Characteristics of soil in the cadaster of the first third of the XVII cent. (Suzdal district)

Environmental history is becoming one of the important directions in modern historiography. This trend increases the value of the sources that provide information about the economic interaction between society and nature. Cadastres, started in the first third of the XVII century are among them. For example, they contain information about the quality of the soil. It could be assessed as «good», «average» and «poor». The question of the meaning of these assessments was the subject of discussion, but a clear answer was not received. The critical revision of these terms is the main goal of this paper. It is based on an analysis of cadastre book Suzdal district 1628-1630 years. Suzdal district was a large and representative for the study region. The electronic database was created on the basis of this document. It contains information on 2.3 thousand of settlements. The analysis showed that differences in the assessment of the quality of land were poorly linked to their legal status. Differences in levels of economic development were more noticeable. For example larger settlements were often located on the «good» soil. «Good» soils of Suzdal district were lighter sandy loam and more fertile degraded black soil. Therefore evaluation of the quality of soil was economically determined and was not random.