Popova O.V., Fatkullina R.R.
GEOGRAPHICAL ASPECT OF RUSSIAN OLD BELIEVERS NATURE MANAGEMENT TRANSFORMATION ^{[№ 6 ' 2015]}
The Old Believers — is one of the ethno-cultural communities in the Russian part of the ethnic group, which is close to extinction, because their ethno-cultural system is susceptible to transformation. A very important aspect is the transformation of nature management, which is a heritage and an important characteristic of ethno-cultural community. Despite the large number of works devoted to the study of the Old Believers, there are practically no geographical works, studying the characteristics of their nature management. Territorial differences in the transformation of nature management of the Old Believers in Russia predetermine the specific economic and cultural development. The most important factors in the transformation of nature are the interaction with neighbor ethno-cultural groups and interaction with the host landscape. Old Believers pursued a policy of isolationism for a long time, but allowed interethnic contacts and even marriages because of their small size and inability to live in isolation in the changing world. As a result, their ethno-cultural system, including the system of nature management, converged and partially or completely transformed. During their resettlement the Old Believers adapted to the new landscape. They moved out of the forest zone of European Russia to the south of Russia, the Urals, Siberia and the Far East. Old Believers were adapted to the new natural and economic conditions, new building materials, borrowed tools, develop new activities, adapted to the different seasonal work, changed the food system, etc. The following groups of Old Believers areas were singled out and characterized, due to the nature management transformation: Group I with the low degree of conservation of natural resources of the Old Believers — Upper Volga region, European North, Middle and Lower Volga region, Southern Russia, the Urals; Group II with the moderate degree of preservation of nature of the Old Believers — Siberia; Group III with a high degree of the Old Believers natural resources conservation — the Far East. The contemporary nature management of the Old Believers is transformed and represents the agrarian type in rural areas and industrial type with elements of post-industrial one in cities.