Sloboda 2546304 192277093 2008-02-18T10:34:16Z VolkovBot 3035831 robot Adding: [[no:Sloboda]] {{otheruses}} {{unreferenced|date=November 2007}} [[Image:Nemetskaya.jpg|thumb|250px|left|[[German Sloboda]] in 17th-century [[Moscow]].]] '''Sloboda''' was a kind of settlement in the history of [[Russia]], [[Belarus]] and [[Ukraine]]. The name is derived from the early Slavic word for "[[Freedom (philosophy)|freedom]]" and may be vaguely translated as "free settlement". The status of "sloboda" varied over the time and territory. Initially the settlers of a ''sloboda'' were freed from various taxes and levies for various reasons, hence the name. Many ''slobodas'' were settled in newly colonized lands, particularly, by [[Cossacks]], freedom from taxes being an incentive for colonization. Some ''slobodas'' were parts of a city. By the first half of the 18th century this privilege was abolished, and ''slobodas'' became ordinary [[village]]s, ''[[shtetl]]s'', [[townlet (p.g.t.)|townlet]]s, suburbs. The term is preserved in names of various settlements and city quarters. Some settlements were named just thus: "Sloboda", "Slobodka" (diminutive form), "Slabodka", "Slobidka" ([[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]]). Similar settlements existed in [[Wallachia]] and [[Moldavia]], under the name ''[[slobozie]]/[[slobozia]]''. ==See also== *[[Sloboda Ukraine]] *[[Sloboda Tatars]] (слободские татары) {{East-Slavic-history-stub}} [[Category:Human habitats]] [[Category:Geography of Russia]] [[fr:Sloboda]] [[it:Sloboda]] [[nl:Sloboda]] [[no:Sloboda]] [[pl:Słoboda (osada)]] [[ru:Слобода]] [[uk:Слобода]]