«РУССКИЙ СЕВЕР»: КУЛЬТУРНЫЕ ГРАНИЦЫ И КУЛЬТУРНЫЕ СМЫСЛЫ

• Main Authors: Шабаев, Юрий, Жеребцов, Игорь, Журавлев, Павел
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Федеральное государственное автономное образовательное учреждение высшего профессионального образования «Национальный исследовательский университет «Высшая школа экономики» 2012
• Subjects: "РУССКИЙ СЕВЕР"; ТОПОНИМ; ИДЕНТИЧНОСТЬ; ЭТНИЧНОСТЬ; КОРЕННЫЕ НАРОДЫ; White Sea; Arkhangelsk; dvina; karelia*; karelian; Russian North
• Online Access: http://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/russkiy-sever-kulturnye-granitsy-i-kulturnye-smysly; http://cyberleninka.ru/article_covers/15690632.png

Применительно к европейскому Северу России исследователи часто используют определение «Русский Север». В полной мере его нельзя считать ни географическим названием, ни топонимом, ибо используется данный термин в последние десятилетия в фольклорно-этнографическом смысле для обозначения историко-культурной провинции, которая не имеет ни четких границ, ни населения, которое являлось бы гомогенным в культурном отношении. Появление самого термина обусловлено политическими и культурными обстоятельствами, а смысл, вкладываемый в него, менялся в зависимости от принципов этнополитики, исповедуемых российскими властями. In the literature on culture and history the European North of Russia is usually referred to as 'the Russian North'. It is implied that this region represents a kind of a historically and culturally homogenous territory inhabited by ethnically common population. Moreover, the researchers also interpret the above-mentioned toponym as quite natural, having deep genetic ties with previous ages and previous inhabitants. Meanwhile, historical facts show, that cultural structure of its population was never homogeneous and the region itself has never represented neither cultural, administrative-territorial, nor economic integrity. The names of the region and its population during ages have been changing as well as its role in economic and cultural life of the country. In the early history the territory of the European North of Russia (the given geographical concept is in many ways synonymous with the concept of 'the Russian North') was not an exclusively Russian region. In Scandinavian annalistic tradition it was called 'Biarmija' (Bjarmaland) the land of the Biarms, and there's been no consensus about its borders and ethnic affiliation. On the other hand, in Russian annalistic tradition the above mentioned territories have been rather definitely characterized as the territories paying tribute to Novgorod the Great. The citizens of Novgorod called the northern territories 'Zavolchje' and its population 'Chud zavolochskaya', which points to the fact that they were Finns. The Slavic colonization of 'the Russian North' has lead to a major change in perceptions of the territory and the character of its cultural marking. The colonization has started in the XI century and was rather ambitious. The processes of cultural integration of the mentioned territory were quite intensive, which is proved by the use of the general name of the territory in the 'Novgorod era'. The first notion of the common geographical term 'Pomorje' has been found in the charter of a Novgorod merchant dating as far back as in 1495 (the name of 'Pomors' was found in the Novgorod quarter Chronicles of 1526). It took several centuries for the northern territories of Zavolchje to come into possession of Novgorod and consequently of the Moscow state. But it has caused not only the change of its name and the character of vassalage. The culture of the territory and its ethnic affiliation have also fundamentally changed. The names of Chud, Ves, Dvinjane and other ethnic and territorial determinants have been replaced by 'Pomors' and 'Pomorjane', i.e. a new community with general name, which, however, had an ethnic implication. The generalized name of 'Pomors', which is commonly found in the Novgorod documents, was rather a collective name of the population of a larger region. The cultural integration of the 'European North' has started later and in this respect two historical events are of great importance. The first one is that English merchants discovered for themselves the Northern Moscovia, which has lead to a trade agreement between the Russian and the English. The agreement was signed under the rule of Ivan the IV, which means that the European North was not anymore a distant part of the territories belonging to the Moscow tsar and began to be perceived as a northern border of the Russian state and also the 'window' to Moscovia. The second event is related to the foundation of the city of Arkhangelsk in the mouth of the Northern Dvina in 1551 making it an important commercial port of the state. The city was important not only for foreign trade, but also for the creation of regional market and the strengthening of internal affairs. It was Arkhangelsk that the Dvinjane, the Mezents, the Pinezhane, the inhabitants of the Karelian and other shores of the White Sea have brought their fish and the products of hunting to. All of its merchants were also called Pomors and this is how the Pomor identity has emerged, because this regional center has become of major importance t