The Number and Social Composition of Yekaterinburg Residents According to the 1728 and 1788 Censuses

This article studies the history of the population of Yekaterinburg in the eighteenth century. Despite the large number of works on the history of the city, its inhabitants have rarely been the subject of individual comprehensive studies. For the first time the authors conduct a comparative analysis of two household censuses of Yekaterinburg in 1728 and 1788, the materials of which are stored in the funds of the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts and the State Archive of Sverdlovsk region. The aim of the work is to study the development of the composition and number of the population of Yekaterinburg during the first 65 years of the city’s existence. The methods of the work are quantitative research, study of primary sources, historical and comparative analysis. The comparison of these primary sources helps to identify the main social groups of Yekaterinburg in the 1720s and 1780s. Based on the data obtained, it can be concluded that the main groups of the population in the period in question were craftsmen and workers, military personnel, schoolchildren, clerks, and heads of mining and civil administration. There is a noticeable increase in the number of people engaged in crafts and trades. It is noteworthy that craftsmen, labourers and common soldiers, as well as women and children, gradually appeared among the craftsmen. In the late 1780s, the number of widows, soldiers’ wives and recruits increased. At the same time, groups such as recruits, landless peasants, their children and wives gradually disappeared from the structure of the urban community. The proportion of merchants and townspeople increased. There were many retired artisans, labourers, soldiers and clerks. In addition, many almsmen had registered in the city. All these changes indicate the transitional nature of Yekaterinburg society, which was gradually changing from a mining centre to a city of trade and crafts.