The Number of Service People and Cossacks During the Development of Northeast Asia in the 17th – Early 20th Centuries

Abstract

The article analyses the numerical composition of service people and Cossacks who served in various towns of Northeast Asia during the 17th – early 20th centuries. This allows us to evaluate the measures taken by the Moscow government and the administration of the Yakut Region, as well as governors and atamans of the Cossack regiment to regulate the number of service people and Cossacks depending on the priority tasks of the feudal state in the area: annexation of territory, implementation of yasak policy, police supervision over the exiles, and economic development of the region. The article demonstrates that the most important factor in the formation of special units consisting of Yakut Cossacks was the Russians’ advancement in the 1630–1650s in the mouths of Arctic rivers flowing into the Arctic Ocean, as well as in the Sea of Okhotsk and the coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula. Using archival sources, the author traces the manpower dynamics of each of the 5 teams that were part of the Yakut town Cossack regiment of foot. Further, the paper turns to government regulations, stipulating the composition, number and service characteristics of Cossack sotnias in the locations of teams, Cossack fortifications, posts and crossing points. According to the author, the erosion of class barriers of the closed Cossack class in the region began in the second half of the 18th century, when, due to the chronic understaffing of Cossack sotnias, it was allowed to recruit representatives of any class, including newly baptized local inhabitants who could speak Russian. Contrary to the generally accepted opinion, the author proves that the Okhotsk and Kamchatka teams continued to recruit Yakut Cossacks up to the early 20th century.