Population of Vologda: an overview

Vologda is one of the few cities in the north, whose history dates back to the pre-Mongol era of Kievan Rus. It is believed that the first settlement on this site was founded in the middle of the 12th century. He is associated with the establishment here of a monastery in the name of the Holy Trinity. This version is confirmed by archaeological excavations, during which artifacts were found. The earliest of them really belong to the XII century. The first reliable written mention of Vologda dates back to the middle of the 13th century (in the document of 1264). During this period, the settlement Intensive development, and the population of Vologda is growing rapidly. It begins to attract the attention of neighbors and local residents periodically turn out to be under the influence of Novgorod, then Moscow.

Within the boundaries of the Moscow kingdom

In the 15th century, Vologda finally finds itself within the boundaries of Moscow's territorial possessions. Such a fierce struggle for the city was explained by its very advantageous geographical position. The fact is that it was an ideal staging post on the trade routes from north to south. Merchants brought here salt, furs, wax, fish, hemp. The population of the city of Vologda was engaged in crafts, making lance and leather in the first place. And he could always offer the merchants topical goods. The period of the highest flowering of the old Vologda was the 16th century, during which the city turned into the largest northern extraction and distribution point of salt.

It was salt that became the main export and income of the local population. Then, by the number of inhabitants, the city became one of the largest throughout the country. It is interesting that during this period the Vologda citizens almost did not become capital residents. Since 1567, Ivan the Terrible has been visiting the city regularly for several years. There are opinions that Moscow of that period seemed to the tsar to be a concentration of dangerous oppositional forces, since he had very difficult relations with the boyars, and Vologda could see him as the new capital of the kingdom. However, the successes of oprichnina, obviously, deprived the meaning of the transfer of the capital to the north.

Vologda in the Romanov Empire

In 1612, the city was burnt as a result of the Poles' raid. However, it relatively soon recovered in its former size and already by the middle of the century regained its former importance. So, by 1681 the population of Vologda had already more than four thousand inhabitants. The overwhelming majority (about 80%) of the local population during this period were people of the townspeople. A slightly less significant layer was the clergy and the servants: respectively 14% and 5%. And, of course, the local aristocracy (1%). Prosperity lasted until the beginning of the XVIII century. However, during this period, this settlement gradually begins to lose its trade and strategic importance. This was due to the founding of Peter I the new capital on the Neva. The population of Vologda inevitably grows smaller. If in 1713 there were more than ten thousand inhabitants, then in 1782 there were already seven thousand. This same trend continued throughout the next century. The revival could not provoke even a railroad carrying the message Arkhangelsk - Moscow.

Residents of Vologda in the Soviet period

At the beginning of the 20th century, the city's population is growing rapidly. During the revolution, even at the expense of refugees. According to the state census, in 1926 the population of the city was 26 thousand people, 95% of which were Russian. In the thirties, the city experienced industrialization, which significantly revived it. A new boom in the life of the city was observed in the 60's, when new industrial facilities were founded here: the poultry farm, the optical-mechanical plant, the easel and the bearing plant. And already in 1989 the population of Vologda reached the mark of 280 thousand people.

Modern residents

The last two decades, the fate of the city resembled the situation in the rest of provincial Russia: the hard nineties, the stoppage of many industrial enterprises. And the gradual adaptation to the conditions of a market economy already in 2000. And with it, and the revitalization of social life. According to the latest data, in recent years the population of the city even experiences some increase. So, the population of Vologda in 2013 is 306 thousand people, most of which are statistically Russian (more than 97%). It is interesting that among the modern population of the city only 44% of men.