Kolonia Yakovlevo
Yakovleva, Belarus
Agricultural Colonies

Information pertaining to all agricultural colonies from the Jewish Encyclopedia, 1906:

In the western governments the Jewish Agricultural Colonies were founded after the publication of the edict of 1835. There the Jews were permitted to settle on government as well as on private lands, and for founding colonies wealthy Jews were rewarded with the title of honorary citizens. In 1848, 158 families, comprising 946 persons, settled on government lands. Eleven years later (1859) the settling of Jews on such land in the western governments ceased entirely; and in 1864 they were deprived of the permission even to settle on private lands. In 1870 there were 34,475 Jews settled in the Agricultural Colonies in the western governments.

The full article can be found at Agricultural Colonies in Russia by Herman Rosenthal

Other Resources and Links

Aviel, Avraham, A Village Called Dowgalishok (Vallentine Mitchell, 2006). This book in part describes daily life in a  Jewish farming village in the Eastern Poland-Belarus region.

Chapin, D. and Weinstoc, B. The Jewish Farmers of Podolia,., The Road from Letichev: The history and culture of a forgotten Jewish community in Eastern Europe, Vol. 1,  Chap. 9,  iUniverse, Lincoln, Nebraska, 2000.

Dekel-Chen, Jonathan, Farming the Red Land: Jewish Agricultural Colonization and Local Soviet Power, 1924-1941 (Yale University Press, 2005). This book examines the movement to establish Jewish farming settlements in the Crimean peninsula between the World Wars in an unusual collaboration between the Soviet government and foreign Jewish philanthropists.

Norman, Theodore,  An Outstretched Arm: A History of the Jewish Colonization Association (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1985). Cited in Dekel-Chen, above.

Archival Sources for the Genealogy of Jewish Colonists in Southern Russia in the 19th Century
Feldman, Dimitry Z. et. al, RAGAS Newsletter Vol. V, No. 1 (1999)

Jewish Agricultural Colonies in the Western Governments

Jewish Agricultural Colonies in Russia - Part One

Jewish Agricultural Colonies in Russia - Part Two

Wikipedia: Jewish Agricultural Colonies in the Russian Empire

Extensive information about all Russian Agricultural Colonies