PROVINCIAL ENTREPRENEURS OF A NEW ERA (on the Materials of the Voronezh Uyezd in the 17th Century)
The article analyzes archival and previously published materials of the Voronezh Uyezd to investigate the history of provincial entrepreneurship in Southern Russia in the 17th century. The author analyzes the practices of Voronezh entrepreneurs and assesses their personal qualities. The author focuses attention on those entrepreneurs who took lease of uninhabited regions, the so called taxed estates which belonged to municipality and were annually leased for fishing, honey-gathering, and fur-trading purposes. The Voronezh customs books of the aforementioned period mention leaseholders rather frequently. However, it is clear that by the end of the 17th century the number of lands rich in fish and game gradually decreased to finally become negligible. Leaseholders registered cartfuls of fish, fur, and wild honey. They traveled to the Don River to buy salt from the Don Cossacks. The author seeks to uncover the principles of land leasing, the social portrait of leaseholders, the terms of the lease, and entrepreneurial practices of Voronezh leaseholders. The analysis of the Voronezh customs books enables the author to identify the names of prominent entrepreneurs who connected their lives with trading activities and infrequently focused on some particular goods. The author also treats leasehold disputes and the ways of their regulation, which infrequently required authoritative intervention.