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The article studies the history of the formation of the Old Believers in two regions of the Far East bordering on each other – Yakutia and the Amur Region. Based on a comparative analysis, the authors study the causes and process of resettlement of the Old Believers in the context of migration policy. The historiographical review made it possible to identify the common features and identify the distinctive features of this process. Despite the fact that the incorporation of the above-mentioned regions into the Russian state occurred with a difference of two centuries, the mass appearance of the Old Believers here was laid in the middle of the 19th century, and it was connected with the activities of N.N. Muraviev. According to the authors, the resettlement of the Old Believers, although it was voluntary, was partly latent-compulsory. If the appearance of the Old Believers in Yakutia was associated with the necessary maintenance of the Yakut-Ayan tract at that time, then the settlers – Old Believers who moved to the Amur region – had to solve problems of an all-Russian scale. These priority tasks of the government allowed the Old Believers of Yakutia, on the occasion of the closure of the postal route, to join the large-scale migration processes that took place in the neighboring Amur Region and other territories acquired by the Russian Far East.

Keywords: Yakutia, Amur region, incorporation, Old Believers, migration, settlers, Ayan tract

DOI: 10.22250/20728662_2022_3_104

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About the authors

Victoria S. Matyushchenko – PhD (Philosophy), Associate Professor at the Department of Philosophy, History of the Fatherland and Foreign Languages; Amur State Medical Academy; 95 Gorky str., Blagoveshchensk, 675006, Russia; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Rozalia A. Yakusheva  – Senior Lecturer at the Department of the Humanities, SocioEconomic and Legal Disciplines, Mirny Polytechnic Institute (branch) of North-Eastern Federal University n.a. M.K. Ammosov; 5/1 Tihonova str, Mirny, 678170, Russia; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.