The Administrative Division of the Meshchera Region in the 16th - 18th Centuries and its Restructuring in the Last Quarter of the 18th Century

The article presents the digital reconstruction of the borders of the uezds that existed in the 16th - 18th centuries in the Meshchera Region (within the borders of the Tambov and Shatsk provinces of the middle of the 18th century). It also discusses the changes of the administrative division during the reforms of the last quarter of the 18th century (the provincial reform of Catherine II and the administrative reform of Paul I). The work is based mainly on a large complex of handwritten and printed maps of the late 18th century, and also the registers of settlements of the I and II revizias, which reflect the period poorly covered by large-scale cartography. It is carried out retrospectively, using GIS methods to compare the digital layers reflecting different benchmarks of the study. The study showed that before the last quarter of the 18th century, the territories of uezds and even provinces in the region were located very interspersed. The administrative reforms of the last quarter of the 18th century were carried out in the region more decisively than in most of the old-developed territories, so that the local administrators determined the boundaries of new administrative units, taking little account of the division that existed earlier and proceeding primarily from the principles that guided them. The main result of the study are the published maps, which can present certain interest for the specialists in the history of the region.