Summary. The purpose of the article is to publish and analyze of literature and archival sources to identify components of the problem of illicit trade in the Kyiv Province in the first half of the 19th century. Research methodology – the principles of objectivity, scientificity, historicism, comparative method, methods of internal criticism of sources. The scientific novelty is that it is for the first time that the information from the framework of sources presented in the Central State Historical Archive of Ukraine in Kyiv, the State Archive of Kyiv Oblast and its analysis is introduced in scientific circulation. Conclusions. The research of archival sources allowed to deepen the picture of relations between the state, government officials, business representatives in the field of trade, in particular, illicit trade. It has been discovered that illicit trade was caused primarily by the desire for personal enrichment and by external tariffs of the Russian Empire, which contained a wide range of goods prohibited for import into the country. Strict regulation of external trade encouraged merchants and all persons involved in transactions with contractors of other countries to seek means and mechanisms for transportation and sale of demanded goods. It has been found that people with foreign connections were involved in the illicit trade. Although, there were cases when illicit goods were traded by merchants and burghers of the interior provinces who acted only as intermediaries. Civil servants, whose actions were coordinated by the Kyiv governor himself, were involved in fight against the schemes by which prohibited and uncustomed goods entered the market. The cases in the activities of government officials were revealed when officials were negligent in their duties. Under certain conditions, customs officers used their official position for personal enrichment. The abuse of customs officers (zollners) testified risks of the border service and at the same time showed the extent of illicit enrichment. The consequences of the fight against illicit trade were the return of money to the treasury in the form of penalties (fines), one-time cases of enrichment of public supervisors abroad, taking purification oaths by smugglers in the presence of clergy.
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