Pale of Settlement
More active discriminatory policies began with the partition of Poland in the 18th century, which resulted, for the first time in Russian history, in the possession of land with a large population of Jews. This land was designated as the Pale of Settlement from which Jews were forbidden to migrate into the interior of Russia. In 1772, Catherine II forced the Jews of the Pale of Settlement to stay in their shtetls and forbade them from returning to the towns that they occupied before the partition of Poland. The Pale of Settlement was officialized in 1791 with the purpose of ridding Moscow of Jews. Its borders were finalized in 1812 with the annexation of Bessarabia.