DEVELOPMENT OF TRADE IN THE TERRITORY OF THE NOVOSLOBIDSKIY COSSACK REGIMENT (1753–1764)

Abstract

The purpose of this publication is to analyze the development of trade in 1753–1764 in the territory of the Novoslobidskiy Cossack Regiment. The author tries to give his assessment of the trade activity of the inhabitants of the Novoslobidskiy Cossack Regiment and assess their contribution to the development of this branch of management in the south of Ukraine. Novoslobidskiy regiment is the Cossack formation, which lasted 11 years (1753–1764 years) in the Right-Bank Ukraine, on the part of the territory of «Zadneprovsky Places». The population of the Novoslobidskiy Cossack Regiment made a significant contribution to the development of trade. This was facilitated by a number of factors: 1) the advantageous geographical location of the Novoslobidskiy Regiment; 2) the presence of a fortified and protected center (Fortress of St. Elizabeth); 3) constant demand for consumer goods and food; 4) trade privileges granted by the government to certain categories of the population. The transit and foreign trade has become the greatest development in the regiment. The level of development of domestic trade shows the presence of permanently functioning stationary boutiques and shops, bazaars and troughs. The fair trade on the territory of the regiment was carried out periodically. Gradually, a merchant’s state is distinguished from the environment of the suburb bourgeois of the fortress of St. Elizabeth. The most prosperous merchants of the regiment were Russian Old Believersschismatics. Old Believer merchant trade relied on broad trade privileges granted by the Russian government. The trade activity of the population of the Novoslobidskiy regiment contributed to the attraction of the southern Ukrainian territories to transit trade with European countries. But it should be noted that the trade activity of the residents of Novoslobidskiy regiment was subordinated primarily to all-Russian interests, and its territory in the future became an integral part of the all-Russian market.