Tobolsk and Irbit Fair in 18th Сentury

Abstract

The process of developing economic relations between Irbit and Tobolsk in the 18th century is discussed in the article. The authors come to the conclusion that the mutual trade interests realized at the Irbit Fair played a system-forming role in the process of folding and strengthening the administrative and social ties between these settlements. The process of formation of trade relations has been studied in detail. Its main content was a long way from competition to mutually beneficial cooperation between cities. An analysis of the decrees of the Tobolsk Ecclesiastical Consistory of the 18th century, as well as the generalization and systematization of the results of a study in the field of the fair trading development on the territory of the Irbit settlement and the Tobolsk province in the middle of the 17^th — 18^th centuries, made it possible to determine the influence of the Ural shopping center on the economy of the ancient capital of Siberia. The most common goods of the Siberian merchants sold at the Irbit Fair in the 18^th century have been identified. In the course of studying the reporting and financial documentation and office materials, it was concluded that church goods and red wine were in special demand, which were later purchased for the Tobolsk clergy in large quantities on the basis of a collective order from different settlements of the Tobolsk province. It is noted that during the period under review, the Tobolsk province provided administrative assistance to the Irbitskaya Sloboda in matters of ensuring “peace” at the fair. The authors of the article show that an important result of the close mutually beneficial cooperation between the Irbitskaya Sloboda and the Tobolsk province was the development of economic ties both within the Russian Empire and beyond its borders.