The economy: villages, serfs and early industry
Farming. About nine in ten people lived in villages. Landlords held the land, and serfs worked it. A serf paid in one of two ways: barshchina (days of free labour on the landlord's fields) or obrok (a money or goods rent, often earned by trade or work in the town). Landlords could sell serfs with the land and punish them.
Industry. The Urals became the centre of iron and copper making. Rich owners such as the Demidov family ran large works, using peasants assigned to them who could not leave. Some cloth, glass and leather workshops also grew near the capital.
Trade and money. In 1753 under Elizabeth, the internal customs duties were abolished, so goods did not pay toll at every region boundary. In 1754 banks that lent to nobles and merchants began. Big fairs, such as at Makaryev on the Volga, were busy trade places. Growth was real but depended on unfree labour.
Academy of Sciences and Moscow University
The Academy of Sciences opened in St Petersburg in 1725. At first most scholars came from abroad, such as the mathematician Euler. They taught and also trained Russians. The Academy ran a library, an observatory, workshops and a printing house.
Moscow University was founded in 1755, with the help of Lomonosov and the courtier Ivan Shuvalov, under Elizabeth. It was the first university in Russia, with a gymnasium (school) attached. It taught law, medicine and philosophy and trained officials, doctors and teachers.
Culture grew too: the architect Rastrelli built grand Baroque palaces (Winter Palace, Smolny), and in 1756 the first permanent public theatre of Russia opened. All this reached mainly the nobles and townspeople.
Mikhail Lomonosov (1711 to 1765)
Lomonosov was born in a fishing family in the far north. At 19 he left his village for Moscow, joining a fish convoy, to study. He learned Latin, then studied in Germany, and became a professor at the Academy in St Petersburg.
Science. He ran chemistry experiments and stated that in a chemical change the total amount of matter does not change: the law of conservation of matter. In 1761 he saw an atmosphere around the planet Venus while it crossed the Sun.
Language and arts. He wrote a Russian grammar (1755), odes in verse and made coloured glass mosaics. Because he knew science, poetry and teaching, people call him a many-sided scholar. He died in 1765, and the university later took his name.
Key formulas and definitions
- Barshchina: serf pays by days of unpaid work on the landlord's fields.
- Obrok: serf pays by money or goods rent.
- 1753: internal customs duties abolished.
- 1755: Moscow University founded (first university in Russia).
- 1725: Academy of Sciences opens in St Petersburg.
- Conservation of matter: total mass before a change = total mass after (in a closed system).
Worked examples
1. What is the difference between barshchina and obrok?
Barshchina is work on the landlord's land for some days a week. Obrok is a payment in money or goods. Under obrok a serf could work in a town or trade to earn the rent.
2. Why did abolishing internal customs in 1753 help trade?
Before this, goods paid tolls at many internal boundaries, making them costly and slow. Without them merchants could move grain, iron or cloth across regions more cheaply.
3. A sealed flask with metal weighs 120 g before heating. What will it weigh after heating, still sealed?
About 120 g. The metal combines with the air inside, changes form, but the total mass in the closed flask stays the same, which is Lomonosov's law.
Common mistakes
- Thinking most people lived in towns. About nine in ten were villagers.
- Saying Moscow University opened in 1725. That is the Academy of Sciences; the university is 1755.
- Believing serfs were free workers. They could be sold with the land and could not leave.
- Writing that Lomonosov was a noble. He came from a fishing family and rose by study.