Environmental Conditions as a Factor of Influence on the Everyday Life of the Orthodox Population of Ukrainian Lands of the Second Half of the 16th – 17th Centuries

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to analyze natural conditions as a significant factor of influence on everyday life, practices and strategies for the survival of the population of Ukrainian lands in the second half of the 16th – 17th centuries. The main task of the study is to reconstruct the environment of the second half of the 16th – 17th centuries and to identify the mutual influence of man and nature. Research methodology: the following methods were used: general scientific – historical and logical, analysis and synthesis, generalization; special – historical-systemic, historical reconstruction, which consists in drawing up a fairly complete picture of everyday life from disparate facts. Scientific novelty: the natural factor in the pre-industrial era is significantly underestimated in the studies of everyday life and is one of the most significant in the impact on human life, but it is ignored in modern historical works. Therefore, the analysis of the natural conditions of everyday life, especially in the early modern era, is relevant today. Conclusions. The analysis of the influence of natural conditions on everyday life of the population shows that a significant part of the population in one way or another was engaged in the transformation of nature in their production practices and was largely dependent on the environment. In the minds of the population, nature was seen as an endless resource for consumption. When assessing the influence of nature on everyday life in the second half of the 16th  – 17th centuries, emphasis should be placed on the fact that during this period there was a combination of reproduction and appropriating forms of the economy in everyday production practices. The richness of natural resources, the fertility of the soil helped people to survive, but everyday survival was often due to the merciless exploitation of nature, especially in forests and wild animals. Parallel to this, there are attempts to protect resources from overuse by granting privileges to a limited number of consumers and legislative regulation. In general, the environmental circumstances of everyday life of the specified period cannot be characterized as stable due to the reduction of forest, plowing of virgin lands, excessive extermination of wild animals.