Tatyana Alexandrovna Kiskidosova,
Candidate of Historical Sciences, Khakass Scientific Research Institute of Language, Literature and History, Abakan, Russia, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Confessional and Ethnic Structure of the Population in the Regional Centers of Eastern Siberia in the Second Half of the 19th Century
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2026-1-7
The article considers the confessional and ethnic structure of the population of Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Chita, and Yakutsk in the second half of the 19th century. Krasnoyarsk and Irkutsk were governorate cities; Chita and Yakutsk were regional cities in Eastern Siberia. The confessional and ethnic composition of the urban population is analyzed based on census statistics and reference materials. It is revealed that as the population grew in the cities, there were changes in the confessional and ethnic structure. Despite the fact that the majority of urban residents were Orthodox, the proportion of other religious groups gradually increased. By the end of the 19th century, the ethnic picture of the cities looked diverse due to the influx of representatives of various nationalities. The ethnic group of Russians prevailed in all the cities under consideration. In addition to Russians, other ethnic groups such as Jews, Poles, Tatars, Yakuts, Germans, Buryats, Chinese, etc., harmoniously joined the ethnic structure. In all the governorate and regional centers of Eastern Siberia, ethnic groups interacted and collaborated. The characteristic feature of Yakutsk was that, along with the Russian population, there was a fairly high proportion of Yakuts in it, which affected the lifestyle of other ethnic groups in the city. The article presents the examples when Russians adopted some Yakut customs and traditions. Thus, during the second half of the 19th century, the governorate and regional centers of Eastern Siberia were replenished with representatives of different faiths and nationalities.
Publishing: 28/02/2026
The article has been received by the editor on 19/12/2025
How to cite: Kiskidosova T.A. Confessional and Ethnic Structure of the Population in the Regional Centers of Eastern Siberia in the Second Half of the 19th Century // Historical Courier, 2026, No. 1 (45), pp. 83−100. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2026/ISTKURIER-2026-1-07.pdf]
Links: Issue 1 2026
Keywords: Eastern Siberia; urban population; religious and ethnic composition; ethnocultural interaction; First General Census of 1897