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The information from the materials of the General Land Survey of the Russian Empire in the first third of the 19th century about the German colonies based on the territory of the Melitopol district of the Tauride province is analyzed in the article. The relevance of the study is due to the great interest in the resettlement policy pursued by the Russian Empire in this region at the end of the 18th — the first third of the 19th centuries, as well as in the processes of settlement and development of new territories and the participation of foreign colonists in them. The novelty of the study lies in the involvement of previously unused “Economic notes on the plans of the General survey, field notes of land surveyors and controversial cases” as sources on the history of German colonists. Based on them, the author studies the features of the economic structure of the settlements of German colonists, the structure of their land. Particular attention is paid to the dispute between the Mennonites and the Dukhobors about the boundaries of possessions, during which the true location of the Molochnaya River bed was clarified. The consideration of the case shows that disputes over the boundaries of land plots were of a fundamental nature and reached the highest authorities. Until the 1830s, there were still unresolved issues related to land management and surveying of the German-speaking colonies.

The results of comparative analysis research of the first Russian soil scientists, held in Borovichskiy uyezd of Novgorod governorate in the late 19th century, with the materials of General land surveying of the late 18th century are presented. The relevance of the work is determined by insufficient knowledge of the topic and by the parameters of fertility of the land changing during the centuries. The author reveals the peculiarities of soil research in this region since the late 19th century, focuses on typical features of their description given according to the scientific achievements of that time. Special attention is paid to the comparison of the results of field researches of soil scientists in the area of certain villages with an electronic database compiled by the author, that characterizes the soil in the materials of the general land surveying. It is proved that the ranking of soil types by soil scientists in the late 19th century coincides with information about soil in the materials ofgeneral land surveying of the late 18th century. The wide use of soil descriptions in the subsequent rural studies is highlighted. Scientific novelty of the work consists in the fact that it for the first time systematized, summarized and mapped field survey results of the first Russian soil scientists and general land surveying by the example of Borovichskiy uyezd of Novgorod governorate.