. A. (2015). Impact of USSR State Policy on the Assimilation of the Veps in the Twentieth Century. St. Petersburg State Polytechnical University Journal. Humanities and Social Sciences, (1), 73–82. https://doi.org/10.5862/JHSS.215.10 (In Russian).
Birin, V. N. (1989). The Demographic Situation among the Veps of Karelia in the 1950s–1970s. In V. V. Pimenov (Ed.), Problems in the History and Culture of the Veps People (pp. 43–55). Publishing House of the Institute of Language, Literature, and History of the Karelian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences. (In Russian).
Central State Archive of St. Petersburg. (1935). F. R-7179. In. 31. C. 76. (In Russian).
E. G. Pimenov (Obituary). (1873). Olonetskie Gubernskie Vedomosti, (63), 9. (In Russian).
Egorov, S. B. (2014). Traditional Culture of the Southern Veps [Abstract of a candidate’s dissertation in history]. Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera), Russian Academy of Sciences. (In Russian).
First General Census of the Population of the Russian Empire (FGCPRE): 26. Novgorod Governorate. Notebook II. (1903a). Tipografiya V. P. Meshcherskogo. (In Russian).
First General Census of the Population of the Russian Empire (FGCPRE): 27. Olonets Governorate. Notebook II. (1900). Tipografiya E. Evdokimova. (In Russian).
First General Census of the Population of the Russian Empire (FGCPRE): 27. Olonets Governorate. Notebook III. (1904). Tipografiya “Narodnaya polza.” (In Russian).
First General Census of the Population of the Russian Empire (FGCPRE): 37. Saint Petersburg Governorate. (1903b). Tipografiya “Slovo.” (In Russian).
Government Orders. (1849). Olonetskie Gubernskie Vedomosti, (3), 1. (In Russian).
Ivanova, G. P. (2015). Comparative Constructions in the Language of the Siberian Veps. Vestnik NSU. Series: History and Philology, 14(9), 214–220. (In Russian).
Kiseleva, T. V. (2006). Anders Johan Sjögren: The Discoverer of the Veps. In I. Yu. Vinokurova (Ed.), Contemporary Veps Studies: Achievements and Prospects (In Memory of N. I. Bogdanov) (pp. 99‑105). Karelian Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences. (In Russian).
List of Persons Who Donated to the Pimenov Children’s Shelter in Petrozavodsk. (1851a). Olonetskie Gubernskie Vedomosti, (1), 1. (In Russian).
List of Persons Who Donated to the Pimenov Children’s Shelter in Petrozavodsk. (1851b). Olonetskie Gubernskie Vedomosti, (10), 1. (In Russian).
Lists of Populated Places of the Russian Empire: XXVII. Olonets Governorate. (1879). Tipografiya Ministerstva vnutrennikh del. (In Russian).
Malinovskaya, Z. P. (1930). Materials on the Ethnography of the Veps. In V. V. Bartold (Ed.), West Finnic Collection (pp. 163–200). USSR Academy of Sciences Publishing House. (In Russian).
Materials on the Statistics of Novgorod Governorate: VIII. Lists of Populated Places and Information on the Settlements of Novgorod Governorate. Tikhvin Uyezd. (1885). Tipografiya Novgorodskogo gubernskogo zemstva. (In Russian).
National Library of Russia. (1789–1790). Tumansky, F. O. An Attempt at an Account of the History, Geography, Condition, and Administrative Division of Saint Petersburg Governorate, Including Its Peoples and Settlements from Ancient Times to the Present, Arranged in Three Parts with Additions. (In Russian).
Pashkova, T. V. (2025). The Cultural Heritage of the Veps. Yearbook of Finno-Ugric Studies, 19(2), 297‑300. https://doi.org/10.35634/2224-9443-2025-19-2-297-300 (In Russian).
Pimenov, V. V. (1965). The Veps: An Essay on Their Ethnic History and the Genesis of Their Culture. Nauka. (In Russian).
Ravdonikas, V. I. (1925). The Chukhari. Tikhvin Uyezd Executive Committee. (In Russian).
Russian State Historical Archive. (1841). F. 796. In. 122. C. 241. (In Russian).
Russian State Historical Archive. (1842a). F. 1341. In. 50. C. 722. (In Russian).
Russian State Historical Archive. (1842b). F. 1341. In. 50. C. 1089. (In Russian).
Russian State Historical Archive. (1843). F. 1341. In. 51. C. 528. (In Russian).
Russian State Historical Archive. (1845). F. 796. In. 126. C. 1923. (In Russian).
Russian State Historical Archive. (1846). F. 796. In. 127. C. 432. (In Russian).
Russian State Historical Archive. (1848–1849). F. 37. In. 13. C. 705. (In Russian).
Russian State Historical Archive. (1850). F. 571. In. 3. C. 1180. (In Russian).
Russian State Historical Archive. (1854). F. 1343. In. 39. C. 3680. (In Russian).
Russian State Historical Archive. (1855). F. 1287. In. 37. C. 1554. (In Russian).
Russian State Historical Archive. (1856). F. 1343. In. 39. C. 3679. (In Russian).
Russian State Historical Archive. (1858). F. 796. In. 139. C. 781. (In Russian).
Statistical Materials: Lodeynopol Uyezd (From the Explanatory Note by Actual State Councillor M. A. Dlotovsky). (1885). Olonetskie Gubernskie Vedomosti, (40), 6. (In Russian).
Strogalshchikova, Z. I. (1989). On Ethnodemographic Trends and the Socioeconomic and Cultural Development of the Veps People. In V. V. Pimenov (Ed.), Problems in the History and Culture of the Veps People (pp. 27–42). Publishing House of the Institute of Language, Literature, and History of the Karelian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences. (In Russian).
Strogalshchikova, Z. I. (2014). The Veps: Essays on History and Culture. Language Documentation. Inkeri. (In Russian).
Vinokurova, I. Yu. (1994). Calendar Customs, Rites, and Festivals of the Veps (Late Nineteenth–Early Twentieth Centuries). Nauka. (In Russian).
Vinokurova, I. Yu. (2007). Animals in the Traditional Worldview of the Veps: An Attempt at Reconstruction [Doctoral dissertation in history]. Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera), Russian Academy of Sciences. (In Russian).
Zolotarev, D. A. (1927). Ethnic Composition of the Population of the Northwestern Region and the Karelian ASSR. USSR Academy of Sciences Publishing House. (In Russian).
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.