Minina Natalia A.,
State Novosibirsk Historical Museum, Novosibirsk, Russia, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Evolution of Land Lease Relations Between Novonikolaevsk and the Emperor’s Cabinet: to the History of Urbogenesis of a New Siberian City in the Late 19th and early 20th century
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2018-2-5
The article examines the history of land lease in Novonikolaevsk. The land under the town of Novonikolayevsk was the property of the royal family, administered by the Cabinet of His Majesty the Emperor (Emperor’s Cabinet). The study is based on a wide range of sources, which allowed to give a comprehensive characteristic of the Cabinet’s land lease system in Novonikolaevsk: to classify the types of lease depending on the tenant’s activities on the land; to determine the conditions for leasing stated by the Cabinet; to analyze the change in rent rates during the entire period of land lease relations; and also to determine the period when the lease existed. The study provides quantitative data on rent rates – both for residential and commercial sections. It is shown that relations between the Cabinet and Novonikolaevsk have been poorly studied and, as a consequence, there are some wrong judgments, concerning for example the “illegality” of the settlement in its early years when it had no “official status”. The Soviet historiography tended to be extremely negative about the Cabinet’s landownership in Novonikolaevsk. In the post-soviet period, no new sources on this topic were introduced; therefore, the conclusions of Soviet historians remained until nowadays in the form of dogmas. In fact the establishment of land lease in the settlement legitimized automatically the latter’s existence on the lands of the Cabinet. During the first decade, the land lease relations between the village and the Cabinet were the key factor determining both the administrative status of the Novonikolaevsk settlement and its economic development. Establishing the land lease relationships was, in fact, a temporary measure of the Cabinet, objectively caused by the youthful stage and the rapid development of the settlement, which was incapable at the first stage of its formation to run self-administration. On the other hand, the land lease presented the obvious commercial interest for the Cabinet. Due to the commercialization of the Cabinet’s landholding, the rent rates were growing in Novonikolaevsk, but not as rapid as it is stated in historiography. To confirm this thesis, data is given concerning the increase in rent rates. An attempt was made to evaluate the effectiveness of land lease relations in the first decade of their establishment. Evolution of the Cabinet’s rental policy included several stages from the introduction of land lease to the decision of its complete liquidation as a result of the purchase of Cabinet’s lands by Novonikolaevsk.
Publishing: 19/12/2018
How to cite: Minina N.A. Evolution of Land Lease Relations Between Novonikolaevsk and the Emperor’s Cabinet: to the History of Urbogenesis of a New Siberian City in the Late 19th and early 20th Century // Historical Courier, 2018, # 2. Article 5. [Available online:] http://istkurier.ru/data/2018/ISTKURIER-2018-2-05.pdf
Links: Issue 2 2018
Keywords: the Cabinet of His Imperial Majesty; Cabinet’s landownership; land lease; bailout