Small Historical Towns as Part of the Cultural Landscape of the Union State

   Aim. To identify the place and mission of small historical cities of Russia and the Republic of Belarus in the cultural landscape of the Union State

   Methodology. Based on the generalization of the experience of identifying historical settlements in the Russian Federation, rethink the criteria for classifying cities as "historical". It is noted that there are two main aspects of classifying the city as "historical". Firstly, it is a city in history, i.e. the role of the city as an actor of historical events. Secondly, there is history in the city, i. e. the saturation of the city with objects of historical and cultural heritage and monuments reminiscent of the past. For the first time, based on the content analysis of Russian and Belarusian textbooks of national history, the role of cities as participants in the historical process of their countries has been quantified. In the Republic of Belarus, unlike the Russian Federation, there is no official status of a "historical settlement", and the criteria for classifying cities as small are different.

   Results. It has been established that most of the small historical cities of the Union State arose before the 19^th century, many before the 14^th century. The development of small towns was largely determined by their geographical location. At the first stage, the situation is on the most important water communications, then on the main water and horse-drawn roads. In the 19^th century, railways became the main factor in development. Since the second half of the 20^th century, the main factor in the successful development of cities has been the location on the main transport corridors. The mention of small towns in school history textbooks largely depends on their administrative mission in the past, as well as their role in military history.

   Research implication. The previous lists of historical settlements are analyzed and reinterpreted, the author's list of small historical cities of the Union State is proposed, their high tourist attractiveness and their role in patriotic education are noted. For the first time, the "historicity" of official small historical cities, their hierarchy, and candidates for inclusion in the list have been quantified.

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