Ulusnye Liudi

(ulusnye muzhiki), members of Yakut clan and territorial communes; originally they were freemen who paid iasak (tribute). In the 17th and 18th centuries, the prosperous ulusnye liudi (the “good ulusnye muzhiki” and the “better Yakuts”) differed little from the toiony (princes), but the economic and legal status of the balyksyty (fishermen) and other ulusnye liudi who did not own cattle was close to that of the kuluty (slaves). By the mid-18th century those members of the Yakut commune who had lost their independence and become feudal vassals constituted a majority in the commune.