Colonists (immigrants in Tsar Russia)

Subject / Ethnic culture
Colonists are a class group existed in the 18th - the early 20th century. Catherine II promulgated manifestoes (dated 4 December 1762 and 22 July 1763) allowed to foreigners to settle in Russia for rapid settlement of lands and development of bowels of the earth. The settlers were given allotments and some benefits including loans from the Exchequer, exemption from military service and taxes (for the period from 10 to 30 years depending on the place of settlement), guaranteed the freedom of religion etc. There were mainly immigrants from German states (see Germans) among the Colonists. In 1765-66 on the territory of the present S.Petersburg (Srednerogatskaya, Izhorskaya / Kolpinskaya) and on the territory of the Leningrad Oblast colonies arised: near S.Petersburg there was Novosaratovskaya colony; near Yamburg (Kingisepp) on the Luga River there were Lutskaya, Porkhovskaya, Frankfurtskaya colonies (the population is Catholics from Pfalz). In 1809 the colonies arised near Izvara (Bolshaya, Srednyaya, Nizhnyaya), but in 1811 after disturbances among the Colonists, which were dissatisfied with the conditions of their accommodation, they were settled apart (some Colonists were sent to the Yekaterinoslavskaya gubernia, some to Strel'na, 11 families to Kipen). In comparison with gubernias of Povolzh'ye and the South of Russia the number of Colonists in the Saint Petersburg Gubernia was small (in 1856 there were 1744 colonists - houseowners). Since the middle of the 19th century resettlement of the Colonists to the new places was taking place as the number of the population of the colonies was increasing. Some new colonies were within the present S.Petersburg; on the territory of the present Leningrad Oblast they were arised in Ovtsyno (founded in the 1830s), Yanino (1853), Priyutino (1856), Kovalyovo (1860), near Murino Village (1889 or 1895). The life of the Colonists was regulated with "The Instructions for Internal Regulations and Control in the Colonies of Saint Petersburg" (1803), and since 1871 with "The Regulations about Settling Down the Settlers-Owners Placed for Living on the State Lands in Gubernias". According to "Pravila" ("The Regulations") foreign settlers-owners were given under the authority of the general gubernia, uyezd and local institutions for peasant affairs, performed zemstvo obligations and other service, paid taxes. There were public dues: for keeping colonists' administration, colleges, the priesthood. After 1917 some Germans-colonists emigrated, some suffered during the collectivization, the repressions of the 1930s, the others were deported in 1942 (see Ethnic Deportation). Chistyakov, Anton Yuryevich
Catherine II, Empress
Leningrad Oblast, the/Lomonosov District/Kipen Village
Leningrad Oblast, the/Vsevolozhsk District/Kovalevo Settlement
Topographical landmarks/Luga River, the
Leningrad Oblast, the/Vsevolozhsk District/Murino Settlement
Leningrad Oblast, the/Vsevolozhsk District/Novosaratovka Village
Leningrad Oblast, the/Vsevolozhsk District/Ovtsyno Village
Leningrad Oblast, the/Vsevolozhsk District/Vsevolozhsk Town/Priyutino Settlement
Historical Toponyms/Yamburg Town
Historical Toponyms/Yanino, Village
Шрадер Т.А. Правовая и культурная адаптация немецких колонистов в Петербургской губернии в пореформенное время // Петербург и губерния. Л., 1989., 132-139
Найдич Л.Э. Быт и образ жизни немецких колонистов под Петербургом // Немцы в России. Люди и судьбы. СПб., 1998., 101-107
Бахмутская Е.В. Образование немецких колоний в Санкт-Петербургской губернии (вторая половина XVIII – начало ХХ в.) // Немцы в России. Петербургские немцы. СПб., 1999., 233-244
Сысоева Н. Немецкая колония Овцыно: Прошлое и настоящее // Немцы в С.-Петербурге (XVIII–XX века): Биографический аспект. СПб., 2005. Вып. 3., 289-308
Ethnic deportations
Frankfurt colony (Immigrant settlement)
Germen
Lutsk colony (Immigrant settlement)
Novosaratovka, a settlement of Germen-colonists
Porkhov colony (Immigrant settlement)