Auseichyk U. Old Believers of Northern Belarus in the Middle of the 19th century: Settlement and Number

U. Auseichyk
Euphrosyne Polotskaya State University of Polotsk
Novopolotsk, Republic of Belarus
ORCID: 0000-0002-6433-0039
E-mail: u.auseichyk@psu.by

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ABSTRACT. Northern Belarus is one of the largest regions of compact residence of Russian Old Believers on the territory of the country. The process of Old Believers’ resettlement to this region began in the second half of the XVII century. The process of Old Believers’ resettlement to this region began in the second half of the XVII century. As a result, a unique ethnoconfessional community was formed on these lands over a period of more than three hundred years. Chronologically, the first comprehensive statistical-demographic data on Old Believers in the region date back only to the middle of the XIX century. On the basis of statistical materials (archival and published) the article considers the peculiarities of the Old Believers’ population distribution in the northern Belarus in the middle of the XIX century. The main habitats are revealed, the dynamics of Old Believers’ number and resettlement is traced (both in the whole region and in some administrative units). The research showed that in the middle of the XIX century a significant number of Russian Old Believers lived in the northern part of Belarus. Two zones of compact Old Believers’ settlement were distinguished within the boundaries of the region. One of them was located in its western part (the main massif of settlements was concentrated in the territory of the modern Braslav, Miory, Sharkovshchina, Postavy and Glubokoe districts of the Vitebsk region and passed to the Lithuanian and Latvian lands; to the south there were small areas on the territory of the Ostrovets and Oshmyany districts of the Grodno region, Myadel and Volozhin districts of the Minsk region). The second zone covered north-eastern Belarus (the main part of the Old Believers settlements were located in the territory of the modern Polotsk, Vitebsk, Shumilino, Beshankovichi and Chashniki districts of the Vitebsk region, and the Borisov district of the Minsk region).

KEYWORDS: Old Believers, northern Belarus, settlement areas, demography, population

DOI 10.31250/2618-860 0-2024-1(23)-169-188
UDC 392:273.2(476.5)

REFERENCES

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