Seltso (; ) was a type of rural locality in the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...

and the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. In the

, the term referred to a small standalone '' khutor'' (hamlet), which often served as a unit into which a ''

volost Volost (; ; ) was a traditional administrative subdivision in Kievan Rus', the Grand Duchy of Moscow, and the Russian Empire. History The '' Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary'' (1890–1907) states that the origins of the concept is unc ...

'' was subdivided.''

Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary The ''Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopaedic Dictionary'' (35 volumes, small; 86 volumes, large) is a comprehensive multi-volume encyclopaedia in Russian. It contains 121,240 articles, 7,800 images, and 235 maps. It was published in the Russian Em ...

''. Entry on "seltso" On the territory of Russia proper, this type of settlement was most common in

Smolensk Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River, west-southwest of Moscow. First mentioned in 863, it is one of the oldest cities in Russia. It has been a regional capital for most of ...

lands. The population of a typical ''seltso'' tended to be quite small, often limited to one or several families, or sometimes even just one person. In the later periods, the term was used to refer to a peasant settlement without a church around a landowner's estate.

References

Economic history of Russia Economic history of Poland Economic history of Lithuania Rural geography Human habitats Types of administrative division Russian-language designations of territorial entities {{Russia-geo-stub

See also

References