Throughout its development, every territory is influenced by a multitude of factors that define its historical character. In geography, these are conventionally divided into three groups:
a) natural-geographical (natural conditions and resources that determine the pattern of settlement and economic specialization of a territory);
b) socio-geographical (conditions of the economic, social, and political environment in which the territory develops, as well as the technological level of social production);
c) positional (conditions of a territory’s location which, depending on the historical context, functionally link the first two groups together).
The significance these factors hold for territories at different historical stages is unequal and may change over time.
For example, natural-geographical conditions, which traditionally serve as the basis for the development of any place, gradually cede their leading role to socio-geographical conditions as society develops and the technology for transforming natural resources and landscapes improves. The role of a region among others begins to be determined not so much by the wealth of its subsoil, but rather by the level and pace of development of the local community and its position in the territorial division of labor.
The latter, in turn, are closely linked to the properties of the economic-geographical position (hereinafter EGP) of the region. The possibilities of territorial development have always been determined by proximity to places of concentration of economic resources and markets, and simultaneously by remoteness from sources of force majeure influence (hazardous natural zones, centers of military conflicts, etc.). This is precisely why a region can only become successful if it finds itself at its territorial optimum, i.e., possesses the best location in the natural-geographical and socio-geographical environment, or in other words, the best positional properties.
The example of Smolensk region [1] is one of the most vivid and illustrative cases of this kind.
Throughout its history, this territory has passed through several types of geographical position, which defined its historical character and, in retrospect, formed a logical cycle:
…– inter-areal – border – peri-
pheral – border – …
At the same time, each period during which the territory had a corresponding positional status includes several stages — historical intervals for which regular tendencies of social, economic, and political processes, conditioned by the peculiarities of its geographical position, are established on the territory. They can be briefly characterized as follows.
Period of Inter-Areal Position
Stage 1. Primary Settlement of the Territory (until the 9th century).
One of the properties of the natural-geographical position of the territory that determined the course of development of the future Smolensk lands is the fact that, orographically, it represents the most elevated section of the East European Plain.
This accounts for the predominance of highlands here, which serve as watershed spaces, on which a compact area of intersection of three river systems is located — the Volga, Western Dvina, and Dnieper (Caspian, Baltic, and Black Sea basins). Thus, the future Smolensk region is where several watersheds converge and the peripheral sections of three major river basins of the European part of the country interweave.
In this connection, as the areas of tribes of the Slavic, Baltic, and Finno-Ugric groups expanded and in accordance with the patterns of their settlement process, which was predominantly carried out along the river network, the zone where river systems meet becomes a place of ethnic integration and consolidation. Under the influence of mixing and assimilation of Baltic and Finno-Ugric peoples by East Slavic tribes, and with the emergence of the center of the Krivichi tribal union — Smolensk (mid-9th century), in the first stage of its development the territory established its function as an inter-ethnic contact zone.
Stage 2. Smolensk Lands as Part of Kievan Rus (late 9th – mid-12th centuries).
The dominant position of the capital of the powerful Slavic Krivichi union stimulated centripetal processes that united significant territories around it. As Smolensk strengthened and established connections with neighboring Kyiv and Novgorod political centers, the Smolensk region became one of the key territories of the Old Russian world, and subsequently of Kievan Rus. The inter-areal political-geographical position predetermined the function of the Smolensk region as a connecting link of the Old Russian state at the boundary of influence of the Novgorod and Kyiv centers in the Dnieper region.
Thanks to its advantageous central market-geographical position between the areas of the largest markets of its era (Mediterranean, Baltic, and Near Eastern), the Smolensk region also became a region where important transshipment points of trade routes were located. The transport-geographical position of the Smolensk region at the intersection of transit arteries of the “Old Russian world” established the territory’s function of infrastructural support for foreign trade activities (construction and maintenance of transport routes — portages, building of trade vessels, land transport vehicles, maintenance of fortified customs points, protection of communication routes and escorting of goods during navigation, during the movement of trade flows).
At this stage of history, the Smolensk region experienced the highest peak of its development as a politically and economically independent region — a subject of interstate and interregional relations, but it proved to be short-lived.
Stage 3. The Smolensk Principality (mid-13th – early 15th centuries).
Under the conditions of military aggression by Tatar hordes and political feuds within the Old Russian state in the 13th century, the fall of the Kyiv and Vladimir political centers and the emergence of the Moscow and Vilnius centers contributed to a cardinal change in the political-geographical position of the Smolensk region.
Due to the loss of its territorial integrity and political independence, it lost its functions as a nodal center of the Dnieper region and found itself squeezed between the growing Lithuanian and Muscovite states, serving as a buffer in their relations.
The decline of Mediterranean and Near Eastern markets and the activation of the Baltic market transformed its market-geographical position. Cut off from the areas of foreign trade and deprived of the ability to exploit the Dvina and Volga river systems, as well as the Sozh and Desna rivers of the Dnieper basin that had provided its connection with the domestic market, the territory lost for a long time its function as a significant intermediary link of many trade routes.
Its transport-geographical position deteriorated significantly. The northern and southern transport directions that had linked Baltic and Mediterranean markets lost their significance, and a reorientation toward west-east transit began.
As a result of the deep structural and territorial transformations that occurred in the Smolensk region during its decline from the 13th to 15th centuries, it lost virtually all the functions it had previously acquired. Fragmented into several micro-principalities and caught between two growing states, it faced a dilemma regarding its further development.
Period of Border Position
Stage 4. The Smolensk Region within the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Rus (late 14th – early 16th centuries).
The effective incorporation of Smolensk into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Rus (GDLR) by 1395 was a turning point in the history of the region. From this time begins the period during which the Smolensk region served as a state border territory within successively several states.
Located on the border of the GDLR and the Muscovite Principality, it naturally assumed the functions of providing various types of exchange between them. The Smolensk Principality simultaneously both united and divided them, acting as either a mediator or a theater of confrontation.
Thanks to the influx of migrants — Lithuanians, Poles, and Jews — a process of active ethnic mixing unfolded, restoring the function of an inter-ethnic border. As a result of the expansion of the Western Christian sphere after Lithuania’s adoption of Catholicism and its collision with the Orthodox tradition here, the territory acquired the additional function of an inter-religious contact zone. Its transport-geographical position improved somewhat, and trade-intermediary and transit-transport functions were activated.
Stage 5. The Smolensk Region within the Muscovite State (early 16th – early 17th centuries).
As a result of a successful war for the Muscovite state (1512–1514), the Smolensk region became part of it. The content of its geographical position did not change, and the functions of a border territory remained the same: a) bridgehead, b) trade-intermediary, c) transit-transport, d) inter-ethnic contact zone, e) inter-religious contact zone. Only the direction of relations with the state center was reoriented — if during the previous stage it had been the eastern border of the Lithuanian state, it now became the western border of the Muscovite state.
Stage 6. The Smolensk Region within the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (early 17th – mid-17th centuries).
After the conclusion of the Union of Lublin in 1569, which significantly strengthened the stability of the Polish-Lithuanian alliance, the expanding area of the Commonwealth absorbed the Smolensk territory and included it in its sphere of influence. The border with the Russian state shifted eastward but was preserved.
Smolensk again found itself in a zone of border interaction. The functions of a border territory related to servicing interstate exchange remained the same: a) bridgehead, b) trade-intermediary, c) transit-transport, d) inter-ethnic contact zone, e) inter-religious contact zone.
Stage 7. Incorporation of the Smolensk Region into Russia (mid-17th century)
Subsequently, as the political, economic, and military power of the Russian state grew, its borders expanded. The Smolensk region was annexed after the Truce of Andrusovo and was strengthened as a western frontier.
Despite a number of destructive processes that accompanied the annexation of the Smolensk region (migratory outflow, change of landowners and intra-clan “redistribution of property,” decline of trade and artisanal production, naturalization of the economy), most of the functions of a border region were preserved: a) transit-transport, b) inter-ethnic contact zone, c) inter-religious contact zone, d) trade-intermediary within the Russian domestic market with access to foreign markets.
Period of Peripheral Position
Stage 8. The Smolensk Region in the 19th Century.
As a result of the final incorporation of Belarus into Russia in 1795, the Smolensk region became an internal peripheral territory of the country. Its EGP was transformed accordingly: a) political-geographical — the territory became peripheral;
b) military-geographical — the territory represented a peripheral zone of military-strategic significance; c) market-geographical — the territory found itself on the periphery within the Russian market; d) transport-geographical — infrastructure (road and transport facilities) was oriented toward servicing intrastate transit under conditions of reduced intensity of international trade exchange through the territory; e) religious-geographical — the territory became peripheral within the Orthodox sphere; f) ethno-geographical — the only type of position in which the region remained borderline (at the junction of Russian and Belarusian ethnic areas).
Thus, throughout the 19th century, the Smolensk region developed as a peripheral territory, retaining only the function of a Russian-Belarusian inter-ethnic contact zone.
Subsequently, the stability of development of the territory, which was gaining economic and human potential in a relatively balanced and progressive system of the Russian state, was again disrupted by outside interference. A new period of its history was opened by the French military expansion of 1812. Smolensk province, lying on the path of the main strike of the invaders, was devastated. Trends of progressive economic development of the territory were interrupted, and mass migrations led to population outflow.
In the following decades, as the economic way of life was restored and public life normalized, the Smolensk region was reborn in a new capacity. The intra-areal economic-geographical position and close proximity to the highly developed Moscow industrial region contributed to its final transformation into a peripheral zone of Central Russia.
Stage 9. The Soviet Period.
The beginning of the 20th century opened another historical cycle for the Smolensk region. Thanks to its position, Smolensk found itself closer than other regions of Central Russia to the Eastern European theater of World War I. Under wartime conditions, a characteristic set of tendencies of social disorganization and economic decline manifested itself, accompanying similar periods in the history of the Smolensk region.
After the end of the Civil War, the degradation phase gave way to a restoration phase. Under the conditions of a new scheme of social relations, peripherality, and post-war devastation, the number of functions of the territory was reduced.
The main goals became planned, sustainable development based on available resources to meet the growing demand of the national economic system and deep integration into the all-Union territorial scheme of the division of labor. Taking into account the increasing barrier nature of the external borders of the Soviet state, the main sources of territorial development became the resource-geographical and transport-geographical types of EGP.
The period of stable development that had begun in the region was disrupted by another wave of wartime destruction. Being a key link in the eastern front of the Great Patriotic War, in the course of hostilities the Smolensk Oblast lost its entire industrial potential, its main administrative centers and communication arteries were destroyed. Among the regions of Central Russia, it suffered the most significant demographic losses.
And again, during a short period of several post-war years, the phase of destruction and degradation gave way to a phase of restoration and construction. During this time, a number of fundamental decisions were made regarding the development of the oblast, with the main priority being the development of the territory as a near periphery of the capital industrial center and the maintenance of a bridgehead function within the defensive belt of the country’s western direction. And it should be noted: by the beginning of the next stage, the implementation of these plans had been virtually completed.
Period of Border Position
Stage 10. Smolensk Oblast in the 1990s.
The last decade of the 20th century opened a new page in the history of Smolensk Oblast. The collapse of the Soviet Union led to a change in its positional status. As a result of the appearance of the state border of the Russian Federation, the oblast once again became a border region. The process of restoring the traditional development patterns for the territory under similar positional conditions began. Located at the “western gates” of Russia, it once again combined the functions of a transit channel, “filter,” and contact zone.
Under conditions of political reforms, destabilization and decline of commodity production, against the background of progressive inflationary depreciation of regional assets, the new functions had ambiguous consequences for the life of the region (Table 1).
As the economic complex and local population (see table) adapted to the conditions of the new economic-geographical position, the overall picture of the oblast’s development, its “regional portrait,” began to change. In particular, some paradoxical socio-economic tendencies emerged, generally not characteristic of Central Russia’s constituent entities in the 1990s. While most economic indicators, compared with the average for the Central District, characterized the situation as critical — there were more unprofitable enterprises here than in neighboring regions, per capita investments were lower, etc. — indicators of “social well-being” of the population continued to remain at the “above average” level.
Disparities of such amplitude were not observed during this period in any of the oblasts of the Central Economic District. Obviously, a whole range of conditions contributed to the emergence of these phenomena, but continuing the established historical tradition, its geo-position once again played a significant role here, namely the oblast’s proximity to Belarus.
The Smolensk lands traditionally united the Great Russian and Belarusian parts of Rus, and as shown above, were part of states that bordered here at different times. As a result, this territory forever remained a field for Russian cooperation with the Belarusian land — cooperation that for the Smolensk region was not accidental or conjunctural, but long-term, based on joint capital, labor resources, technology, and other assets.
The declaration of independent statehood of the former union republic in 1991 and its political course toward autonomization stimulated a rapid increase in the price threshold and imbalance in market conditions between Russian and Belarusian markets (the “transparency” of the Russian-Belarusian border effectively did not change). Under these conditions, thanks to its “neighborly” or border position, the Smolensk region found itself in the most advantageous position and became Belarus’s largest foreign trade partner (in trade turnover with 65 foreign countries (2000), the share of Smolensk Oblast was 35.8%, and its share compared to CIS countries was over 85%).
As a result, the price threshold at the border proved to be a reliable source of revenue for the oblast’s trade and stimulated its active growth (the value of trade turnover per capita of Smolensk Oblast is 2 times higher than the analogous figure for Tver and 1.5 times higher than the average for the Central Economic District). Already by the results of 2000, in terms of trade volume with Belarus, Smolensk Oblast ranked 5th among all regions of the Russian Federation. At the same time, its value ($262.37 million, including exports — $131.81 million, imports — $130.56 million, positive balance — $1.25 million) exceeded the volume of the oblast’s trade exchange with all CIS countries by 10 times and constituted more than half of all its foreign trade turnover ($471 million).
By now, there is no sector in the oblast economy in which representatives of the Belarusian business community are not present in one form or another. Of the 482 enterprises with foreign investment registered in the oblast as of June 1, 2001, the founders of 249 were Belarusian counterparts. The total authorized capital of their companies already exceeded one and a half million US dollars.
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Thus, the brief historical-geographical review we have made illustratively demonstrates that noticeable fluctuations in the regional development of the Smolensk region are associated with the alternation of stable states of its EGP (inter-areal, border, peripheral). Moreover, most of them are conditioned by periodic changes in the functions of the territory.
These functions can be briefly characterized as follows.
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The function of an inter-ethnic contact zone — the function of a territory to localize within its boundaries the processes of ethnic integration, assimilation, and consolidation occurring during the primary settlement and subsequent development of the territory by representatives of different ethnic communities. As a result, conditions are created here for active synthesis of ethnic features (culture, language, self-consciousness) and a unique local community is formed — in the Smolensk region, with the participation of East Slavic, Finno-Ugric, and Baltic ethnic groups.
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The function of a transit-transport hub — the function of a territory to provide transit transport links between regions within the country and other countries, using its own transport infrastructure.
It should be noted that, due to the peculiarities of the geographical position of the Smolensk region, these two functions can be called primary for its territory and have been inherent to it throughout its known history.
As Old Russian statehood developed, and then other Eastern European states of which the Smolensk region was part emerged, the set of functions, previously associated with the natural-geographical features of the territory, expanded significantly.
Being located in the zone of periodic fluctuation of state borders, several new ones became the most important.
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The bridgehead or defensive function — the function of a territory to provide interstate military confrontation. At different stages of history, it was traditionally associated with the construction of fortification structures and military infrastructure, with the mandatory condition being the permanent presence of an armed contingent and the settlement of military personnel on a permanent basis.
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The trade-intermediary function — the function of a territory to act as an independent subject of international economic relations and to conduct activities aimed at ensuring trade exchange between various territories using its own trade and transport infrastructure. Traditionally carried out on the basis of entrepreneurial activity of the local population and through the activities of representative offices of trading countries located here. It is associated with the original emergence and further growth of one of the main sources of the Smolensk region’s prosperity — the sphere of intermediary business services.
Historically, the implementation of this function was accompanied by the expansion of the range and volumes of the local commodity-raw materials market, the development of the local sphere of monetary circulation; it also actively stimulated the development of the transport industry.
- The function of an inter-religious contact zone — the function of a territory to localize the process of interfaith interaction, to act as a barrier and contact zone between areas of spread of different confessions. In the history of the Smolensk region, this function manifested itself through the interaction and struggle of the Orthodox Church with the traditions of Western Christianity, which was accompanied by the reconstruction, and in some cases the destruction, of temple buildings, the deportation of clergy, and the struggle to preserve the traditions of the dominant cult.
The tendency toward changes in the number of these functions from one historical stage to another, namely the expansion of their set under conditions of border position and reduction as the territory became more peripheral, is explained, from our point of view, by the following circumstances.
The Smolensk region is characterized by a regular cyclicity of regional development, which is closely connected with the stability of relations between the areas (states) whose border the territory has been at different periods of its history. This pattern was discovered, in particular, as a result of the historical-geographical periodization carried out within the framework of the study and the analysis of the identified stages of development using three qualitative indicators: a) trends in population change; b) trends in the intensity of development and profiles of economic specialization; c) the level of entrepreneurial activity in the territory (trade).
One of the distinctive features of this pattern is the cuesta-shaped pattern of the curve displaying the dynamics of the regional development process of the Smolensk region.
The conditional phases into which it is subdivided are characterized by the following parameters:
- the growth phase, corresponding to a stage of positive tendencies in the life of the territory, is accompanied by population growth; diversification of the structure of economic activity, intensification of the trade sector, active construction (industrial, civil, religious) — on Diagram 1, the dashed line; 2) the decline phase — a steep solid line — as a result of the disruption of the geopolitical balance in the border zone, accompanied by subsequent military conflicts. It is accompanied by a halt to constructive tendencies in regional development and corresponds to periods of historical turmoil, when the population intensively leaves the territory; the overall level of economic and entrepreneurial activity in the region sharply declines.
Thus, the regular alternation of phases of development of the Smolensk region, determined by the conditions of its geographical position, leads to the conclusion that the cyclicity of history characteristic of any region may have different origins.
In some cases, it follows to a greater extent the fluctuations of socio-geographical conditions, the cause of which may be, for example, a change in social relations or the appearance of new technologies in the field of social production; in others, it is conditioned by periodic changes in natural-geographical conditions associated with cataclysms in the natural environment or the exhaustion of natural resources — the basis of regional development.
In yet others, as the experience of Smolensk Oblast demonstrates, this cyclicity may be closely linked to the historically regular change in the geographical position of the region and its long existence in borderland conditions — a zone where changes in the trends of territorial development are revolutionary in nature and are often accompanied by destructive military cataclysms.
1. Smolensk region — a territory at different stages united by its center in the city of Smolensk and located within the boundaries of the corresponding units of administrative-territorial division — the Smolensk lands, principality, namestnichestvo, province, administrative oblast of the Russian Federation.