On the Role of Fishing among the Greben Cossacks in the Pre-Revolutionary Period

Abstract

The role of fishing among the Greben Cossacks changed during the period under consideration. During the socalled free age, fishing had determined the particular traits of the Cossacks’ livelihood system and settlement pattern. In the 18th – first half of the 19th centuries, there emerged a number of governmental restrictions and bans; yet Terek fish still remained a major source of the Greben Cossacks’ well-being (it was consumed, sold, and traded). In the latter half of the 19th – early 20th centuries, fishing went through a recession streak and ceased playing a noticeable part in the livelihood system; however, it would still retain its high status as an occupation.