The initial period (middle of XVI – late XVIII centuries) of the formation of the demographic and settlement on the territory of modern Saratov region. Territorial expansion of the young Russian centralized state in the Volga region started in the region the process of diffusion material-technical and social innovations, which structured the space, transforming it into the administrative system. Identified spatial and temporal trends, vectors of its development and the factors determining them. The results indicate the cyclic nature of the process of change consists of several stages.