The Role of Frontiers in the Formation of Borders and Roads : Sloboda Ukraine in the Eighteenth Century

This article analyzes the influence of frontiers on the formation of borders and roads in Sloboda Ukraine during the early modern period. Sloboda Ukraine was an historical borderland region formed at the crossroads of three frontiers and peoples : a settled population of two ethnes – Ruthenians (Ukrainians) and Russians–, along with nomads. Sloboda Ukraine covered what are now parts of northeastern Ukraine and southwestern Russia. Based on eighteenth century maps and additional French, Russian and Ukrainian primary sources, this article shows how the movement and changes of those frontiers impacted the formation of the borders of Sloboda Ukraine. Additionally, it observes and explains how administrative changes and the development of frontiers affected the construction and alteration of roads and paths in that borderland region. Sloboda Ukraine went from holding an autonomous status at the beginning of the eighteenth century to becoming incorporated in the Russian empire in the later part of that century, a phenomenon which led to many changes in the network of roads.