Sokha (unit)

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Sokha (big plow) is a unit of land measure in Russia in 13th-17th centuries. Sokha was used as unit of taxation for worked land owned by someone else or the State. The term originated when Tatars took rent from the actual plows - the land working tool which used 2-3 horses. At the end of 15th century Novgorod sokha equalled 3 obzhas. A Moscow sokha was equal to 10 Novgorod ones and was paid according to the different sizes in various regions of the state. In 1550 a new land-measure unit was established which kept the old name sokha. The name was then used for a certain amount of exploited land. A sokha was divided into quarters. There were several types of sokha: government – 800 quarters of best land; church – 600 quarters of best land; black – 400 quarters of best land. Here, government meant someone who was working in government sectors, and black meant an average person ("the masses"), quarter or quart meant an area of land that is planted with a quarter of rye. The land was planted in such a way that the area of land seeded with two quarters was equal to a desyatina (an area of land approximately equal to one hectare). Because of the different types of sokha, land owned by lower classes was worth less towards the tax, and most of the tax was paid by the peasants. Given the same amount of land, they paid twice as much as government officials, and 1.5 times as much as church officials. In order to find out how many sokhas were in the state, a census measured and counted the rented lands. Quarters of land that were planted for personal use were free from payment. Until the beginning of the 17th century, a...