Ufa — Cultural Center for Muslims of the Russian Empire, Late 19th – Early 20th Centuries: Formation, Development, Heritage

Introduction. In the Southern Urals traditionally densely inhabited by Turkic peoples, the role of Ufa for the cultural and economic development of Bashkirs and Tatars was extremely important. Goals. The article highlights key moments in the formation of administrative, intellectual and economic resources in the Southern Ural capital, the systemic combination of which has turned Ufa into a center for the Muslim peoples of Russia’s East. The conceptual insight into cultural history of the multinational city presupposes analyses of religious, economic, and sociopolitical preconditions for its emergence. Materials. Along with historiographic data, the article investigates periodicals, archival documents, including a large array of reporting papers by the Volga-Kama Commercial Bank stored at the Russian State Historical Archives. Results. The early history of Ufa was associated with the existence of a Tatar settlement in the city and the shaping of a layer of non-Russian officials and nobility. The strategic efforts aimed at eliminating the influence of Central Asian and Turkish Muslims on co-religionists in the eastern outskirts of Russia resulted in an unprecedented project to create Orenburg Muftiate in Ufa. The latter’s activities became the main prerequisite for further concentration of intellectual and social resources of Russian Muslims in the city. The economic base of Muslim parishes with a full-fledged infrastructure — mosques, madrasas and maktabs — was largely formed by wealthy Ufa-based Muslim merchants. The role of Ufa in the social and political life of Russian Muslims can be traced through the development of the media, regional and national Muslim congresses. Conclusions. The development of Ufa as a center of Russia’s Turko-Islamic society contributes to the understanding of the phenomenon of cultural regionalism and its content.

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