Seltso (russian: сельцо́; pl, siołko) was a type of rural locality in the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and, after 1791, as the Commonwealth of Poland, was a bi- confederal state, sometimes called a federation, of Poland and Lithuania ru ...

and the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

. In the

, the term referred to a small standalone ''

khutor A khutor ( rus, хутор, p=ˈxutər) or khutir ( uk, хутiр, pl. , ''khutory'') is a type of rural locality in some countries of Eastern Europe; in the past the term mostly referred to a single- homestead settlement.

'' (hamlet), which often served as a unit into which a ''

volost Volost ( rus, во́лость, p=ˈvoləsʲtʲ; ) was a traditional administrative subdivision in Eastern Europe. In earlier East Slavic history, '' volost'' was a name for the territory ruled by the knyaz, a principality; either as an absolute ...

'' was subdivided.'' Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary''. Entry on "seltso" On the territory of Russia proper, this type of settlement was most common in

Smolensk Smolensk ( rus, Смоленск, p=smɐˈlʲensk, a=smolensk_ru.ogg) 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 ...

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