On the Place and Status of Armenian Traders in the Cherkassky Zakubanye and Their Role in Russian-Mountain Relations in the late XVIII – first half of the XIX centuries (according to Documents from the State Archives of the Krasnodar Krai)

Abstract

Based on materials from the State Archives of the Krasnodar Krai on the territory of Trans-Kuban region at the very end of the 18th -first half of the 19th centuries a group of Armenian merchants stands out. It is conditionally divided by us into Armenian slave owners who have used the forced labor of people for many years, Armenian slave traders, who were engaged in the exchange and sale of captives, merchants -manufacturers of retailers involved in the sale of various goods. At the same time, the degree of successful participation of these people in trade operations led to their differentiation among themselves. Among them were those who themselves became prisoners, or were forced to leave the area of their trading activities in connection with the oppression of the local feudal elite or certain ethnic groups (Armenians are refugees). The greatest deprivation was experienced by the Armenians from neighboring regions, who did not have local support (for example, in the form of Kunak ties). However, changes in the political situation made the position of Armenian merchants unstable, if not dangerous. They made the decision to accept Russian citizenship.The most indicative is the activity of a group of Trans-Kuban (and Nakhichevan) Armenians, who can be called "Armenian philanthropists". Their activity is most typical for the 1820s-1840s.a time of growing military tension in the North-West Caucasus, when the local population had to choose with whom they would build their future -with supporters of traditional freedom (including, raids, slave trade, blood feud, etc.), or a peaceful life under the Russian imperial order. Armenian philanthropists, like many of their fellow tribesmen, chose the second path. They nobly sought to alleviate the suffering of their new compatriots, helping to ransom those who had the hard lot of a prisoner-slave.