Villages around Žagarė at the beginning of the 20th century: changes in rural landowning.

Straipsnyje apžvelgtos Žagarės apylinkių kaimų žemėvaldos pertvarkymo planų ypatybės XX a. pradžioje. Po užsitęsusio stabilumo ir stagnacijos laikotarpio dar Valakų reformos (XVI a.) laikais formuotas kaimų žemėvaldos modelis pradėtas iš esmės pertvarkyti, rengiant projektinius planus atskiriems apylinkių kaimams. Jų pobūdį tuomet lėmė ne vien Rusijos imperijos tuometinės politinės nuostatos, bet ir vietiniai ypatumai. To laiko dokumentuose buvo užfiksuoti anuometinio kaimiškojo gyvenimo šiose apylinkėse momentai (nuo buvusios socialinės ir turtinės diferenciacijos iki vietinių sąlygų įvairovės).Žagarė was probably one of the oldest regions of Baltic agriculture. Since the Volok Reform (16th c.), a system of street-and-strip villages was formed there, with then advanced system of communal three-field crop rotation and sectional land ownership. Due to historical circumstances, that system had not been significantly modernized for several centuries, and in the 19th century became anachronistic, hindering further agricultural progress. Known plans for the rearrangement of landowning in the old villages around Žagarė were prepared in 1909–1914. In 1915, with the beginning of the German (imperial) occupation, and in 1918, with the beginning of the creation of an independent state of Lithuania, the above-mentioned landowing rearrangement plans could not be implemented due to the collapse of the Russian occupation system. At least part of those plans were already validated by the relevant institutions of the Republic of Lithuania in later times. With such nostrification, it was apparently acknowledged that the land ownership plans prepared in 1909–1914 were in the interests of many villagers and did not substantially contradict the provisions of Independent Lithuania. Those plans describe the situation around 1910–1930, provide a lot of important information about the villagers of that time, the land they owned, etc. Those documents also provide broader insights into the situation of the old villages there and their inhabitants