Polyethnic Population Structure of Northeast and West Kazakhstan in the Eighteenth Century to the 1860s

Abstract

The article reviews the polyethnic population structure of northeast and western Kazakhstan in the eighteenth century to the 1860s. Some key factors influenced the formation processes of the population: Dzhungar and Bashkir attacks on Kazakh camping grounds; joining of Junior, Middle and Senior zhuz [ranked tribal groups] into the Russian Empire; colonial policy of the Russian Empire in Kazakhstan; and Russia’s emigre policy to Kazakhstan in the second half of the nineteenth–early twentieth centuries. Major relevant aspects of population formation are analyzed from the perspective of state interests concerning territorial integrity, security and enhanced stability. Objective information on ethnodemographic processes can help promote formation of self-identification for people as citizens of the state.

Keywords:

• resettlement
• migration
• colonization
• settlement
• Cossacks

Notes

a. The authors are carefully using the encompassing term “Kazakhstany” to indicate the multi-ethnic composition of today’s Kazakhstan.

b. The original Iletsk was in the Urals. By 1824, under Tsar Alexander I, the “New Iletsk” defensive line was established in the territory of today’s Kazakhstan.

c. Russian Tsarist authorities frequently confused the ethnic identities of nomadic and settled Kazakh and Kirghiz, resulting in “internal/external” (or “ours/not ours”) distinctions as the border areas shifted. A typical eighteeth-nineteenth century over-generalization was to call all nomads “Kirghiz,” leaving a misleading legacy for future historians and anthropologists. See also Daniel Brower and Edward J. Lazzerini, eds. Russia’s Orient: Imperial Borderlands and Peoples, 1700–1917 (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, Indiana-Michigan Series in Russian and East European Studies, 1997).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Aigul B. Taskuzhina

The authors teach at Kostanay State Pedagogical Institute, 110000, 118 Taran Street, Kostanay, Republic of Kazakhstan, and each has either a Doctorate or Candidate degree in historical sciences. Aigul B. Taskuzhina, Otegen I. Issenov, and Zamzagul B. Shakhaman are assistant professors. Aigul M. Balzhanova, Ainash B. Anasova, and Tolkyn A. Erisheva are senior lecturers. Email: [email protected]

Aigul M. Balzhanova

The authors teach at Kostanay State Pedagogical Institute, 110000, 118 Taran Street, Kostanay, Republic of Kazakhstan, and each has either a Doctorate or Candidate degree in historical sciences. Aigul B. Taskuzhina, Otegen I. Issenov, and Zamzagul B. Shakhaman are assistant professors. Aigul M. Balzhanova, Ainash B. Anasova, and Tolkyn A. Erisheva are senior lecturers. Email: [email protected]

Tolkyn A. Erisheva

The authors teach at Kostanay State Pedagogical Institute, 110000, 118 Taran Street, Kostanay, Republic of Kazakhstan, and each has either a Doctorate or Candidate degree in historical sciences. Aigul B. Taskuzhina, Otegen I. Issenov, and Zamzagul B. Shakhaman are assistant professors. Aigul M. Balzhanova, Ainash B. Anasova, and Tolkyn A. Erisheva are senior lecturers. Email: [email protected]

Otegen I. Issenov

The authors teach at Kostanay State Pedagogical Institute, 110000, 118 Taran Street, Kostanay, Republic of Kazakhstan, and each has either a Doctorate or Candidate degree in historical sciences. Aigul B. Taskuzhina, Otegen I. Issenov, and Zamzagul B. Shakhaman are assistant professors. Aigul M. Balzhanova, Ainash B. Anasova, and Tolkyn A. Erisheva are senior lecturers. Email: [email protected]

Ainash B. Anasova

The authors teach at Kostanay State Pedagogical Institute, 110000, 118 Taran Street, Kostanay, Republic of Kazakhstan, and each has either a Doctorate or Candidate degree in historical sciences. Aigul B. Taskuzhina, Otegen I. Issenov, and Zamzagul B. Shakhaman are assistant professors. Aigul M. Balzhanova, Ainash B. Anasova, and Tolkyn A. Erisheva are senior lecturers. Email: [email protected]

Zamzagul B. Shakhaman

The authors teach at Kostanay State Pedagogical Institute, 110000, 118 Taran Street, Kostanay, Republic of Kazakhstan, and each has either a Doctorate or Candidate degree in historical sciences. Aigul B. Taskuzhina, Otegen I. Issenov, and Zamzagul B. Shakhaman are assistant professors. Aigul M. Balzhanova, Ainash B. Anasova, and Tolkyn A. Erisheva are senior lecturers. Email: [email protected]