KYRGYZSTAN IN THE LAST

QUARTER OF THE 19TH - EARLY

20TH CENTURIES.

POLITICAL AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC SITUATION OF KYRGYZSTAN AFTER

JOINING THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE.
ADMINISTRATIVE - TERRITORIAL
DIVISION AND COLONIAL POWER

• After joining Russia, Kyrgyzstan was part of the

Turkestan Governor General. The territory
inhabited by the Kyrgyz was divided between
four regions: Semirechensk, Syr-Darya, Fergana
and Samarkand.
• The Kyrgyz, as before, lived in compact tribal
associations, dividing into two wings and a group of
southern tribes - Ichkilik. There were no clear
territorial boundaries for the settlement of clans.
• However, it is still possible to outline the main areas of
residence.
• The Bugu occupied mainly the eastern and southern coasts of
Issyk-Kul, the foothills of the Ili valley. Sarybagysh - Kemin
valley and the northwestern coast of Issyk-Kul. In the Chui
valley and Talas, Solto, Saruu, Kytai, and Kushchu prevailed.
Sayaks lived along Son-Kul, on Suusamyr and in Ketmen-Tube.
• In the Central Tien Shan and Eastern Turkestan, there
are Mongoldor and Cherik. In Alai and Pamir -
Adygene. In Western Ferghana - ichkilik, teit, kushchu,
munduz, basyz. In Eastern Ferghana - mungush,
bagysh, karabagysh. Other tribal divisions roamed
between them, which created favorable conditions for
ethnic mixing.
NEW ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISION -
ORGANIZATION OF THE LIFE OF THE KYRGYZ
SOCIETY.

• The tsarist authorities introduced a new

administrative division, which almost did not
take into account the nature of the tribal
organization of the life of the Kyrgyz society.
• The Kyrgyz population at that time reached half a
million people. The colonial-administrative apparatus
was paramilitary: at the head of the regions and districts
were tsarist officers and district bailiffs, and the volosts
were headed by the leaders of tribes and clans.
• The new government banned tribal wars, completely
eliminated slavery, and streamlined the tax system.
These government measures had a positive impact on
the development of the Kyrgyz society, whose internal
life otherwise remained the same.
• The tsarist administration interfered little in the
management of the Kyrgyz population. Here, all power
was transferred to the Kyrgyz feudal lords, who for the
most part, began to faithfully serve tsarism and at the
same time zealously guard the traditional foundations of
Kyrgyz society, on which their power rested.
• The Kyrgyz, who inhabited the Fergana and
Samarkand regions, were ruled by former Kokand
officials on behalf of the tsarist administration:
beks, datkas, akims, eshik-agas. In the north of
Kyrgyzstan in the late XVIII - early XIX century.
formed a new ruling elite - MANAPS.
 TAX POLICY
• The local population bore labor and in-kind
duties, along with monetary taxes. The tax
policy of the colonial authorities was aimed
at a constant increase in taxes.
• So, if at the beginning of the establishment of the colonial power,
nomadic farms paid a yurt tax in the amount of 2 rubles 75 kopeikas, then
by 1914 the total amount of taxes was 15 rubles.
• Residents of agricultural areas paid two types of taxes. Tax in kind in the
form of 1/10 of the harvest, and a cash tax from gardeners. A tax was
introduced on all plots suitable for plowing. Whether this area was sown
or not was not taken into account. Thus, in one Fergana region, the
average annual volume of tax revenues increased by 500 thousand rubles.
SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF
KYRGYZSTAN IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE XIX
- EARLY XX CENTURIES.

• The nature of the economy and life of the Kyrgyz after

joining Russia remained traditional. However, over
time, the influence of the Russian economy and direct
contacts with the settlers affected. Russian-Ukrainian
settlers organized agricultural enterprises, developed
livestock breeding, beekeeping and horticulture.
• New cities appear (Karakol), existing ones develop
(Pishpek, Tokmak), and many villages. The settlers
actively adopted the skills of irrigation, the system of
cattle grazing, growing grapes and other crops from
the indigenous population, adopted some tools of
labor and everyday life. Many studied the Kyrgyz
language.
• The development of handicraft production and mining began. Small
handicraft enterprises appeared, manufacturing, coal and oil industries
were born. Uzbeks, Uighurs, Tatars go to Kyrgyzstan for permanent
residence. In 1877-1878, after the suppression of the anti-Qing uprising
in China, Dungan refugees appeared here, who settled in compact
colonies in the Chui valley and in the vicinity of Karakol. Changes in
the economy led to changes in the social composition of the population.
• Many wealthy peasants, artisans, and merchants
appeared. Kyrgyz peasants appeared - the poor, who
went to work in the midst of field work and harvesting
campaigns, and returned to their villages in winter. In
general, the socio-political relations among the
Kyrgyz remained patriarchal-feudal.
• The national working class was only in its
infancy. Workers in factories and mines
worked fifteen hours a day for meager
wages. The urban population was only 7.4%
of the population.
• The beginnings of the emergence of a national
bourgeoisie, which consisted mainly of people from
the Bai-Manap environment, who owned oil mills,
tanneries, mills and traded in large and small cattle,
sought to extract the maximum benefit from
commodity-money relations, tried to quickly make up
the first capital.