WORLD HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -By the mid-19th century, peasants composed a majority of the population, and according to the census of 1857, the number of private serfs was 23.1 million out of 62.5 million citizens of the Russian empire, 37.7% of the population.

Detailed explanation-2: -Russian serfdom emerged during the sixteenth century, just when similar forms of servitude had begun to decline in many parts of Western Europe. During earlier centuries, Russian peasants had lived on the land in settlements called communes.

Detailed explanation-3: -Peasants. Peasants-Around 82% of the population were peasants who lived in the countryside.

Detailed explanation-4: -They became serfs: human property of estate owners who used them to grow and harvest cash crops for immense profit. Meanwhile, serfs received no compensation for their labor, given only drafty huts to live in and little food to eat, they barely survived frigid Russian winters.

Detailed explanation-5: -Act of February 19, 1861, gave personal freedom to 23 million serfs, or 34.4 percent of the total population of Russia, promoting them to the status of “free rural inhabitants."