The Panikovets village of Yelets district: socio-demographic development of the local territory in the 17th century

Introduction. The article is devoted to the history of the local territory of the village of Panikovets, Yelets district in the 17th century. The authors analyze the demographic processes and economic development of this region. The article is written from the standpoint of a microhistorical approach. Materials and methods. The specificity of the development of the local society in the regional context of the colonization ofthe Upper Don has been studied in detail. Several observations have been made about the features of the development of the marginal lands of the South of Russia. The main sources of the study were mass historical documents related to the history of the development of local service land ownership: scribe and census books of 1615, 1628/30, 1646, 1678 and 1691, as well as materials of military reviews of landowners in 1604, 1622 and 1648. Results.The authors conclude that the demographic development of the village wasnot stable, and the plowing of land also slightly increased. It is concluded that before the beginning of the XVIII century. full economic development of the territory did not occur. The main task for the locals was to stay on the new lands in the face of constant hostilities. Only the new century became the time of fullfledged economic development of the village and the territory as a whole. Despite the fact that the village of Panikovets was located in a relatively good place, the economic and demographic development of its local territory was insignificant. Conclusion. Despite the fact that the village of Panikovets was located in a relatively convenient place, the economic and demographic development of its territory did not achieve great success. It has been established that for 100 years the composition of the villagers has changed by 90%. New settlers often had to start economic activities from the beginning. These circumstances significantly delayed the colonization of the region. The authors believe that there were many examples of such development of individual lorcal territories. They testify to the difficulties of the region's development.