Regional Land Road System of Putivl Uyezd in the 17th century

The article deals with the formation and functioning of land routes in the southern part of the Putivl district (uyezd) in the 17th century. The authors analyzed a significant number of written and visual sources and proposed options for passing the routes of the roads known at that time. At the end of the 16th century, Putivl played an important role in organizing guard and border services on the border with uninhabited steppe areas of the Wild Field (Dike Pole). At that time, roads in the modern sense of the term did not exist in the region under study. The act documents stipulated the general direction of movement and indicated the places of crossings over the rivers. In the middle of the 17th century, in the regions bordering the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, several fortresses appeared, located far from the populated territories of Muscovy. Their lives were directly dependent on the supply of food and military supplies. At this time, the load on the old roads increases, and a primitive road network between these cities is being formed. These roads were not equipped with engineering and hydraulic structures, and their throughput and ease of movement remained at a primitive level. The second half of the 17th century was marked by changes in the administrative structure of the region. Ukrainian settlers began to form a qualitatively new system of communications. The road network was improved, and cities and large villages made it possible to receive groups of merchants who came from remote regions. Fairs began to appear in these settlements, to which merchants from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Lithuania and Hetman Ukraine came. The construction of a new road network allowed the cities of Sloboda Ukraine to quickly integrate into the economic trading model of Eastern Europe.