Locuitorii ținutului Hotin (sfârșitul sec. al XVIII-lea – începutul sec. al XIX-lea)

At the end of the 18th century – the beginning of the 19th century, the Hotin land (raya) was severely affected by migration processes. Many Ruthenian (Ukrainian) immigrants from the North Dniester (especially from Podolia) moved to this land. Most settled in Moldovan villages, but new villages (slobozii) were also established, populated only by Ukrainian immigrants. The anthroponymic analysis of the Russian census from 1774 shows us that the ethnic structure of the population of Hotin was very similar to the neighbouring land of Chernivtsi. In Hotin, the Ruthenians (Ukrainians) lived more compactly in the north, near the Dniester River, on the border with Podolia, in many villages being the majority. The south of the land was inhabited compactly by Romanians (Moldovans), but there were also many villages with mixed population, Romanian-Ukrainian. Research based on the Russian census of 1774, the Austrian catagraphy of 1788 and Russian statistics of 1808 allows us to see that there has been a gradual increase in the share of the Ukrainian population. Due to the migration processes, the share of Romanians (Moldovans) in the Hotin county decreased from approx. 60% in 1774, to approx. 47-49% in 1808, but the proportion of Ruthenians (Ukrainians) increased - from approx. 35% in 1774, to approx. 42-44% in 1808, and also of the Jews (from 3.6% in 1774 to 8.9% in 1808). Over more than three decades, the total number of inhabitants of Hotin Land has increased 2.5 times (from 6,267 families in 1774 to 15,759 families in 1808). Already in 1820, more Ukrainians than Moldovans lived in Hotin Land.