Historical Geography Journal ISSN 2782-6511 (Print) | ISSN 3034-5286 (Online)

Yulia V. Stepanova
Candidate of Historical Sciences, Institute of World History, Russian Academy of Sciences (Russia, Moscow)
ORCID: 0000-0002-3717-1589
E-mail: m000142@mail.ru

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UDC 94(470.331)«14/16»:913
DOI: 10.58529/2782-6511-2025-4-4-8-21

ABSTRACT. The article discusses the results of the use of geographic information technologies in the study of the historical geography of the Upper Volga and Upper Western Dvina area of the late 15th — first half of the 17th century. The study included the development of the layers of historical GIS of the uezds of Tver’, Toropets, Rzheva Volodimerova, Torzhok, Belaya and the Tver’ half of Bezhetskaya pyatina, which are combined in a web-based GIS posted on the NEXTGIS. The main sources are the cadastral books. The localization of the toponymy of the 15th–17th centuries made using the sources of the 18th–19th centuries. The result of the use of GIS technologies in historical and geographical research, in addition to web-GIS, which is of applied importance, is the characteristic of the territorial-administrative and settlement structure of the region, which has both all-Russian and local features. As a result of the continuous localization of toponyms, the borders of volost’s, stans, pogosts and other territorial associations were determined, the boundaries of uezds were clarified. Among the local features are the specific types of territorial organization, including those inherited from the pre-Moscow period (perevara, owner volost’s, desyatsk), preserved in the 16th–17th centuries in the Upper Western Dvina and on the southeastern periphery of Novgorod land. The dispersed settlement system was characteristic of the Upper Volga region, while in Podvinye a cluster settlement system was revealed in 16th century. The different ways of joining the Russian state led to the peculiarities of the formation of land ownership in the studied areas. Archaic features are also preserved here (in the land ownership in the Mikulinsky stan-uezd). An idea was obtained about the location of land ownership of Novgorod boyars and monasteries in Bezhetsk pyatina on the eve of the accession of Novgorod to the Moscow Grand Duchy. It is planned to supplement web GIS with layers for the uezds of Staritsa and Zubtsov.

KEYWORDS: historical geography, geographic information system, cadastral books, toponymy, settlement, territorial structure, 15th–17th centuries

For citation: Stepanova Yu. V. [Geographic Information Resources on the Historical Geography of the Upper Volga and Upper Western Dvina of the 15th–17th Centuries: Results and Prospects]. Istoriko-geograficheskiy zhurnal [Historical Geography Journal], 2025, vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 8–21. DOI: 10.58529/2782-6511-2025-4-4-8-21 (In Russian).

Received 7 July 2025
Accepted 15 October 2025

© 2025 The Author

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