Settlements of the Ostyako-Vogulsky National District in the 1930s : Number and Typology.

IntroductionThe current demographic situation in the Russian Federation is largely determined by socio-economic processes.

The long and contradictory process of transition to a market economy, civil society and the rule of law experienced by modern Russia is accompanied by profound qualitative changes in all spheres of life and activity of Russian society: socio-economic, socio-political, spiritual and moral.

Along with these processes, demographic and migration problems associated with the outflow of population from small towns, rural settlements, towns and villages to megacities are becoming particularly acute. The process of migration to large cities leads to the desolation of thousands of small settlements, the termination of their functioning as separate territorial settlement units.

Today, one of the most popular regions of the Russian Federation is the territory of the Tyumen Region, and especially its northern autonomous districts – Khanty-Mansiysk and Yamalo-Nenets. Currently, the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug — Yugra is one of the main oil and gas regions of the Russian Federation. It occupies a leading position in the production of hydrocarbon raw materials. Yugra belongs to the donor regions in terms of tax revenues to the budget system and excels in a number of key economic indicators. In addition to the priority development of the raw materials extraction sector, energy, construction, transport infrastructure and other industries are developing in the district. Favorable socio-economic factors made it possible to create a network of modern settlements here. But it wasn't always like that.

The history of the formation of the settlement network in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug has passed a long stage, the peak of which occurred in the 1930s. Despite their natural and geographical conditions and differing from the European regions of Russia, production, trade, religious, educational functions - settlements played a role in the economic development of the district. In this regard, the study of the number and typology of northern settlements is of particular interest, allows us to explore the process of formation of the settlement network, its inclusion in the regional and All-Russian (All-Union) economic base. The problem of the formation of the settlement network of the Ostyako-Vogul National District of the period of the 1930s has not yet become the subject of in-depth research for scientists. In this regard, there is a need for a comprehensive study of the historical experience of the development of settlements of the named administrative-territorial unit in order to solve demographic and migration problems of our time.

The purpose of the article is to consider in historical retrospect the features of the development of the settlement network of the Ostyako–Vogul National District, its number and typology according to the All-Union Census of 1939.

To characterize the settlement network of the above district , it is necessary: 1) to identify natural-geographical and other factors that influenced the formation and development of the settlement network; 2) to conduct a quantitative analysis of the structure of settlements; 3) to identify the typology of settlements, its features.

For the first time, the documents of the Russian State Archive of Economics (materials of the Central Statistical Office under the Council of Ministers of the USSR (f. 1562)), introduced into scientific circulation, reveal quantitative indicators of the development of settlements in the Ostyako-Vogul National District.

The author used general scientific and special methods: historical-comparative, historical-typological, statistical, which allowed to systematize and generalize the main quantitative characteristics of settlements, as well as methods of graphical representation of the data obtained. Reliance on various methods contributed to the consideration of the problem in a comprehensive manner.

The territorial scope of the study covers the Ostyako-Vogul National District, formed in December 1930 and included from 1930 to 1934 in the Ural region, from January 1934 – in the Ob-Irtysh region, and from December 1934 in the Omsk region.

The stated problem in Soviet historiography was touched upon by researchers from the position of the influence of natural-geographical ^[1-2] and economic conditions on the placement of the population and the size of settlements ^[3]. The authors of the works focused on the distinctive features of rural and urban settlements ^[4], studied the features of the development of rural settlements, considered the influence of the Trans-Siberian Railway on the emergence of a new type of settlements ^[5]. Attempts to analyze the population of Siberia for a long period of the second half of the XIX–early XX century were made by V. A. Zverev ^[6], V. I. Pronin ^[7]. The crisis of the Russian village at the end of the twentieth century broadly identified the problem of the history of the formation and development of the settlement network among modern researchers ^[8-14]. Unfortunately, in foreign literature, among the works devoted to the development of remote territories, the North of Western Siberia has not become the subject of close study, however, generalizing works on the history of the Australian Far North ^[15], works on the integration of aboriginal peoples in the development of these territories ^[16-17] can be called. The development of rural settlements is considered through the process of settlement, its impact on the expansion of the settlement network and the role of regional cities in it ^[18-22].

Spatial distribution and number of the settlement network of the Ostyako-Vogul National DistrictThe Ostyako-Vogul National District with its center in the village of Samarovo was formed in December 1930 on the basis of a resolution of the Central Executive Committee as part of the Ural Region.

During the study period, the administrative-territorial division of the district changed several times. In January 1934, the district became part of the Ob-Irtysh region, and since December 1934 in Omsk. The territory of the district was formed from Berezovsky, Kondinsky, Samarovsky, Surgut districts, Kushevatsky, Muzhevsky village councils, Shuryshkarsky native Ostyatsky district of Obdorsky district and Laryaksky Ostyatsky native district of the West Siberian Territory. The National District was divided into six districts: Berezovsky, Kondinsky, Laryaksky, Samarovsky, Surgut and Shuryshkarsky. In 1936, the village of Ostyako-Vogulsk was transformed into a work settlement. In July 1937, the Mikoyanovsky district was formed as part of the district, and in September 1937 the Shuryshkarsky district was transferred to the Yamalo-Nenets National District ^{[23, p. 213]}. During the period under study, the number of village councils was not constant, if in 1930 there were 43 of them, by the mid-1930s – 56, then by 1939 only 52 ^{[24, l. 2-30]}.

The peculiarity of the national district was its natural and geographical environment. Stretching from the Ural Mountains to the Ob-Yenisei watershed, the district, severe in climatic terms, had a sharply continental climate with a rapid change of weather conditions. Cold and long winters and short summers left their mark on the occupations and crafts of the population. Hunting, reindeer husbandry, gathering, agriculture, cattle breeding formed the basis of the way of life of the local population. The waterways of the Ob and Irtysh rivers with their numerous tributaries created conditions for fishing. All the economic activities of the residents of the district were closely connected with natural conditions, and the ability to live in harmony with nature, to navigate the terrain, allowed them to create their own special settlement network with the predominance of rural settlements over urban ones. A certain factor that influenced the formation and development of a specific network of settlements was the presence, along with the Russian population, of indigenous small–numbered peoples of the Far North - the Khanty and Mansi.

According to the All-Union Census of 1939, 93,244 people (44,494 men) lived in the Ostyako-Vogul National District. and 4,8750 women) in 925 rural and urban settlements, of which 85,789 people (40997 men and 44792 women) in 924 settlements and 7,455 people (3,497 men and 3,958 women) in the urban working settlement of Ostyako–Vogulsk (see Table.1) ^{[24, L. 2]}.

The table shows that the largest in terms of the number of settlements were Surgut (315), Berezovsky (175), Kondinsky (147) and Samarovsky (116) districts. There were less than a hundred settlements in the Mikoyanovsky (88) and Laryaksky (83) districts. In terms of population, the Samarovsky district (22,329 people) was in the first place, followed by Mikoyanovsky (15,157 people), Surgut (14,744 people), Kondinsky (14,39 people), Berezovsky (13,744 people), Laryaksky (5,276 people). The largest village councils in terms of the number of settlements were Trom-Yugansky (71), Pimsky (52), Ugut-Yugansky (50) of Surgut district.

Table 1

The number of settlements and the population in the Ostyako-Vogul National District

(according to the All-Union Census of 1939) [comp. us by: 24, L 2-30]

Typical structure and size of the settlement networkThe settlement network of the Ostyako-Vogul National District included settlements with such statuses as village, settlement, village and yurt in its typical structure.

As can be seen from Table 2, the studied district was characterized mainly by yurts (531), followed by villages (207), settlements (51) and villages (31), the least common (105) bases, barracks, booths, zaimki, huts, cordons, summer houses, sands, farms were classified as others. The status of most rural settlements depended on the peculiarities of land use and occupation. For example, the presence of yurts (chums) was determined by the nomadic lifestyle of the population engaged in reindeer husbandry, they were convenient in terms of transferring it across the expanses of the north of Western Siberia. Settlements, as small settlements of the district, were more often found along the banks of rivers and their tributaries, their population led a semi-nomadic or sedentary lifestyle, engaged in hunting, fishing, gathering. In the villages, as a type of peasant rural settlement, according to researchers, a settled population lived, whereas in many villages there were already churches and they performed not only confessional functions, but also acted as economic and administrative centers, it was here that small commercial and commercial enterprises prevailed (fishing sands, hunting associations, consumer and fishing cooperatives).

Table 2

The typical structure of the settlement network of the Ostyako-Vogul National District according to the All-Union Census of 1939 [comp. us by: 24, l. 2-30]

· the least common ones entered, but represented in the settlement network (base, barrack, booth, zaimka, hut, cordon, letnik, sand, farm).

One of the important characteristics indicating the degree of development of the settlement network of the studied national district is the size of the settlements located on its territory. As a rule, the value is determined by the number of residents living in a particular point.

Table 3

The number of settlements of the most common types and the number of the population living in them in the Ostyako-Vogul National District (1939) [comp. us by: 24, L 2-30]

The data in Table 3 show that the largest number in the Ostyako-Vogul district in quantitative terms were yurts (531), especially in Berezovsky (109) and Surgut (258) districts, at the same time, in total, the number of the population living here yurts were in third place (18609 people), and on average one the locality accounted for 35 people . The yurts of the Mikoyan district were the most numerous (6713 people).

In the villages, as a type of settlement located in second place, there were 17,724 people of both sexes, which averaged 85 people per village. The largest number of villages, including in terms of population (6,787 people), accounted for the Kondinsky district. The number of settlements in the district was fifty-one, 24,602 people lived here, or an average of 482 people per village. The largest number of them was in the Samarovsky district (13), at the same time the most populous was the working village of Ostyako-Vogulsk, where 7,455 people lived. And finally, the least common type of settlement in the district was the village, the average number of inhabitants of which was 892 people. In quantitative terms, rural settlements – villages were the most numerous in terms of the number of residents – 27654 people. The largest number of rural residents – 8598 people were recorded in the villages of the Samarovsky district.

ConclusionThus, the features of the development of the settlement network of the Ostyako-Vogul National District in the 1930s were as follows:

- firstly, the status of most settlements depended on the peculiarities of land use and occupation of its population. The economic activity of the inhabitants of the district was closely connected with the natural conditions, which made it possible to create its own distinctive settlement network with the predominance of rural settlements over urban ones. A certain factor that influenced the formation and development of a specific network of settlements was the residence along with the Russian population of the indigenous small–numbered peoples of the North of Western Siberia - the Khanty and Mansi.

- secondly, the typology of rural settlements consisted in the predominance of yurts, villages, towns and villages. Moreover, if yurts in quantitative terms prevailed over villages in the Ostyako-Vogul district, then villages prevailed in terms of the number of people living in settlements. On average, there were 35 people per yurt, and 892 people per village.

- thirdly, the presence and predominance of a particular type of settlement in a particular district of the district depended on the population and its occupation: for example, the presence of the majority of yurts (chums) in the Berezovsky and Surgut districts was dictated by the nomadic lifestyle of the population engaged in reindeer husbandry.

- Fourth, it was typical for the district to have one urban settlement in the form of the working settlement of Ostyako-Vogulsk, which was considered a district center with a population of 7,455 people and performed administrative functions.

Thus, we have established that small settlements predominated in the Ostyako-Vogul district.

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