Serfdom in Russia Polish provinces. In 1857, 6.79% of serfs were domestic, landless servants who stayed landless after 1861. Only Polish and Romanian domestic serfs got land. 90% of the serfs who got larger plots were in Congress Poland where the Tsar wanted to weaken the . The rest were in the barren north and in Astrakhan. In the whole Empire, peasant land declined 4.1%, 13.3% outside the ex Polish zone and 23.3% in the 16 black earth provinces. These redemption payments were not abolished till January 1, 1907. A 2018 study in the "American Economic Review" found "substantial increases in agricultural productivity,
Administrative divisions of Russia in 1719–1725 were introduced to replace the old system of subdivision into "uyezds"; however, the borders of the new districts did not match those of the old "uyezds". The purpose of the districts was also different from that of the "uyezds"—population of each district was taxed to support military units assigned to it. Administrative divisions of Russia in 1719–1725 The second administrative reform of 1719 was carried out by Peter the Great in order to fix the deficiencies of the original system. On June 9 (May 29 in the Julian calendar), 1719 Peter issued an ukase (edict) that abolished the division of