Forced Registration of Subjecthood

The occupation administration of the Russian Empire imposed on the Indigenous population the legal codification of subordinate status, exploiting their economic need and presenting the oath as a rigid ultimatum: historian Ya. Z. Akhmadov states that in 1747, in response to the highlanders' requests for resettlement, «official consent of the imperial court was given («to admit and assign») on the condition that the highlanders take an oath of Russian subjecthood»^[1], while to those absent «officers were sent «to administer the oath»»^[1]; similarly in 1748, when the mountain communities petitioned for subjecthood so that «traveling with merchandise to the town of Kizlyar... under protection would be free»^[1], the administration «agreed to this proposal on the condition of the mandatory resettlement of the «Chebutlins» from the mountains to the lower reaches of the Sunzha»^[1].