Volosts of Belaya in 16th-17th centuries: historical-geographical characteristic of the region on the Western border of The Russian State

The article presents the results of a historical and geographical study of the townships of Belaya in the XVI-XVII centuries. The objectives of the study included mapping the Belsky volosts and borders of the Belsky district on a modern geographical basis, studying their transformation in the XVI-XVII centuries. The main sources of the study are the materials of scribal descriptions of the Belsky and adjacent Toropetsky and Rzhevsky counties of the XVI-XVII centuries. The work was carried out using geoinformation technologies. A complete localization of the toponymy of the censuses of the Belsky, Rzhevsky, Toropetsky counties of the XVI-XVII centuries was made, which made it possible to map in detail the volosts of the county and its territory as a whole. Scribal descriptions allowed us to get an idea of the transformation of the territory of the Belsky Uyezd. The idea of the territory of the Belsky volosts in the period after their entry into the Russian state at the beginning of the XVI century was obtained. In the first half of the XVI century, the Toropets volosts of Rozhnya and Bibirevo were transferred to Belaya. In the second half of the 1560s, part of the Belsky Uyezd became part of the Rzhev Volodimerov Uyezd in connection with the formation of oprichnoi land ownership. After the Time of Troubles, the Polish-Russian border was established along the border of Toropetsky, Rzhevsky and Zubtsov counties with Belsky volosts. After the annexation of Belaya to the Russian state and the transfer to Rzheva Volodimerova of the former possession of the Catholic Church in the Zhukopov parish, the Belsky district acquired the outlines preserved in the XVIII century. Part of the territory of the county, as a result of confiscations from the Catholic Church and secular landowners, passed into the category of palace lands. However, the largest share of the territory of the county remained in the possession of the Smolensk and Belsky gentry.