Річка Вовк як історичний актор: від цивілізаційного фронтиру до імперської кваліфікації (кінець XVII – перша половина XIX століття)

English

The Vovk River as a Historical Actor: from Civilizational Frontier to Imperial Status (Late 17th – First Half of the 19th Century)

Abstract. The article examines the transformation of the Vovk River as a historical actor in the Podillian borderland from the era of a civilizational frontier in the late seventeenth century to imperial quantification in the first half of the nineteenth century. Special attention is paid to changes in the river’s functions under Ottoman rule, post-frontier recolonization, economic development, and administrative description. The study shows that the Vovk River functioned not only as a natural hydrographic feature, but also as a factor in defense, colonization, milling, fishing, local timber floating, and epidemiological risk. Drawing on cadastral descriptions, archival materials, and scholarly literature, the article demonstrates that the imperial administration attempted to reduce the river to a measurable resource; however, its hydrological variability, seasonality, and influence on local practices preserved its own historical agency. The article concludes that the small rivers of Podillia should be regarded as full participants in the historical process, capable of shaping military, economic, demographic, and environmental change in the region.

Keywords: Vovk River; Podillia; historical ecology; civilizational frontier; cadastral description; milling; imperial quantification; epidemiological history; hydrological variability; Derazhnianshchyna