ETHNO-SOCIALFEATURESOFTHEECONOMY OF THE SOUTHERN URAL SERVICE MISHARS IN THE 17TH–19THCENTURIES
Authors:   Institute of Ethnological Studies,Ufa Federal Research Center, Russian Academy of Sciences, Kilmamatov R. R. , Shayahmetov F. F. ,   Bashkir State Universit
Published: June 2022

Thearticle attempts to analyze the main directions and specifics of economic activitiesof the South Ural service Mishars (meshcheryaks) in the 17th–19thcenturies, who appeared in the region alongwith other service people aimed atprotectingthe fortresses of the region. The relevance of the topic is determined both by the practical absence of such works on the Mishars of the southern Urals in Russianand foreign historiography, and by the importance of studying the economy of the service class, which combined military service with economic activities. The authors analyze the relationsbetween military service and economic activitiesof Mishars, and conditions and opportunities for farming in different periods of the studied time. Attention ispaid to the analysis of theproblem during the period of the cantonal administration in the region, when the machine of the military-bureaucratic system, brought to auni-versal state, not only regulated the conditions of military service, but also directly managed the economy of the Mis-har class. The authors statethat the service Mishars,living in the places ofexodus in the middle Volga regionandhaving moved to the southern Urals, remained within the borders of the Volga-Ural historical-ethnographic region, where,for many centuries,there was a close interaction between the peoples of the Middle Volga and Southern Urals.Nevertheless, as a result of the migration of Mishars to another territory, they were waiting for a new socio-economic reality, a slightly different natural and geographical environment than in the places of exodus, as well as the specifics of the existing ethnic environment, which led to the formation of various options for their economic activities.In the Southern Urals,Mishars, having successfully retained their previous skills, acquired some new fea-tures of economic activitiesthat distinguish them from the Mishars living in the Middle Volga region. The academicnovelty of thestudy liesin a comprehensive study of the economic activities of the Mishars of the southern Urals in the period of the 17th–19thcenturies, closely related to their presence in the military service class, interethnic interac-tion with the living peoples of the region and, above all, their colleagues and neighbors–the indigenous inhabitants of the region –the Bashkirs.At present, the ethnic group of the Mishars of the southern Urals is the least studied eth-nic community in the region, although it has been formed on this territory for centuries. The main methodological principle of the research is the principle of historicism, which involves the study of the economic activitiesof the South Ural military officials as a process of formation and development in close connection with the natural geo-graphical environment, and the dynamics of socio-economicandsocio-political relations in the region.The article uses archival and published sources, as well as data from ethnographic research of scientists of the 18th–21stcentu-ries