The Inner Kirghiz Horde of Astrakhan Governorate: the Impact of Trades and Crafts People on the Establishment of Stationary Settlements in Kazakh-Inhabited Lands. 19th Century

Introduction. The impact and role of trades and crafts population in the establishment of stationary settlements throughout the Inner Kirghiz Horde remains understudied in domestic historiography though it might facilitate deeper insight into multiple processes that took place in western Kazakhstan in the 19th century. The topic is closely related to the issues of population formation, Russia’s policy in national peripheries, migrations, etc. Goals. The article primarily aims to illustrate the participation of trades and crafts people in the establishment of earliest settlements in Kazakh nomadic territories of the Volga–Ural interfluve, which includes a number of objectives, such as to specify the causes underlying the arrival of trades and crafts people in the lands of the Bukey Horde; examine their national, class and occupational characteristics; analyze the attitude of local inhabitants and authorities to the immigrants, and delineate some consequences of the migration for the development of the region. Results. The paper shows the fact those were predominantly trades and crafts people who settled there is explained by that due to certain natural and climate properties the steppe territories between the Volga and the Don rivers were by and large unsuitable for successful crop growing and, thus, unattractive for agricultural population. For this reason, the settlements established within the Inner Kirghiz Horde served ― by the occupational profile of its inhabitants ― as trade and handicraft centers. The favorable conditions included the interest of the Kazakh nobility and Kazakh community in the development of trade, which gave way to stimulating measures aiming to attract traders, and the absence of professional traders among the nomads as such that excluded ― at least, in the early stage ― competition between the natives and newcomers. The paper also notes that the Russian ruling circles showed no essential interest in the lands of the Bukey Kazakhs since those were not crossed by any strategically important routes, nor any deposits of natural resources that could be used for industrial purposes had been discovered yet. In the 19th century, the authorities did not seek to change lifestyles of the Bukey Kazakhs, and therefore took no measures to sedentarize them. For this and other reasons, permanent settlements there were few enough, the bulk of their inhabitants being migrants from other provinces. The majority of those to have founded villages were Tatars from Kazan Governorate who were close to the Kazakhs both in terms of language and religion. An important consequence of the Tatars’ penetration in the Inner Kirghiz Horde was the intensification of Islamic propaganda and strengthening of Islam’s positions among the Kazakh population. Conclusions. The study concludes that migrant traders played a major role in the creation and development of the earliest 19th-century stationary settlements in the territory of the Inner Kyrgyz Horde. Their arrival was not associated with any special policy of the Russian Government and the bourgeoisie but resulted from favorable trade conditions that prevailed in the territory. Merchants and craftsmen gave rise to permanent settlements in the lands of the Bukey Kazakhs, facilitating further development of trade and crafts, familiarizing the nomads with the mentioned activities and sedentary life.

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