In late 19th century Russia, a ''zemlyachestvo'' ( rus, землячество, p=zʲɪˈmlʲæt͡ɕɪstvə) was a society of men living away from their home regions. Found among students, traveling traders and migrant workers, the ''zemlyachestvo'' united those with a common geographical origin when they were far from home.
[ Service 2000. p. 68.]
Zemlyachestvo is defined by Tavadov G.T. in his book Ethnology as 1) a sense of unity among people sharing a homeland they were born in; 2) an association of natives of one locality, region, territory, country; 3) other various forms of association of citizens according to the territorial principle: soldiers and officers serving in one unit, students studying in the same university, etc.
The pre 1860s reform time period can be considered the beginning of community associations in Russia.
The noted Russian revolutionary
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...
joined the ''zemlyachestvo'' for his home region,
Simbirsk
Ulyanovsk, known until 1924 as Simbirsk, is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Ulyanovsk Oblast, Russia, located on the Volga River east of Moscow. Population:
The city, founded as Simbirsk (), w ...
, when he was studying at the
University of Kazan
Kazan (Volga region) Federal University (russian: Казанский (Приволжский) федеральный университет, tt-Cyrl, Казан (Идел буе) федераль университеты) is a public research uni ...
.
See also
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Nation (university)
Student nations or simply nations ( la, natio meaning "being born") are regional corporations of students at a university. Once widespread across Europe in medieval times, they are now largely restricted to the oldest universities of Sweden and Fin ...
- a similar organization for non-locals studying in medieval universities in Western Europe
References
Bibliography
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Russian culture
19th century in the Russian Empire
Society of the Russian Empire
Russian diaspora
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