City planning. Medieval cities of the East: Arab, Indian, Chinese. Their differences from European cities. Economic prerequisites for the territorial organization of the population from the user

Unlike most of Europe, the countries of the East in the Middle Ages experienced several invasions of nomadic peoples, who over time perceive the urban culture, but this happens almost every time. Therefore, in the end, the development of urban settlement in the East is much slower, and the connection with ancient cities turns out to be closer. This is manifested to the greatest extent in the formation of the network and principles of organization of Arab cities.

Arab conquests in the 7th - 8th centuries covered a vast territory from the Iberian Peninsula to the Indus Valley. At the same time, most of the ancient cities on this territory were destroyed, and in their place there were nomad camps, which later became cities (Cairo in Egypt, Rabat in Morocco, etc.). The capital of the Arab state was originally Medina - a small city in the desert part of the Arabian Peninsula. Then the capital was moved closer to the main trade routes of that time - first to Damascus, and then to the city of Baghdad, specially built in 762 as the capital, Simagin Yu.A. Territorial organization of the population: Textbook for universities. - 2nd ed., Rev. and add. / Under total. ed. V.G. Glushkova. - M .: Publishing and trade corporation "Dashkov and K °", 2005, - 244 p. P. 95

Baghdad arose at the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, that is, approximately in the same place where Babylon and others, the capitals of antiquity, existed. Baghdad, during its heyday, had up to 2 million inhabitants and was the largest city in the world, but after the Mongol conquests of the 13th century. it has lost its meaning.

The principles of building Baghdad were repeated in other Arab cities. The hill in the center of the city was occupied by a fortress (shahristan or kasbah), in which the ruler of the area (in Baghdad, the caliph) settled with his close, military squad and servants. The ruler's palace included a system of courtyards occupied by gardens, pools and fountains. Around the fortress there was a trade and craft part of the city (rabad), surrounded by an external defensive wall. In its center there was a bazaar square, and artisans lived in quarters on a professional basis, each of which was surrounded by its own wall. There was a mosque in the shakhristan and in each quarter, which was the more and more richly decorated, the richer the given quarter was. The mosque, as a rule, ended with a dome, and next to it there was a tower - a minaret (or several minarets). The houses of ordinary residents were with flat roofs, one-story, built of clay, facing the streets with a blank wall, with an inner courtyard. Important public buildings of the city were caravanserais (hotels), med-rese (schools), baths, located in the city center.

Muslim conquests reached India in the 13th century. In the XVI century. a new wave of conquests took place, as a result of which the empire of the Great Mughals was created, which included almost the entire Indian subcontinent. At the same time, large capital cities, numbering hundreds of thousands of inhabitants, developed in the north of the country, from where the conquests took place. In different periods, they were the cities of Delhi and Agra. The principles of urban planning of Indian cities at that time included both ancient non-Indian and Arabic elements. So, in Delhi, the Red Fort was built (made of red sandstone), which was a fortress and palace of the emperors Simagin Yu.A., the same, p. 96. Near Agra, the Taj Mahal mausoleum is preserved - one of the most outstanding buildings of medieval India, built according to classic plan mosque and surrounded by specially created reservoirs.

China underwent first the Mongol and then the Manch-Zhur invasion. At the same time, the country's capital was also moved to the north - to Beijing. The center of Beijing has become a complex of imperial palaces surrounded by gardens - the Purpure (Forbidden) City. Around him was the Imperial City, in which the emperor's close associates, his guards and servants lived. The Imperial city was surrounded by the Outer Tatar (barbarian) city, in which the Mongols and then the Manchus lived. It was adjoined by the Outside Chinese city, in which the bulk of the population lived. Each of the parts was surrounded by its own walls. Some streets in the Outer City, built up with wooden houses forming regular square blocks. Apparently, the authorities feared that the huge masses of people concentrated in the city might break out of obedience. Beijing since the 18th century. had more than 1 million inhabitants, being at that time the largest city-house in the world. The most outstanding buildings in Chinese cities were the palaces of the rulers and temples (pagodas), which stood out sharply against the background of ordinary buildings in their size and design.

In general, we can say that in the cities of the East, the main functions in the Middle Ages remained administrative and military, although the majority of the population in them, as in Europe, were artisans and merchants. The eastern cities never received any autonomy, which hindered social progress and preserved vestiges of feudal relations until the beginning of the 20th century. Constant external conquests by more backward peoples slowed down cultural and technical progress. Externally eastern cities still looked like a combination of magnificent palaces and temples - on the one hand, and squalid hovels of most residents - on the other, from which they began to leave the cities of Europe in the early Middle Ages. It is not surprising that in modern times the cities of the East began to develop under European influence and now retain their originality only in the old parts of Simagin Yu. A., the same, pp. 97-98.

The eastern city developed differently than the European, western one. In fact, Eastern civilizations in the Middle Ages were much more urbanized than European ones. The urban population in the eastern empires reached 10-20% by the end of the 16th century, compared with 5-7% in the countries of Western Europe.

China had cities with millions of inhabitants, while in Europe the population of cities did not exceed several tens of thousands (with the exception of Milan, whose population had already reached 200 thousand inhabitants in the 13th century). But this does not mean that the qualitative aspect of urban life corresponded to the quantitative one.

In the Arab world, urban life flourished during the period when the Arab Caliphate began to disintegrate. Apparently, with the weakening of the pressure of the central government, more proactive and enterprising townspeople become more active, science and culture, concentrated in cities, flourish. But even in the X-XIII centuries, when elements of democracy appeared in Europe, there were no political freedoms or legal guarantees in the Arab East. The heads of numerous corporations were subordinate to the city administration, the governor-hakim, the mayor-rais, the overseer-muhtasib, the chief of the guard and the judge-qadi.

In the XV-XVI centuries. In the cities of Turkey and the subordinate territories, a system of workshops arises, but, unlike in Europe, petty tutelage on the part of the authorities and the almost complete absence of self-government did not even lead to intentions to carry out something like communal revolutions. In addition, the majority of the urban population was of a different faith. Something similar to guilds was formed in other countries of the Middle East (asnaf), in Japan (dza), in China (khans). In India, city life was organized by caste elders. But the city in most countries of the East remained the object of direct administration by the central government. The leaders of workshops, guilds and castes were appointed either from above or by agreement with the authorities. And if, say, in India in the early Middle Ages, relatively independent trading corporations were formed, then by the 16th century this independence not only did not develop, but, on the contrary, disappeared without a trace. The only one concerning free city Japan - Sakai in the 16th century loses its independence and begins to be governed by government officials.

It is not surprising that under such conditions the urban life of the East, with the exception of Japan, experienced stagnation on the eve of colonial subordination.

The genesis of the city in the Middle Ages. Pages 4-6

The cities of Russia. Pages 7-12

Western European cities. Pages 13-17

Similarities and differences between the cities of Russia and Western Europe. Pages 18-19

Conclusion. Page 20

Bibliography. Page 21

INTRODUCTION

My work is about medieval cities.

Contacts of different peoples are actively developing in a modern city. And in the past, in the era of feudalism, the city was the center of ethnocultural processes, an active participant in the formation of folk culture in all its diversity. There was, perhaps, not a single significant area of ​​folk culture to which the townspeople did not contribute. But if the role of the city and the urban population in the development of the spiritual culture of the people has long been recognized by researchers, then until recently the material culture of the townspeople has not yet been studied enough by ethnographers to make such generalizations in this area. At the same time, the material culture of the city is an integral part of the folk culture.

In my work, I set several tasks:

1. Determine the place of the city in the feudal society, its essence.

2. Determine the prerequisites for the formation of a feudal city.

3. To study the development of the city in the Middle Ages, its role in economic, social and political processes.

This work is intended to reveal a broader understanding of the population, appearance and features of the medieval city, on the basis of which the cities and megalopolises familiar to us exist. The cities of Russia and Western Europe are considered as an example.

GENESIS OF THE CITY IN THE MIDDLE AGES.

There are common features of all cities of all times:

1. Multifunctionality: (trade and craft center, cultural center, spiritual and religious center, fortress).

2. There is no agricultural production in the cities.

3. Concentration of two types of activities (craft and trade).

4. Administrative center.

A feudal city is a specific settlement with a relatively high population density, a fortified settlement with special rights, concentrating not agricultural production, but social functions associated with small-scale production and the market with legal privileges.

Feudal city features :

1. Corporate organization of production.

2. Corporate social structure (rights, duties, privileges).

3. Regulation of production.

4. Small-scale production.

5. A certain system of privileges (rights of residents or freedom), the right to have an army in the city, self-government bodies.

6. Close connection with land, land tenure, seigneuria (especially at the first stage - the city appears on the land of the feudal lord).

7. Certain duties, taxes.

8. Part of the population is made up of feudal lords with land ownership.

9. The top of the city acquires land in the district.

Medieval town- a higher level of development of settlements in comparison with the previous stages of pre-medieval eras.

Preconditions and factors for the formation of a medieval city:

The prerequisites for the formation of a medieval city were progress in agriculture: productivity, specialization, the release of part of the population from agricultural activities. Demographic factors in the formation of the city: raw materials base, growing demand among the agricultural population in the goods of artisans.

Formation of a feudal fiefdom provides:

1.intensification of labor

2. organization of work

3.Promises specialization

4. development of handicraft production - population outflow.

Formation of the social and political structure of a feudal society:

Development of the state (administrative apparatus).

The formation of a class of feudal lords interested in the city (organization of labor, weapons, luxury goods, blacksmithing, shipbuilding, trade, navy, money circulation).

Conditions for the emergence of cities:

Social division of labor.

Development of commodity circulation.

The stimulating factor is the presence of urban centers that have come from previous times: an antique or barbarian city.

The level of development of crafts and trade (the emergence of professional artisans working for the market; the development of short and long-distance trade, the creation of corporations of merchants (guilds)).

Formation of the city.

How does it arise? The issue is controversial. In the history of mankind, there have been various forms of the formation of cities. There are various theories of the authors different countries about the founding of cities:

· Romanesque theory (based on ancient cities) - Italy.

· Burgese theory (castles) - Germany.

· Patrimonial theory - Germany.

· Market theory - Germany, England.

· Trade concept (foreign trade) - Netherlands.

The city did not appear suddenly. The process of forming a city is a lengthy process. The transformation of an early city into a medieval one takes place mainly in Europe in the XI century .

The cities had a complex social composition: feudal lords, and "slaves", and clergy (churches), a free trade population, artisans - a complex complex of both free and dependent, and those who had not yet received freedom.

Gradually, the entire urban population turned into a single class - Burgeuses - city residents.

CITIES OF RUSSIA.

Formation of cities.

A consequence of the success of the Eastern trade of the Slavs, which began in the 7th century, was the emergence of the most ancient trading cities in Russia. "The Tale of Bygone Years" about the beginning of the Russian land does not remember when these cities arose: Kiev, Lyubech, Chernigov, Novgorod, Rostov. At the moment with which she begins her story about Russia, most of these cities, if not all of them, apparently, were already significant settlements. A quick glance at the geographical location of these cities is enough to see that they were created by the successes of Rus' foreign trade. Most of them stretched out long chain along the main river route "from the Varangians to the Greeks" (Volkhov-Dnepr). Only some cities: Pereyaslavl on Trubezh, Chernigov on Desna, Rostov in the region the upper Volga, moved to the east from this, how to say, the operational basis of Russian trade, indicating its flank direction to the Azov and Caspian Seas.

The emergence of these large trading cities was the completion of a complex economic process that began among the Slavs in new places of residence. Eastern Slavs settled along the Dnieper in lonely fortified yards. With the development of trade in these one-yard yards, prefabricated trade points arose, places of industrial exchange, where trappers and beekeepers converged for trade. Such collection points were called graveyards. From these large markets our oldest cities along the Greco-Varangian trade route. These cities served shopping centers and the main storage points for the industrial districts formed around.

The Tale of Bygone Years indicates the first local political form that emerged in Russia about half of the 9th century: it is a city region, that is, a trading district ruled by a fortified city, which at the same time served as an industrial center for this district. The formation of this first political form in Russia was accompanied in other places by the appearance of another, secondary and also local form, the Varangian principality. From the combination of the Varangian principalities and the city regions that retained their independence, a third form emerged, which began in Russia: that was the Grand Duchy of Kiev. Kiev served mainly as a defensive outpost of the country against the steppe and as a central trading post for Russian trade.

A city like Novgorod was formed from several settlements or settlements, which at first were independent, and then merged into one large urban community.

Medieval settlements can be subdivided according to the occupation of the inhabitants into rural-type settlements, associated mainly with agriculture, and urban-type settlements, mainly handicraft and trade. But the names of the settlement types did not correspond to the modern ones: settlements with defensive fortifications were called cities, and unfortified settlements had different names. Settlements of a rural type prevailed - peasant settlements together with rural estates of feudal lords. The land of the peasant community stretched for many tens of miles. The administrative, commercial and religious and religious center of the community was a graveyard - a village in which the estates of representatives of the communal administration, a church with courtyards of the clergy and a cemetery were grouped near the trading square, but there were few farmsteads of ordinary peasants who mainly lived in villages.

In the center, in the north of European Russia, a different process was going on: from the 15th - 16th centuries. small craft and trade settlements arose without fortifications (on the Novgorod lands - "rows"). In the XVII century. the process continued, settlements of this kind were called uncultivated settlements, as they grew, they were renamed into settlements, but they were not called cities.

Population.

The bulk of the population of the old cities was occupied by handicrafts and small trade "posad people", all sorts of military men - "service people". IN big cities especially in Moscow, merchants of various categories, clergy and others were notable groups. Secular and church feudal lords had estates in the cities, and often the central estates of monasteries were located here.

The quantitative ratios between the main groups of the urban population were different in different cities. For example, in Moscow there were relatively more representatives of the feudal estates and various civil servants than in other cities. The foreigners living in Moscow were predominantly of Western European origin, there were about 600 thousand inhabitants. In addition to Russians, there were many Greeks, Persians, Germans, Turks, but there were no Jews at all, since they were not tolerated throughout the state.

In general, foreigners noticed that the population in cities is much less than what could be expected, judging by the number of buildings. This stemmed from the importance of the city in the Moscow state: it was, first of all, a fenced-in place in which the surrounding population sought refuge during an enemy invasion. To satisfy this need, which so often arose due to the circumstances among which the state was formed, cities had to be larger than what were needed to accommodate their permanent population.

Src = "https://present5.com/presentation/1/17271574_64202430.pdf-img/17271574_64202430.pdf-1.jpg" alt = "(! LANG:> Medieval cities East ">

Src = "https://present5.com/presentation/1/17271574_64202430.pdf-img/17271574_64202430.pdf-2.jpg" alt = "(! LANG:> Features in the Middle Ages, the countries of the East are experiencing several invasions of nomadic peoples"> Особенности в Средние века страны Востока переживают несколько нашествий кочевых народов, которые с течением времени воспринимают городскую культуру, но происходит это каждый раз практически заново. развитие городов на Востоке идет значительно медленнее, а связь с древними городами оказывается более тесной. В наибольшей степени это проявляется при формировании сети и принципов организации арабских городов.!}

Src = "https://present5.com/presentation/1/17271574_64202430.pdf-img/17271574_64202430.pdf-3.jpg" alt = "(! LANG:> Arab conquests in the VII-VIII centuries covered a huge area from the Iberian Peninsula before"> Арабские завоевания в VII-VIII вв охватили огромную территорию от Пиренейского полуострова до долина Инда. При этом большинство древних городов на этой территории было разрушено, а на их месте возникли лагеря кочевников, впоследствии ставшие городами (Каир в Египте, Рабат в Марокко) Столицей арабского государства первоначально была Медина - небольшой город в пустынной части Аравийского полуострова!}

Src = "https://present5.com/presentation/1/17271574_64202430.pdf-img/17271574_64202430.pdf-4.jpg" alt = "(! LANG:> Medina In ancient times, the city was called Yathrib (Yathrib), B 622 c"> Медина В древности город назывался Ясриб (Ятриб), В 622 в Медину из Мекки переселился основатель ислама Мухаммед и создал первую в мире мусульманскую общину. После этого город получил название Медина (от арабского «мадина» - город, сокращение от «Мадина-эн-Наби» - «Город Пророка»!}

Src = "https://present5.com/presentation/1/17271574_64202430.pdf-img/17271574_64202430.pdf-5.jpg" alt = "(! LANG:> Medina. The Prophet's Mosque In the Prophet's Mosque, one of the greatest shrines of the Muslim the world,"> Медина. Мечеть Пророка В Мечети Пророка, одной из величайших святынь мусульманского мира, находятся гробницы пророка Мухаммеда, его дочери Фатимы и Омара - второго халифа Арабского халифата.!}

Src = "https://present5.com/presentation/1/17271574_64202430.pdf-img/17271574_64202430.pdf-6.jpg" alt = "(! LANG:> Arab cities Later the capital was moved closer to the main trade routes"> Арабские города Позже столица была перенесена ближе к главным торговым путям того времени - сначала в Дамаск, а затем в специально построенный в 762 г. в качестве столицы город Багдад возник в месте схождения рек Тигра и Евфрата, т. е. примерно в том же месте, где существовали Вавилон и другие столицы древности. Багдад в период своего расцвета насчитывал до 2 млн. жителей и являлся самым крупным городом в мире, но после монгольских завоеваний XIII в. он потерял свое значение.!}

Src = "https://present5.com/presentation/1/17271574_64202430.pdf-img/17271574_64202430.pdf-7.jpg" alt = "(! LANG:> Principles of building Arab cities. or"> Принципы застройки арабских городов. Возвышенность в центре города занимала крепость (шахристан или касба), в которой поселялся правитель данной местности (в Багдаде - халиф) со своими приближенными, военной дружиной и слугами. Дворец правителя включал в себя систему внутренних дворов, занятых садами, бассейнами и фонтанами. Вокруг крепости располагалась торгово-ремесленная часть города (рабад), окруженная внешней оборонительной стеной. В ее центре находилась базарная площадь, а ремесленники жили в кварталах по профессиональному признаку, каждый из которых бал окружен своей стеной.!}

Src = "https://present5.com/presentation/1/17271574_64202430.pdf-img/17271574_64202430.pdf-8.jpg" alt = "(! LANG:> Mosque There was a mosque in shakhristan and every quarter, which was even larger and rich"> Мечеть В шахристане и каждом квартале находилась мечеть, которая была тем больше и богато украшенной, чем богаче был данный квартал!}

Src = "https://present5.com/presentation/1/17271574_64202430.pdf-img/17271574_64202430.pdf-9.jpg" alt = "(! LANG:> Arab city The mosque, as a rule, ended with a dome, and next to she was"> Арабский город Мечеть, как правило, завершалась куполом, а рядом с ней находился башня - минарет (или несколько минаретов). Дома простых жителей были с плоскими крышами, одноэтажными, сооруженными из глины, выходящими на улицы глухой стеной, с внутренним двором. Важными общественными зданиями города были караван-сараи (гостиницы), медресе (школы), бани, располагавшиеся в центре города.!}

Src = "https://present5.com/presentation/1/17271574_64202430.pdf-img/17271574_64202430.pdf-10.jpg" alt = "(! LANG:> India Muslim conquests reached India in the 13th century. In the 16th century ..."> Индия До Индии мусульманские завоевания докатились в XIII в. В XVI в. прошла новая волна завоеваний, в результате которых была создана империя Великих Моголов, включившая почти весь полуостров Индостан. !} Major capital cities, numbering hundreds of thousands of inhabitants, developed in the north of the country, from where the conquests took place. At different times, they were the cities of Delhi and Agra. The principles of urban planning of Indian cities at that time included both ancient Indian and Arabic elements.

Src = "https://present5.com/presentation/1/17271574_64202430.pdf-img/17271574_64202430.pdf-11.jpg" alt = "(! LANG:> Red Fort (built of red sandstone ), which was"> Города Индии в Дели был построен Красный форт (сложен из красного песчаника), являвшийся крепостью и дворцом императоров.!}

Src = "https://present5.com/presentation/1/17271574_64202430.pdf-img/17271574_64202430.pdf-12.jpg" alt = "(! LANG:> Cities of India Near Agra there is the Taj Mahal mausoleum - one of the most outstanding buildings of the medieval"> Города Индии Вблизи Агры сохранился мавзолей Тадж-Махал - одна из самых выдающихся построек средневековой Индии, построенная по классическому плану мечети и окруженная специально созданными водоемами.!}

Src = "https://present5.com/presentation/1/17271574_64202430.pdf-img/17271574_64202430.pdf-13.jpg" alt = "(! LANG:> China underwent first Mongol and then Manchu invasions. At the same time, the capital the country was also"> Китай подвергся сначала монгольскому, а затем манчжурскому нашествию. При этом столица страны также была перенесена на север - в Пекин.!}

Src = "https://present5.com/presentation/1/17271574_64202430.pdf-img/17271574_64202430.pdf-14.jpg" alt = "(! LANG:> Layout The center of Beijing is a complex of imperial palaces surrounded by gardens - Purple"> Планировка Центром Пекина стал комплекс императорских дворцов, окруженных садами - Пурпурный (Запретный) город. Вокруг него находился Императорский город, в котором проживали приближенные императора, его гвардия и слуги. Окружал Императорский город Внешний Татарский (варварский) город, в котором проживали монголы, а затем манчжуры. К нему примыкал Внешний Китайский город, в котором проживала основная масса населения!}

Src = "https://present5.com/presentation/1/17271574_64202430.pdf-img/17271574_64202430.pdf-15.jpg" alt = "(! LANG:> Cities of China">!}

Src = "https://present5.com/presentation/1/17271574_64202430.pdf-img/17271574_64202430.pdf-16.jpg" alt = "(! LANG:> Layout Each part was surrounded by its own walls."> Планировка Каждая из частей была окружена своими стенами. На ночь запирались и отдельные улицы во Внешнем городе, застроенные деревянными домами, образующими правильные квадратные кварталы. Видимо, власти опасались, что огромные массы людей, сосредоточенные в городе, могут выйти из повиновения. Пекин уже с XVIII в. насчитывал более 1 млн. жителей, являясь в то время !} largest city the world. The most outstanding buildings in Chinese cities were the palaces of the rulers and temples (pagodas), which stood out sharply against the background of ordinary buildings in their size and design.

Src = "https://present5.com/presentation/1/17271574_64202430.pdf-img/17271574_64202430.pdf-17.jpg" alt = "(! LANG:> Differences from medieval European cities In the cities of the East, the main functions remained administrative"> Отлтчия от средневековых городов Европы В городах Востока главными функциями остались административная и военная, хотя большинство населения в них, как и в Европе, составляли ремесленники и торговцы. Восточные города так и не получили никакой автономии, что тормозило социальный прогресс и сохранило пережитки феодальных отношений вплоть до начала XX в. Постоянные внешние завоевания более отсталыми народами тормозили культурный и технический прогресс. Внешне восточные города по-прежнему выглядели как сочетание великолепных дворцов и храмов - с одной стороны, и убогих лачуг большинства жителей - с другой, от чего в городах Европы начали уходить еще в раннем Средневековье.!}

The variety of monetary systems and units gave rise to the need for money exchange operations. So the profession of money changers stood out, who were also engaged in the transfer of funds and usury. Since the XIII century. in connection with the ruin of the small workers of town and country and the expansion of trade, credit and loan operations gained significant scope, especially in the sphere of transit and wholesale transactions. Bank offices and banks began to appear. It is characteristic that the separation of financial activity into a special branch took place on Italian soil. Italians have mastered instruments such as bills of exchange, credit, term trading, loans, etc. to perfection. Bankers' operations expanded: they took money for safekeeping, paid interest for it, provided loans. Large houses in Italy and Germany expanded their activities: in addition to organizing the production of cloth and trade in it, they began to engage in banking operations.

During this period, internecine clashes intensified in all countries of Western Europe. The war required money, so the kings resorted to large loans, which were provided primarily by the trading houses of Italian cities.

2. Features of the eastern feudal cities.

In terms of population, the cities in the East before the era of the industrial revolution were significantly superior to Western European ones, they were distinguished by a high level of development of crafts, an assortment of products, a solid accumulation of merchant capital, there was a high concentration of service nobility, and therefore power. In the eastern cities, the imperial or district administration was concentrated, various links of the military-administrative apparatus, endowed with military-administrative, judicial and police powers. Large and medium-sized employees lived with families, servants and military detachments in cities. In the conditions of the existence of despotic eastern states with their inherent state property, a type of eastern city was formed, which did not know urban liberties, freedoms, and communes. They were centers of culture, they were not centers of freedom. Being the main figure of the urban industry, an independent small-scale producer, the owner of the instruments of production and products, both the townspeople and the peasant were deprived of rights before the power of the despot. However, in socio-political terms, the eastern city was more organically connected with the entire system of feudal relations than the European one.

In the eastern state, there was no economic integration between town and country. The demand for handicraft products was provided by the class of recipients of state rent-tax (serving nobility and bureaucracy), therefore, an Asian city, unlike a Western European one, needed not a rural market, but a rural taxpayer, which determined the huge scale of the surplus product withdrawn from agriculture. Eastern feudalism has a centuries-old (many-thousand-year) history. Its socio-economic structure has not changed for centuries, as if reproducing itself in each generation, preserving the customs and traditions of a way of life, the main characteristics of which are: state ownership of land, a combination of power and property in the person of a despotic state, a cruel estate structure of society in which estates differed in duties, but not rights. Here, instead of a civil society with the rule of law and developed representative power, there are strong centralized bureaucratic empires with a dominant ideology "not a state for a person, but a person for a state."

3. Feudal cities in Russia.

In Russia, in contrast to Western European cities, cities arose primarily as administrative centers, being the centers of church life, education, and culture. Then they became centers of exchange and trade. And in this they are similar to the eastern cities. In the XI-XIII centuries, the appearance of Russian cities gradually took shape, gaining a typically feudal appearance. Cities are surrounded by fortifications that surround large areas in large centers. Not only the "city", but also the posad, or suburb (front-city), is surrounded by fortifications. Russian cities are decorated with beautiful buildings, there is a desire for improvement (the creation of wooden pavements, bridges over rivers and streams, etc.). The number of stone buildings is growing steadily, and along with temples, stone residential buildings for civil purposes appear. However, in contrast to Western European cities, wooden buildings in Russia were the most typical in the conditions of a sharply continental climate and cold winter.

The most important in all cities is the city market, "trade", which is the focus of the economic and, in some cases, the political life of the city. Foreign trade was conducted in three directions: Mediterranean, Western European and Eastern, and it had a huge impact on the development of the state as a whole. There were no workshops and guilds in Russia, new forms of production appeared here, characteristic only for Russia - artels, contracts. The contractor was an elder, a person with significant, at that time, means. The cities were headed not by an elected body, but by a representative of the royal power, usually from the service nobility. The increase in the power of the feudal lords in the cities was manifested in the fact that, in contrast to the "black" posad, that is, the part of the city inhabited by free townspeople, the "white" posad grew - the feudal possessions in the cities. The townspeople voluntarily "pledged" themselves to the feudal lords so as not to pay ruinous taxes. The lack of rights of the townspeople hindered the development of the craft, which especially suffered from the Mongol invasion. The Mongols destroyed cities and took artisans into captivity. In the period of the decline of the craft, in contrast to it, peasant trades developed intensively in Russia, which took the place of craft. In large cities, there is a tendency to limit princely power within the city. First of all, this tendency manifests itself in Kiev with its rich merchant and artisan population. In this regard, the Kiev uprising of 1068 is of particular importance as a turning point in the history of the development of urban liberties. The townspeople strive to put their candidates on the princely table, providing them with armed support. Veche and elective mayor and thousand people become the organs of city power. The desire to establish urban liberties occurs in an atmosphere of class struggle among the townspeople, which is especially noticeable in Novgorod at the beginning of the 13th century, where "big" and "smaller" people are fighting.

The development of urban life in the X-XIII centuries. did not pass fruitlessly and left a deep mark in the history of the three fraternal peoples - Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian.

Thus, Western European medieval cities exerted a tremendous influence on the rural economy and contributed to the growth of productive forces in agriculture. They were trade and craft centers that contributed to the development of domestic and foreign trade, which led to the development of monetary, credit and tax systems... From an economic point of view, cities played the role of industrial centers, they became workshops, where the division of labor was actively developing, expressed in an increase in the number of various crafts, and it was at that time that the grandiose scale of the construction of stone structures (churches, castles, city walls, houses, bridges) began. The art of building turned into a science. The cities were centers of culture and enlightenment, were places of residence of secular and spiritual power. Distinctive features of Western European feudal cities in the Middle Ages were their own law, their own courts and autonomous government. The city acts as a communal union, which has arisen primarily as an alliance for defense, as an association of people economically capable of organizing defense. In medieval European cities, there are the beginnings of civil society expressing and defending the interests of their members. A citizen (city dweller), as a person belonging to a certain class group, has always been at the same time the bearer of certain political rights and as such is found only in Europe.

The eastern city demonstrates the sustainability of the urban tradition with its attributes: the market, the division of handicraft labor, the presence of merchant and loan capital. At the same time, the concentration of the population in the cities was the basis for the division of labor, creating conditions for a very narrow specialization of trade and handicrafts. But the greater urbanization of the East compared to the West did not contribute to the early onset of the industrial revolution. One of the main reasons is the strong state power, which preserves the existing socio-economic relations. The differences between Western European and Eastern cities are obvious. While the cities of Western Europe were the bearers of a free spirit, the eastern city was the direct personification of despotic power.

Cities in Russia were a kind of mixture of elements of Western and Eastern feudalism, because Russia's development had a number of features and characteristics associated with external and internal political development, mentality, traditions, a huge territory, and a multiethnic population. Therefore, the later entry of Russia into the era of industrial development predetermined its lag behind the leading European countries.

II. Features of the economic development of the Russian Federation at the present stage.

1. The economic situation in the country after 1991.

Speaking about the current state of affairs in the economy of our country, it is impossible not to mention the fact that it is undergoing tremendous changes. In December 1991, the Russian Federation, together with other republics of the former Soviet Union, embarked on the path of independent existence. In the field of foreign and domestic policy, the Russian leadership has identified several priority tasks. The first of them is a deep reform of the economy, a transition to market methods of management. It is known that as a legacy from the Soviet Union with its planned economy, Russia inherited not only the economy in a deplorable state, but also a huge external debt. In recent years, the Russian economy has undergone many different changes.

With the aim of eliminating the old economic power in Russia, a course was taken to transform state property into personal private property, which led to the destruction of many large enterprises. Since October 1992, without proper preparation, voucher privatization was carried out at an accelerated pace. On July 1, 1994, the sale of state and municipal property for money began. Privatization did not produce an adequate economic result and did not help prevent a drop in production. Another consequence of mass privatization is the extreme concentration of industrial property ownership. This phenomenon is common in the mass privatization process, but in Russia it has taken on an especially large scale. As a result of the transformation of the old ministries and the departmental banks related to them, a powerful financial oligarchy arose.

The radical transformation of common joint property led to the creation of a new economic system.

In the 1990s. in Russia, the absolute monopoly in domestic and foreign trade was undermined. The initiators of market transformations have chosen a clearly wrong path - the transition to a free market. In such a market, its participants can decide for themselves: where and what to sell, at what prices. As a result, many undeveloped and uncivilized food and clothing markets emerged, where individual resale of domestic and foreign goods was carried out. At the same time, proper sanitary-epidemiological, environmental and other control was not always observed, and poor-quality and illegally acquired products were sold. Thus, attempts to revive the free market have yielded negative results.

There was also a very contradictory and generally very unfavorable dynamics of business efficiency. On the one hand, many industrial monopolies in 1992-1999. raised the rate of return to 50–70% or more. In the criminal economy, for example, in the drug business, the rate of return has reached 1000%. But, on the other hand, the efficiency of enterprises in the national economy fell sharply: the profitability of products fell from 32% in 1992 to 8% in 1998, which was caused by the crisis drop in domestic production.

An abnormal situation was observed in the activities of banks. Banks used a number of favorable conditions for them (huge depreciation of money, speculative profit on the purchase and sale of foreign currency, the use of money from the state budget for their enrichment, etc.) to bring the bank profit rate to astronomical values ​​(1000% or more). such a situation consisted in the fact that money capital began to increasingly be withdrawn from the sphere of production. His goal in itself was to receive huge usurious interest. But such interest has become a brake on the development of the manufacturing business.

Russia in the 1990s. became heavily dependent on the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and other foreign creditors. Only in 2000 did the situation begin to improve. The country refused from IMF loans, significantly increased exports and improved external debt service.

In the same period, an underproduction crisis arose and worsened in Russia. It was mainly due to the extensive growth of production, an increase in the output of means of production due to a corresponding decrease in the number of consumer goods, and an excess of consumer demand of the population in comparison with the supply of goods and services. In 1992-1998 the domestic production of consumer goods and the latest technology fell sharply, and the standard of living of the population fell. Since 1999, the gross domestic product began to increase.

The transformation of the command and control system of government in Russia began with a rapid transition from state regulation to a spontaneous market mechanism. Due to the fact that the centralized planned management was liquidated, and a developed and regulated market was not created, in Russia all the administrative activities of the state fell into decay. It was possible to recreate modern effective management only through the optimal combination of state and market regulation of economic activity.

Since the early 90s. annually, an unrealistic budget with a constant deficit was drawn up, which negatively affected the socio-economic situation of the country. Since 2000, the execution of the budget comes to the end with the formation of a surplus. The strategic budgetary policy of the state provides for: a) a significant reduction in the tax burden on the economy; b) social support for the most needy citizens; c) concentration of financial resources to ensure the security of the country, improvement of the judicial system; reproduction of scientific potential, development of the social sphere; fighting poverty; d) reducing the dependence of budget revenues on the current state of world prices; e) creation of an effective public finance management system.

Short description

At the origins of feudalism there were two social systems: ancient, slave-owning, and barbaric, tribal. The gap between them was huge. The first was quite highly developed, the second did not yet know the class system. On the one hand, in ancient society in the IV-V centuries. proto-feudal elements began to take shape, on the other hand, many peoples came to feudalism through independent internal development. Therefore, the development of feudal relations and the emergence of cities with a feudal society in the states took place in different periods.

Table of contents

I. Feudal city, its origin and economic role. 3
1. Western European city - as a classical model of feudalism. 3
1.1. The reasons for the emergence of cities and their struggle for independence. 4
1.2. The shop organization and its role. five
1.3. The role of cities in the development of commodity-money relations and the emergence of capitalist production. 7
2. Features of the eastern feudal cities. eight
3. Feudal cities in Russia. nine

Bibliography