Russian empress Catherine the Great was extremely interested in economic development, and in 1864, invited Jewish immigrants to come settle the lands north of the Black Sea and register as merchants and traders. Many Jewish people from Poland and Lithuania took Catherine’s offer. While for many years Catherine offered them freedom to conduct business, however, an imperial degree passed in 1791 completely undid this tolerance. Jewish merchants were prohibited from doing business in larger Russia and were restricted to a certain area. The term “Pale of Settlement” (meaning “borders of settlement”), however, was not used until the reign of Tsar Nicholas I (1825 – 1855). Under his rule, the Pale became smaller and more restrictive. By 1880, over half the world’s Jews lived in the Russian empire, and about 90 percent of these were concentrated in the Pale. Tsar Alexander II (1855 – 1881) began allowing educated Jewish people to live outside of the Pale, but his assassination in 1881 ended any hope of the Pale being abolished. Things were made even worse when rumors spread that Jewish people had been responsible for the assassination, leading to pogroms throughout the Pale from 1881 – 1883 and from 1903 – 1906.