About a new approach to studying the space of local commodity markets of the Russian empire of the second half of the XIX century (on the materials of the Tula province)

Bilenko N.

The article is devoted to the analysis of the results of using a new approach to studying the boundaries and spatial organization of local commodity markets of the Russian Empire in the second half of the 19th century, based on materials from the Tula province. With the help of digital analysis of mass historical sources (documents of fiscal and administrative accounting) - "Journals of general verification of trade and industrial establishments", stable trade relations between manufacturers, traders and consumers are analyzed. As a result of using the new approach, the features of the spatial organization of trade and market relations in the province were established: first, an almost complete coincidence of the administrative and economic boundaries of the province was revealed; secondly, a multi-level system of the local commodity market of the Tula province of the second half of the 19th century was established, which included a set of local markets.

Keywords:all-Russian market, economic space, city, mass historical sources, post-reform Russia.