The old believers of Altai in the context of discriminatory confessional policies of the Russian imperial power of the XVIII century

Abstract

The article discusses the process of settlement and economic development of the foothill territory of Altai by freedom-loving Russian Old Believer peasants, who were subjected to severe persecution by state and church imperial authorities. The main reason for the exodus of Orthodox traditionalism from the European part of the country, that is, the Old Believers to the southeast, was, as the authors note, government discrimination. This kind of state-confessional policy provoked reciprocal resistance, reaching even extreme forms of social protest — group self-immolations, or the so-called "burns". However, the most common option for counteracting Old Believers repressive state policy was mainly to flee to remote mountainous areas, which contributed to the economic and cultural development of uninhabited territories. As a result, by the concentration of the Old Believer population, Altai already by the end of the 18th century. occupied one of the first places in Russia. The authors note the special value of the human capital of this group of the Russian population, which possessed all the necessary qualities for the spontaneous colonization of the transboundary space of southern Siberia.