The power of the Horde was gradually receding into the past, and the need to collect taxes had not disappeared. But the state apparatus in Russia was not yet sufficiently developed to carry out a census in the modern sense of the word, so a unit of land ownership – the “sokha” (literally “plough”, later it was changed to “quarter” and “tithe”) – was established as the unit of taxation and censuses became land-based.

«In the 162s the censuses became subordinate»

After the end of the Time of Troubles in the 17th century, the Russian government decided to return to the ancient practice of using households (now called “dvori”, literally “yards” or “homesteads”) as the unit of taxation. Therefore, the censuses carried out in the 1620s were habitation-based, not land-based, and they remained so for a century, until the transition to the head tax system in 1718. The main task was to count households, the actual number of people was also taken into account to some degree.

«Censuses were frequent»

Censuses were frequent: the population in various parts of the country was in a state of flux, so it was important to maintain up-to-date figures. Often, censuses covered only certain regions of the Muscovite state, but they were sometimes carried out nationwide.

There were four such nationwide censuses of households: one in the 1620s, and others in 1646, 1678 and 1710. Due to the survived archives, we know very well how the censuses took place in those times.