Historical and geographical study of a particular region usually starts from the time when the transition to the era of modern civilization was outlined on a corresponding territory: hunter-gatherer nature use was replaced by producing one, the statehood appeared, the human impact on the natural landscape sharply increased. However, this transition took place gradually over a more or less long period, which in historical geography can be regarded as prehistoric, or prequel. In this transitional period many natural as well as ethnic and other socio-historical backgrounds of forming and subsequent development of the historical and geographical regions were laid. The paper presents some results of preliminary analysis of the paleogeographic and ethno-historical events of the Holocene as backgrounds for the study of historical geography of the area of last glaciation of the East European plain.

The analysis of differences in salary of employees of local governments and employees of large and medium-sized enterprises in the urban districts of Russia during 2009—2011 has been held. The smallest gap occurred in Siberia, and the higher ones were in the Far East and Southern federal districts. In 2010 and 2011 in the cities applying the model of local self-government with a city manager the gap rate was much higher. There is practically no direct link between performance indicators of economic development and the gap degree; to the contrary, in cities with poor population the gap is higher.