Before we proceed to this post’s text and commentary, permit me to supplement the previous post (here) with newly discovered information. Earlier I wrote that I was unaware of any “lesser” village named Tokmak that would prompt the community report to refer to the village near Halbstadt as Grosstokmak, or Great Tokmak. While looking at an 1835 map during research for this post (see here), I noticed a village just north of Tokmak named Tokmachka. Intrigued, I researched that name and discovered that the full name of the village is Mala Tokmachka (see here). Since the Ukrainian word mala (мала) means small or little, we have our explanation why the community report refers to Tokmak as Grosstokmak: it was to distinguish the village close to Halbstadt from the village of the same name a little farther north. With that mystery cleared up, we are ready to move forward with the next paragraph of the community report.
The village was founded in the insignificant lowland on the left bank of the steppe river Molochna, which originates as the Tokmak 25 versts outside of the border of the district on a significant mountain hill and runs until 2 versts before this village, where the tributary Schönhull empties into it, and from there on it is called the Molochna. It is 40 versts from the former district city, Orikhiv; approximately 120 versts from the current district city, Berdiansk; and approximately 330 versts from the gubernia city, Simferopol.
the village was founded in the insignificant lowland. The reference here is to the village of Halbstadt, not the just-mentioned Grosstokmak. We can only guess why the community report refers to the area as insignificant (German “der nicht gerade bedeutenden Niederung” is literally “the not exactly significant lowland”). The authors of the report may be hinting that there was nothing outstanding about the location, that whatever success the village came to have was due, not to the village’s location, but to its residents. Or perhaps the authors mean to imply that the location was of no interest to the residents of Tokmak or the Nogais, so they were not dispossessed or disadvantaged by the founding of Halbstadt.
left bank. River banks are conventionally labeled left or right, but how does one know which is which? The answer is simple: look down the river, that is, with the current flowing away; the bank on your left is the left bank, and the one on your right is the right bank. Since the Molochna River flows generally from north to south, emptying into the Sea of Azov, the left bank is the east side of the river, which is the side on which Halbstadt and the other original villages were located.
steppe river Molochna. There is nothing intrinsic about a river that makes it a steppe river; it is all a matter of location. The Molochna River is a significant waterway in the immediate area but pales in comparison to a major river such as the Dnipro (or Dnieper). David Moon’s comments about rivers on the steppe, as opposed to rivers that run through deep valleys, are true of the Molochna as well:
The rivers in the region—a potential source of water for irrigation—did not contain sufficient water at the times it was needed. Water levels were highest in the spring, when they were fed by melted snow, but fell over the following weeks. Some rivers dried up altogether in the summer. Due to the flatness of the terrain, the gradient of most steppe rivers was inadequate to allow water to be channelled by gravity to irrigate surrounding land. (Moon 2013, 208)
originates as the Tokmak. The community report can be a little difficult to follow here, but satellite photographs bring clarity. The river known as the Molochna actually starts out as the Tokmak River. The aerial photo below shows where the Tokmak River begins (red pin on the right). The river then travels generally westward along the path of the villages and cities shown until it reaches Tokmak (yellow pin on the left).
2 versts before this village. As noted in the previous, a verst is .66 mile, so this statement indicates that the Tokmak River ran from roughly 30 miles to the east until 2 versts (= 1.32 miles) before the village of Halbstadt. The next phrase explains what happens to the waterway 2 versts before it reaches Halbstadt.
where the tributary Schönhull empties into it. The community report identifies a particular spot on the Tokmak River, a place where another waterway joins the Tokmak. The precise location in view is marked by a red X on the satellite photograph below.
The community report identifies the new waterway as the tributary Schönhull, which can be none other than the tributary labeled the Chynhul on Google Maps. According to the report, something significant takes place at this spot. The next phrase tells us what that is.
from there on it is called the Molochna. Past the point where the tributary Schönhull joins the Tokmak, the river is known as the Molochna. One can even see this indicated on the satellite photo above. To the right of the X the river is labeled Tokmach (Tokmak); downstream past the X it is the Molochna. The change in name takes place roughly a mile and a quarter north of the village Halbstadt.
Having located the village in terms of a well-known geographical landmark, the community report proceeds to locate it in relation to three prominent cities. In the satellite photo below, Halbstadt is marked by the red pin: Orikhiv is the yellow pin to the north, Berdiansk is the one to the east, and Simferopol the one to the south.
Orikhiv. The community report spells this city name Orechow; the Ukrainian spelling commonly used today is Orikhiv. Founded around 1783, this city was only two decades older than Halbstadt. According to the community report, Orikhiv had previously served as the district capital. If I understand correctly, in 1802 Tsar Paul I redrew the political map of the area formerly held by the Crimean Khanate. As part of that reorganization, he established the Taurida gubernia (or governate), which encompassed all of Crimea and a substantial amount of land on the mainland north of Crimea. All the territory outlined in color in the map below was a part of Taurida.
The Taurida gubernia was divided into a number of districts (or uyezds).* The district/uyezd in which the Molotschna colony was located, which later was named the Berdiansk uyezd, was on the east side of the mainlaind portion of the Taurida gubernia. The city Orikhiv was on the northern border of Taurida, some 40 versts (ca. 26 miles) north-northeast of Halbstadt.
*One can think of a gubernia and its constituent uyezds as roughly comparable to a state and its counties.
Berdiansk. Located on the shore of the Sea of Azov, Berdiansk grew rapidly from a small settlement in the late 1820s and reached city status in 1835 (see here). Six years later, in 1841, Berdiansk replaced Orikhiv as uyezd capital. As we will read later in the community report, Berdiansk played a significant role in the life of the Molotschna colony by providing a ready market for the colony’s agricultural goods. As indicated in this section of the report, Berdiansk was approximately 120 versts (79 miles) from Halbstadt.
Simferopol. Located 330 versts (ca. 220 miles) south-southwest of Halbstadt, Simferopol served as the capital of Taurida from the the creation of the gubernia in 1802. Although a city had long existed on the same general location, it was newly founded and given the name Simferopol (Greek: City of Common Good) after Catherine II’s conquest of the Crimean peninsula in the early 1780s.
Work Cited
Moon, David. 2013. The Plough That Broke the Steppes: Agriculture and Environment on Russia’s Grasslands, 1700–1914. Oxford Studies in Modern European History. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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