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Nadezhda Annenkova

17 Jul 1840 – Saint Petersburg, 25 May 1891

7 facts1 source

Facts and their sources

A life in time

  1. 17 Jul 1840

    Born

  2. 25 May 1891

    Dies in Saint Petersburg, aged 50

Family

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Parents

Partner

During her lifetime

She lived through 6 decades. Pick one to hear and see what it was like.

General history, not a record about the family: each item says where it comes from.

The 1840s · Nadezhda is born

In the news1848

Cholera and Crop Failures in 1848

In 1848, a major cholera epidemic, coupled with a bad harvest and dry weather that caused widespread town fires, severely disrupted the lives of the agrarian population.

Getting around

Travel times to Siberia varied wildly

In 1827, traveling by road from Moscow to Irkutsk took 23 days, which was considered extremely fast for that time. In mud-prone seasons, however, the same journey could take up to nine months.

In Europe1845–1852

The Great Famine in Ireland

Potato blight ruined harvests: a million Irish people died and a million more emigrated, many to America.

Daily life

Low rates of peasant literacy and education

Literacy among serfs was extremely low, with estimates not exceeding 1%. Education was largely confined to home training by local sextons or clerks, often limited to reading, writing, and basic arithmetic.

What people wore

A single lifetime festive outfit

Peasants often prepared one high-quality outfit in their youth that was kept for their entire lives to be worn only on the most important feast days.

Music

Improvisational pliaska dances and percussion

Fast-paced pliaska dances were characterized by individual improvisations, sometimes accompanied by improvised percussion like wooden spoons or metal pots when standard instruments were unavailable.

At the table

Meal Customs in Peasant Households

Peasant families frequently ate from common dishes without individual cutlery, often eating in a set order led by the head of the household. Hygiene was minimal; dishes were typically rinsed in cold water after use rather than thoroughly washed.