The Role of the Nobility in the Development of the Volga-Caspian Fishing Region (60s of the 18th century – 60s of the 19th centuries)

In this article the authors are analyzes the noble period of development of the Volga-Caspian fishing region, which lasted about 100 years: from the time of general land surveying in the Russian Empire in the 1760s to the Great Reforms in the 1860s.In the middle of the 18 th century, the government tried quickly to bring under the Volga-Caspian region, with the help of the economically active population.The government was interested in the development of the region's fish resources as an alternative source of food, which was important for a northern country with climate-risky agriculture.The possibilities of free migration were limited under conditions of the serfdom and the absence of a free labor market in the country.Therefore, the government policy of developing this territory shifted towards the nobility.Noble migration was an effective tool for settling new territories in the Russian Empire in the 18 th -19 th centuries.The government sold land at preferential prices to nobles, who brought serfs from the central regions to their new estates.However, this scheme did not work in the Volga-Caspian fishing region.The arid climate was not conducive to profitable farming, so the nobility bought fishing waters.The nobles were able to oust the merchants and other free classes from the fishing industry at the end of the 18 th century.The authors come to concludes that the noble monopoly on fishing industry had a detrimental effect for the development and settlement of the region.