The Marital Behavior of the Chuvash and Mordovian Peasants in the Verkhnie Koki Village of the Simbirsk Region in the Late 18th – Early 20th Centuries

Abstract

The article discusses the marriage relations of Chuvash and Mordovian peasants in the Verkhnie Koki village of the Simbirsk region in 1784–1917. I examine the dynamics and percentage of intra- and out-of-town settlements; the formation of, and changes in, the local marriage market; the hierarchy of marital relations; and the dynamics and share of interethnic marriages. I argue that during the period under consideration both ethnic groups adhered to similar marriage strategies: they were closed to interethnic marriages and at the same time are active in the search and selection of wives outside their native village; the share of interethnic marriages was minimal. Territorial marriage relations did not go beyond the boundaries of the Sengileevsky and Syzran districts of the Simbirsk region and lined up with the congeners of other local marital markets, also located in the predominantly Russian environment.