Serfdom in Russia Great, businesses began to send serfs into those areas in an attempt to harvest their large amount of untapped natural resources Tsar Alexander I wanted to reform the system but was thwarted in this ambition. New laws allowed all classes (except the serfs) to own land, a privilege that had previously been confined to the nobility. Russian serfdom was finally abolished in the emancipation reform of 1861 by Tsar Alexander II. Scholars have proposed multiple overlapping reasons to account for the abolition, including fear of a large-scale revolt by the serfs, the government's financial needs, evolving cultural sensibilities, and the
1861 in New Zealand 1861 in New Zealand The following lists events that happened during 1861 in New Zealand. A ceasefire is reached in the First Taranaki War, with British efforts to defeat Māori disaffected over land purchases having largely failed. Prosperity comes to the south with the onset of the Central Otago Gold Rush. Within a year the population of the Tuapeka goldfields is twice that of Dunedin. The general election of 1860–61 concludes on 28 March having begun on 12 December the previous year. The 3rd Parliament commences. The first National Rifle Shooting Championships is held. This is the oldest national championships