The principal adaptation by all settlers in the Molochna region in the early years consisted of variations on the single theme of animal hus­bandry.

These variations grew out of the experiences of the settlers before their arrival in Molochna, and in particular out of their attitudes towards markets and commercial agriculture, as well as towards the ways the environment could be shaped to fit human needs.

Differing attitudes towards markets and the environment also found expression in self-administrative practices in Molochna. Nogai and Or­thodox state peasants showed little inclination to manage their own society. For both of these groups the functional role of their traditional administrative system had been to manage scarce resources. In the first decades of settlement, however, land in the Molochna River Basin was plentiful, and this undermined the legitimacy of their traditional sys- terns. The foreign colonists and sectarians brought with them their traditional religiously based self-administrative systems, which had pre­viously been limited or suppressed by powerful central states. The isola­tion they found in Molochna provided an opportunity for their tradi­tions to blossom, helping to create vibrant ethnocultural ‘common­wealths.’