A sloboda was a type of settlement in the history of Belarus,

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

and

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. The name is derived from the early Slavic word for '

freedom Freedom is the power or right to speak, act, and change as one wants without hindrance or restraint. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving oneself one's own laws". In one definition, something is "free" i ...

' and may be loosely translated as 'free settlement'."Sloboda"
'' Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary'' (1890–1906)

History

In the history of Russia, a ''sloboda'' was a settlement or a town district of people free of the power of boyars. Often these were settlements of tradesmen and artisans, and were named according to their trade, such as the yamshchiks' ''sloboda'' (, ') and smiths' ''sloboda''. The German Quarter in Moscow (''nemetskaya sloboda'') was set up to house foreigners. Often a ''sloboda'' was a colonization-type settlement in sparsely populated lands, particularly by Cossacks in Cossack Hetmanate, see " Sloboda Ukraine". Initially, the settlers of such ''sloboda'' were freed from various taxes and levies for various reasons, hence the name. Freedom from taxes was an incentive for colonization."Selitba" (Settlementing)
'' Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary'' (1890–1906) By the first half of the 18th century, this privilege was abolished, and ''slobodas'' became ordinary

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

s, '' shtetls'', townlets, suburbs. Some ''slobodas'' were suburban settlements, right behind the city wall. Many of them were subsequently incorporated into cities, and the corresponding

toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''wikt:toponym, toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. ''Toponym'' is the general term for ...

s indicate their origin. The '' Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary'' relates that by the end of the 19th century a sloboda was a large village with more than one church, a marketplace, and '' volost'' administration, or a village-type settlement of industrial character, where the peasants have little involvement in agriculture. The term is preserved in names of various settlements and city quarters. Some settlements were named just thus: "Sloboda", "Slobodka" (diminutive form), "Slabodka", "Slobidka" ( Ukrainian). Similar settlements existed in Wallachia and Moldavia, called ''slobozie'' or ''slobozia''. The latter term is also the name of the capital city of Ialomița County, Slobozia, in modern

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

Notes

References

{{Reflist Types of populated places Cossack Hetmanate Geography of Russia Geography of Romania Historical geography of Ukraine

History

See also

Notes

References