Pomorje

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Landscape on an island in the White Sea

Pomorje ( Russian Поморье ) is a historical landscape in the north of the European part of Russia . Pomorje means in the Slavic languages about by the sea (cf. Russian more for sea ) and has the same etymology as the name Pomerania . The people living in Pomorje were called pomors .

history

In the 15th to 17th centuries, Pomorje was the name of an administrative unit in northern Russia that covered the vast area from the coasts of the White Sea and Lake Onega through the catchment areas of the Onega , Northern Dvina , Mesen , Pechora , Kama and Vyatka rivers to the Urals extended. Likewise, the term Pomorskije goroda (Russian Поморские города , i.e. Pomorian cities ) was used for the cities of this area.

The indigenous people of Pomorje were Finno-Ugric peoples such as Karelians , Komi and Sami . In the 12th century the colonization of the western part of the area by Russian settlers began. From the 12th to the 15th centuries, Pomorje was a de facto colony of the Novgorod Republic . At the beginning of the 16th century, the annexation of Pomorje to the Grand Duchy of Moscow was completed, it took up about half of the state territory.

In large parts of the area the native population was assimilated by the Russian settlers up to the 17th century. The largest proportion of the population of the 22 Pomoran Ujesde that existed at the time were now Russian free peasants. There were no large estates and serfdom as in central Russia. Part of the land belonged to Russian Orthodox monasteries and the Stroganov merchant dynasty . In addition to agriculture in the southern parts of Pomorje, the population in the northern parts of the area was engaged in fishing, mica mining , iron metallurgy (in Karelia ) and salt extraction ( Solikamsk , Solvytschegodsk , Totma ).

Pomorje was the starting point for early trade on the northern route and the later colonization of Siberia , via ports such as Onega , Pustosersk and later Arkhangelsk . On the other hand, from the 16th century onwards, the mouth of the Northern Dvina, or especially Arkhangelsk, was an important trading center in trade with Western Europe.

Later use of the term

With the division of Russia into governorates in the 18th century, the term Pomorje lost its administrative meaning. However, it has been preserved to this day as a historical landscape designation, especially with reference to the importance of the area and its cities for the history of Russia. Usually it is used more narrowly, for the coastal areas south ( Pomorje coast , Russian Pomorski bereg , between Kem and Onega) and east of the White Sea around the largest and most important city of Pomorje, Arkhangelsk.

literature

  • Pomorskaja ėnciklopedija: Tom 1 Istorija Archangel'skogo Severa . Pomorskij gosudarstvennyj universitet, Arkhangelsk 2001, ISBN 5-88086-147-3 , p. 318

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