# Sokha

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{{Short description|Horse-drawn plow}}
{{about||the Cambodian politician|Kem Sokha}} 
{{Italic title}}
[[File:Великорусская соха.jpg|thumb|right|Great Russian ''sokha'', illustration by [Nikolay Karazin](/source/Nikolay_Karazin), 1899]]
thumb|''Sokha'' dating to the 19th to mid-20th century

A '''''sokha''''' ({{langx|ru|соха}}) is a light wooden [ard](/source/ard_(plough)), consisting of two body ards, with their parallel beams forming the two shafts for a single horse-drawn tillage implement with two socket shares ({{lang|ru|рассоха}}).<ref>H. J. Hopfen, ''Farm Implements for Arid and Tropical Regions'', 54.</ref> In later types, the double body is combined into one wooden board.

The ''sokha'' adapts the body ard to a single-animal harness following the pattern of a shaft-drawn cart and adds a [spade](/source/spade)-like component that turned over the soil. On [plough](/source/plough)s, the curved [mouldboard](/source/mouldboard) both cuts and turns the soil. Other design features can vary depending on local building custom.

It was used primarily in [Russia](/source/Russia),<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hellie |first1=Richard |editor1-last=Mokyr |editor1-first=Joel |title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Economic History |date=2003 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-510507-0 |page=415 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Oxford_Encyclopedia_of_Economic_Hist/ssNMAgAAQBAJ |language=en |chapter=Russia: Early Modern Period}}</ref> [Finland](/source/Finland), and other countries in [Northern](/source/Northern_Europe) and [Eastern Europe](/source/Eastern_Europe).

==History==
The origin of the ''sokha'' is uncertain, as well as its spread across the [East European Plain](/source/East_European_Plain).{{sfn|Smith|1977|p=17}} The current evidence suggests that it originated in the forest zone of [European Russia](/source/European_Russia).{{sfn|Smith|1977|p=20|loc="The present state of the evidence, then, suggests that the sokha developed in the forest zone of European Russia, though not necessarily in the coniferous part of that zone"}} The ''sokha'' is mentioned as a tool or tax unit in 1275 and two [birch bark manuscript](/source/birch_bark_manuscript)s found in [Novgorod](/source/Novgorod) also reference the ''sokha'' around this time.{{sfn|Smith|1977|p=18}} In Russia, the ''sokha'' was also used as a unit of taxation and the size of the ''sokha'' varied greatly by region and over time as this depended on the quality of the land to be ploughed.{{sfn|Feldbrugge|2017|p=816,1055}}

By the 14th century, the ''sokha'' had spread to other regions, and its distribution is generally agreed to cover eastern Poland, northwestern Ukraine, Belarus, European Russia, Finland, and the [Baltic states](/source/Baltic_states), as well as a small part of [Siberia](/source/Siberia) and Sweden.{{sfn|Smith|1977|p=19}} It likely spread first into the northern areas of the forest zone in European Russia and then [Karelia](/source/Karelia), and then across the [Gulf of Finland](/source/Gulf_of_Finland).{{sfn|Smith|1977|p=20}}

==See also==
{{commonscat|Sokha}}
* [Timeline of Russian inventions and technology records](/source/Timeline_of_Russian_inventions_and_technology_records)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book |last1=Feldbrugge |first1=Ferdinand J. M. |title=A History of Russian Law: From Ancient Times to the Council Code (Ulozhenie) of Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich of 1649 |date=2 October 2017 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-35214-8 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_History_of_Russian_Law/TDI9DwAAQBAJ |language=en}}
* {{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Robert E. F. |title=Peasant Farming in Muscovy |date=1977 |publisher=CUP Archive |isbn=978-0-521-20912-0 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Peasant_Farming_in_Muscovy/4So9AAAAIAAJ |language=en}}
* [George Vernadsky](/source/George_Vernadsky). ''A History of Russia''. (Yale University Press, 1969) ({{ISBN|0-300-00247-5}}).

Category:Agricultural machinery
Category:Animal equipment
Category:Gardening tools
Category:Science and technology in Russia
Category:Russian inventions
Category:Ploughs

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Sokha](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sokha) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sokha?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.