Entrepreneurship activity in the Urals in the 18 century (on the example of the mine owners Osokins)

This article addresses the issue of entrepreneurship on the example of Osokins. Scientific novelty of research consists in the fact that for the first time in Russian historiography provided by the mining activities of the merchants Osokins. Of the large industrial complexes in the Urals, owned by merchants, the mining industry of the Osokins was formed earlier than all others. The ancestors of this family came from the monastic peasants of the Balakhna County of the Kazan province. The source of the initial accumulation of capital from the Osokins was grain trade and grain contracts. Cousins Petr Ignatievich and Gavriil Poluyektovich started their mining business in the Urals in 1729 with the construction of a joint Irginsky plant. If we proceed from the number of factories, the industrial estate of I.P. Osokin was the largest in Russia, since none of the industrialists of Russia at the end of the 18th century. However, according to the production capacity I.P. Osokin was inferior to the industrial complexes of many large factory owners. It is important to note that the Osokin farm during the last quarter of 18 century slowly rolled down. In the 1800s. almost all the Osokins' factories were taken over by the merchant A.A Knauf. The author concludes that entrepreneurial activity of the Osokins in the field of mining industry is a positive example of how people from ordinary peasants could express themselves in this area.