Ministry of State Property

The Ministry of State Property, sometimes translated as the Ministry of State Domains, (Russian: Министерство государственных имуществ (МГИ), Ministerstvo gosudarstvennykh imushestv (MGI) was the ministry in the government of the Russian Empire which controlled government-owned lands and any other government property, especially farms and agricultural land, and prior to the abolition of serfdom, the government peasants that worked the lands.

When Ministries were introduced in 1802, there was no original independent ministry to oversee state property. These powers and responsibilities were divided among the Ministry of Domestic Affairs and Ministry of Finance. Since 1811, control over government assets was exercised by the Department of State Assets of the Ministry of Finance, and later the Fifth Department of His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery. After a nationwide crop failure and reconsideration of peasant and serf policy, an independent Ministry was created to take care of these issues, including reapportionment of land in the Tavria Governorate and encouragement of potato cultivation as an attempt to diversify Russia's crop.

The Ministry of State Property was founded on 26 December 1837. In 1843, a Forest Department was added together with the Foresters' Corps. In 1845, the Agricultural Department was first organized, and from 1848 to 1856 and 1874 to 1881 the ministry also included government horse breeding facilities. In 1857, the Crimean Tatars and several Nogai murzas petitioned the Ministry for more land in order to alleviate their poverty, on the basis that their ancestors were granted titles and deeds by Catherine II and they had a legitimate claim for ownership. However, the Ministry concluded that although the Tatars possessed proof of the noble status granted to their forefathers, those ancestors were long dead and claims based on their service had no significance. Faced with no guarantee of rights from the Russian government, the Nogai obtained permission to emigrate to Turkey, and between the fall of 1859 and 1860, some 35,000 Nogai had left the region, virtually the entire population. From 1873 to 1905, there was a Mountains Department, which was originally in the Finance Ministry. The Ministry also organized a Scientific Committee as a society devoted to horticulture, agriculture and economics, as well as experimental agriculture.

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