"FORMATION OF THE RUSSIAN-KAZAKH BORDER IN THE XVI - EARLY XIX CENTURIES"
BYKOV ANDREY YURIEVICH
Doctor of Historical Sciences, PhD / Doctor of Philosophy
Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences
The term "border" began to be used in Russian documents from the first half of the 14th century. In particular, this is mentioned in the treaty charter of Veliky Novgorod with the Livonian Order in 1323. By the 1730s. the terminology of organizational structures that ensure the protection and protection of the borders of the state was formed: “outpost” (earlier - “zavora”), “ambush”, “guard”, “village”, “guard”, “customs”, “fortress”.
There was no boundary line on the ground, as is the case on many interstate borders with a plowed strip, or solid fences, etc. at that time. Usually, wooden or stone signs were placed, most often pillars, and sometimes notches were simply made on growing trees, called edges and notches.
The term notch was often used as a demarcation line. The same word also denoted a defensive structure of large and medium-sized trees, felled in rows or crosswise with peaks in the direction of the enemy. At the same time, the branches of the trees used were sharpened, becoming, in fact, spears. Historical documents testify to the presence in the XVII-XVIII centuries. spotted against the Western Mongols - Dzungars - in the Irtysh region [1. L. 160]. Only in a certain sense can Sims be considered an analogue of notches - beacons with secret signs made of twigs and plant stems, which at the same time were fences against "invasions of hostile nomadic tribes into the lines." Sims were arranged along the entire length of the border lines with the Kazakhs of both the Orenburg and Siberian departments [2. S. 6]. Also, in relation to the borders with the Kazakhs, the Russian authorities, at the suggestion of the Collegium of Foreign Affairs, used the terms “steppe borders”, “Asian side”, “Steppe”, etc. [3. L. 2], although the concepts of the Cossack horde, the lands of the Kirghiz-Kaisaks, etc. were also actively used. phrases that were tied primarily to the main population that exploited these lands - the Kazakhs. The military department also used the concept of “actual border” [4. P. 27], which designated precisely the state border with foreign countries, and not with countries and peoples that were in the protectorate or vassalage.
The modern official interpretation of the concept of "state border" is identical for the Russian and Kazakh sides and boils down to the following. The state border is a line and a vertical plane passing along it, defining the boundaries of the territory - land, water, subsoil and airspace.
As a working definition of the concept of “borderland”, one can take as a basis the definition given in the “Political Dictionary”: “territories adjacent to the border, the so-called border zones, have not only a special legal, but also a geopolitical status. Here power vectors converge and the national interests of various states are concentrated” [5].
The first mention of persons guarding the border among the Slavs dates back to the 11th century. In the fifteenth century Moscow princes managed to create in the Russian border cities the so-called guard service, the task of which was to monitor the advance of the enemy troops and notify the border governors about this. And only at the end of the XVI century. a guard, stanitsa and field service arose, the main task of which was not only to protect the border, but also to explore and agriculturally colonize the border territories [6]. In 1571, the "Boyar verdict on the stanitsa and guard service" was issued. On the eastern borders, for a long time, the main burden of protecting the border, combined with the possibility of raiding neighbors, was borne by the Cossacks (Volga, Ural, Siberian). There were significantly fewer regular troops here than on the southern and western borders.
During the Time of Troubles, the border service ceased to exist and was recreated by the Romanovs. It was they who supported the policy of building border fortifications and border lines with the involvement of regular and Cossack troops in them, as well as the gradual settlement of the fortresses themselves by the agricultural and artisan population and the formation of rural suburbs.
Only on August 5, 1827, Emperor Nicholas I approved the Regulations on the formation in Russia of a customs border guard based on military principles. This is considered the date of the creation of the border service in Russia. Initially, this service was engaged in the fight against smuggling, but was soon endowed with other powers inherent in the border services of the present [7. S. 6-7].
K.Sh. Khafizova believes that the Kazakhs solved the issue of border protection during this period as follows: there was no special service. “Only small detachments were left at important river and mountain crossings, caravan routes, which simultaneously served as routes for military campaigns. The camps of nomads closest to the borders were vigilantly watching for signs of the appearance of strangers. The foremen of the auls reported, if necessary, the threat of a military invasion [8. S. 110].
After joining in the XVI century. Kazan, Astrakhan and Siberian khanates, as well as parts of the Nogai Horde, the borders of Russia in a vast area began to come into contact with the Kazakh Khanate. These contacts were not regular and were mainly of a commercial nature. However, there were also diplomatic relations and military clashes.
One of the first mentions of the Kazakhs in Russian sources refers to February 1569, telling about the events of the autumn of 1568, when Hakk-Nazar made a campaign against the Nogai Horde, which received support from the Astrakhan governor [9. S. 592].
In 1574, the first agreement on duty-free Russian-Kazakh trade was concluded [10. S. 7].
During the reign of Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich, an agreement was concluded with the Kazakh ruler Tauekel Khan on joint actions against the Siberian Khan Kuchum and the Central Asian ruler Abdallah Khan II [11. S. 29-33]. Moreover, within the framework of the surviving correspondence and documentary evidence, the issues of the development of trade, the protection of caravans, and the acceptance of the Muscovite kingdom as subjects were raised [12. Doc. 5]. The defeat of Kuchum was considered by the Moscow court as an automatic entry of all territories and population of the former Siberian Khanate into Russia. In particular, the territories of the basins of the Ob and Irtysh rivers are indicated as part of the state under Tsar Fedor Ioannovich [13. L. 32].
Speeches on the delimitation of possessions between the Moscow kingdom and the Kazakh Khanate in the documents of the XVI-XVII centuries. was not done. Those. there was no delimitation on the map - delimitation - there was also no marking on the surface of the earth - demarcation, although the so-called natural borders - mountains, rivers, lakes, etc. existed and could be perceived as conditional boundaries.
During the Northern War, Peter I sought to put under the control of Russia the transcontinental trade routes that passed through Central Asia. In 1714-1717. A number of attempts were made to penetrate Khiva. These expeditions were led by Prince Bekovich-Cherkassky. The route of the expeditions changed, land and water options were tried. The composition of the expedition also changed. In its composition were at different times from 1500 to 17600 people. As a pretext, the proposal to join Khiva to Russia was considered. The first Caspian expeditions ended badly [14. pp. 133-145; 15. S. 237-424].
In 1714, the Siberian governor Prince M.P. Gagarin reported to the sovereign about the large reserves of native gold deposits in the Yarkand region. Peter I ordered to equip new expeditions up the Irtysh. Their number did not exceed 3 thousand people, the first was headed by I.D. Buchholz [16. L. 132v, 144-147v]. The difference between the Irtysh expeditions was not just the advance to Central Asia, but also the consolidation of new territories for Russia through the construction of fortified points [17. S. 135]. The Buchholz expedition founded the fortifications of Yamyshevskoye and Omskoye, but in 1716, due to opposition from the Jungars, it returned back. During the years 1715-1720. in the same direction, a number of expeditions were equipped, which founded the fortifications of Zhelezinskoye, Semipalatnoe and Ust-Kamenogorsk. The expedition of I.M. Likharev. They could not reach Yarkand, however, they managed to gain a foothold in the Middle Irtysh region, and here Russia encountered not only Dzungaria, but also the Kazakhs.
In 1724, Emperor Peter I granted the request of the Siberian authorities to protect the border settlements along the Ishim, where the Kazakhs migrated, having made a number of attacks on Russian settlements [17. S. 443]. In 1732, the Siberian governor A.L. Pleshcheev reported to the Empress Anna Ioannovna that further strengthening of the borders of the Siberian possessions was required, primarily on the border with the Dzungars and the Chinese. Together with P.I. Baturin, he reported that the existing three infantry regiments, an incomplete dragoon regiment and irregular troops were not enough to reliably protect the border. Also, in their opinion, it was required to strengthen the garrisons on the borders with the Kazakhs [19. S. 62-63].
Thus, at an early stage of development of the territory, the Russian authorities entrusted the protection of the borders on the Siberian lines mainly to regular troops.
In the Orenburg Territory, initially, irregular troops were primarily engaged in guarding the borders. Initially, the guards were carried by the Ural, later - mainly by the Orenburg Cossacks. Since 1743, representatives of local peoples (the Bashkir-Meshcheryatsk Cossack army) were also involved in this [20. S. 516]. At the same time, regular units were stationed year-round in fortresses on the border lines, and irregular units for about three months, after which they were rotated.
The claims of the Dzungarian rulers on the Irtysh region were received until the liquidation of the Dzungar state. The Chinese authorities, after the defeat of the Dzungar Khanate by the Qings, also entered into diplomatic correspondence several times, considering the Irtysh region and a number of other areas to be disputable [21. L. 422 about. – 423]. The Qing tried to force a part of the Kazakhs to recognize dependence by force, which prompted the Kazakh sultans to seek protection near the Russian fortresses [22. L. 27v.].
When the Kazakhs of the Little Zhuz were accepted as subjects in 1731, one of the obligations of the Russian government to the Kazakhs was the construction of a city on the Or River, where it was supposed to allow Russians to trade with Kazakh and Central Asian merchants. The question of the construction of cities by Russians in the border area and on the territory of the Kazakh nomads was interpreted by the Kazakh rulers in different ways. If the rulers of the Little Zhuz generally supported the construction of fortifications and sometimes, as can be seen from the above examples, they themselves entered the government with a request for this, then the rulers of the Middle Zhuz did not have such unanimity. There is evidence from Akhmet Kenesarin, who was in the Russian service, that the “Russian border authorities” of the Siberian department turned to the son of the late Khan Ablai, Gubaidulla, whom the Russian authorities did not recognize as a khan, with a proposal to build a city in the Kokchetav tract. However, he refused, answering like this: “I do not agree to the construction of the city. It would be better if we live in peace, each in his own place, according to a written agreement concluded between Ablai Khan and the White Tsar" [23. S. 17].
In 1741, a trade was founded in Orenburg, where, in order to attract Central Asian merchants, the customs duty was reduced by 3 times compared to Astrakhan for the first 10 years - to 1.5%. Russian merchants were forbidden to resell goods bought in Orenburg in the interior regions of the empire with a markup of more than 20%. To oversee trade under the Orenburg Commission, the position of a special commissioner was established [24. L. 64-67]. Kazakhs were exempted from the trade duty in Orenburg, then in Troitsk and in Siberian cities [25. L. 70]. Despite the shorter route for Bukhara merchants through Astrakhan, even at the beginning of the 19th century. the government retained privileges for the Orenburg trade in order to encourage Central Asian traders to use it. Moreover, in Astrakhan, collections were made in silver, and in Orenburg and Troitsk, in banknotes, which had a much lower market value. The Siberian cities of Tobolsk, Tyumen, Tara, and later Tyumen since the 16th century. received benefits for Central Asian merchants. For a long time, caravans here did not pay duties at all [26. S. 220-221].
The Russian authorities tried to involve the Kazakhs in protecting the borders from the steppe side [27. S. 72].
Accurate maps until the 19th century. didn't exist. Moreover, the borders on them were also not indicated, and the countries and peoples were indicated conditionally. The maps were full of numerous errors due to the incompetence of topographers and the uncertainty of the names of geographical places [28. S. S. 114-115].
Only since the 1820s. the regional mapping of the territory of Kazakh lands began on the basis of geodetic survey materials created by a separate Orenburg corps of military topographers and geodesists [29. S. 36-37].
By 1801, the density of the Cossack population of the Urals, primarily due to artificial growth, increased here to 29,588 souls of both sexes. At the same time, about two people per 1 verst were assigned directly to the protection of the borders. The total length of the Yaitsky (Ural) border lines was in the middle of the XVIII century. 1780 versts.
In 1815, the length of the Siberian border lines was estimated at 2360 versts. The total composition of the service class was 19640 male souls and 17885 female souls [30. S. 293-294]. Here, about 3 people per verst were determined to guard the borders. The distance between the fortifications ranged from 12 to 33 versts, the average distance was 21.8 versts.
The protection of the borders was led by the highest provincial authorities, up to the governors-general / governors. Special bodies appeared in the name of which the concept of "border" appeared: expeditions, commissions, courts.
With the formation of a ten-verst strip in the Irtysh region and the appearance of a number of similar regions in the Urals, it becomes necessary to establish landmarks on the ground, which can hardly be correctly called a demarcation line; it is more appropriate to consider such a concept as a boundary, i.e. distinction between administrative units [21. L. 424v.]. Surveying on the ground in the steppe regions of the Orenburg region, inhabited by Kazakhs, began later and was of a local nature. At the same time, the Kazakhs here were familiar with boundary marks [31. L. 12].
Thus, the Russian-Kazakh borderland was formed for almost 500 years. At the same time, the first period of its formation turned out to be the longest in time, ending only at the beginning of the 19th century, when the Russian authorities embarked on large-scale reforms aimed at introducing a new administrative-territorial administration in the Steppe region with a larger-scale incorporation of the Kazakhs into the imperial structure and infrastructure.
In the zone of interaction, Kazakhs and Russian subjects (in addition to Russians, also Tatars, Bashkirs, Meshcheryaks, Nogais, Kalmyks, Altaians and representatives of European peoples who were in the Russian service), as the geographical border of the neighborhood expanded and the population in the border area condensed, inevitably expanded contacts between themselves. In addition to spontaneous exchange relationships since the 18th century. regular trading began, which gradually became part of international trade, providing overland transit of European goods from Western Europe and Russia to Central Asia, Chinese and partly Persian goods, as well as goods produced in Khiva and Bukhara, and Kazakh cattle to Russia and partly to Western Europe. The first inter-ethnic marriages appeared, the number of which also increased due to the gender imbalance of the Cossacks who served on the border and the resettled peasants assigned to this class. Almost all of the time under consideration, interfaith relations were calm.
The first attempts were made to include the Kazakhs in the imperial bureaucracy through the creation of special border agencies, part of whose employees must be made up of Kazakhs and representatives of other non-Russian peoples of the Volga, Urals and Western Siberia. There was no talk of direct control of Kazakhs by Russian officials at that time.
A significant role in the formation of the Russian-Kazakh borderland was played by conflicts that arose both between the Kazakhs and the Cossacks, and between the Kazakhs and other ethnic groups included at different times in the Russian Empire and having different political and legal status. It was the confrontational component that was decisive at that time in the formation of the Russian-Kazakh border, which was not fixed by treaties, but was mentioned in many acts of the Russian government. Initially, it passed along natural boundaries: the Ural and Irtysh rivers and their tributaries, lakes, and only slightly along territories without natural markers of the limits of ownership. Gradually, this border began to shift deeper into the steppe regions.
For a significant part of the traditional Kazakh nobility, the appearance of Russian fortresses created new opportunities for expanding trade and economic relations and raising their own status and personal enrichment, including through the use of the emerging infrastructure and border regime.
In the XVI - the first half of the XVIII centuries. The foreign policy factor played an important role in the formation of the frontier and the borders themselves. The change in the interstate border of Russia with the Dzungars, and the later registration of the "internal" boundaries of the settlement of the Bashkirs, among other things, contributed to the determination of the limits of the Kazakh nomads and the weakening of threats to them from the southeast and northwest. With the fall of the Dzungar Khanate and the signing of an official treaty between the Russian Empire and Qing China, the territory inhabited by Kazakhs, including in the Russian-Kazakh border, took shape and later transformed within the framework of administrative reforms, and not in the format of interstate interaction.
An attempt to form a certain neutral zone, for example, in the form of the so-called ten-mile strip, caused misunderstanding and opposition from both the Kazakhs and the Cossacks and the provincial administration. As a result, the tsarist government refused to create territories with such a status in the future.
From the moment the Kazakhs were included in the Russian Empire, notches everywhere began to be replaced by beacons, including sims. The protection of the Russian-Kazakh border was carried out only from the side of the so-called internal territories. Initially, it was predominantly carried out by regular troops, but gradually it was almost completely transferred into the hands of irregular troops, and in the Urals for a long time the basis of the guards were Cossacks from among the Bashkirs and Meshcheryaks, only in the 19th century Orenburg Cossacks began to form the basis of the border guard.
The work is carried out within the framework of the targeted financing program of the project BR10965282 “Kazakhstan-Russian border: historical context and new geopolitical reality” (headed by Dr. S.B. Kozhirova).
Read other articles by the author
There was no boundary line on the ground, as is the case on many interstate borders with a plowed strip, or solid fences, etc. at that time. Usually, wooden or stone signs were placed, most often pillars, and sometimes notches were simply made on growing trees, called edges and notches.
The term notch was often used as a demarcation line. The same word also denoted a defensive structure of large and medium-sized trees, felled in rows or crosswise with peaks in the direction of the enemy. At the same time, the branches of the trees used were sharpened, becoming, in fact, spears. Historical documents testify to the presence in the XVII-XVIII centuries. spotted against the Western Mongols - Dzungars - in the Irtysh region [1. L. 160]. Only in a certain sense can Sims be considered an analogue of notches - beacons with secret signs made of twigs and plant stems, which at the same time were fences against "invasions of hostile nomadic tribes into the lines." Sims were arranged along the entire length of the border lines with the Kazakhs of both the Orenburg and Siberian departments [2. S. 6]. Also, in relation to the borders with the Kazakhs, the Russian authorities, at the suggestion of the Collegium of Foreign Affairs, used the terms “steppe borders”, “Asian side”, “Steppe”, etc. [3. L. 2], although the concepts of the Cossack horde, the lands of the Kirghiz-Kaisaks, etc. were also actively used. phrases that were tied primarily to the main population that exploited these lands - the Kazakhs. The military department also used the concept of “actual border” [4. P. 27], which designated precisely the state border with foreign countries, and not with countries and peoples that were in the protectorate or vassalage.
The modern official interpretation of the concept of "state border" is identical for the Russian and Kazakh sides and boils down to the following. The state border is a line and a vertical plane passing along it, defining the boundaries of the territory - land, water, subsoil and airspace.
As a working definition of the concept of “borderland”, one can take as a basis the definition given in the “Political Dictionary”: “territories adjacent to the border, the so-called border zones, have not only a special legal, but also a geopolitical status. Here power vectors converge and the national interests of various states are concentrated” [5].
The first mention of persons guarding the border among the Slavs dates back to the 11th century. In the fifteenth century Moscow princes managed to create in the Russian border cities the so-called guard service, the task of which was to monitor the advance of the enemy troops and notify the border governors about this. And only at the end of the XVI century. a guard, stanitsa and field service arose, the main task of which was not only to protect the border, but also to explore and agriculturally colonize the border territories [6]. In 1571, the "Boyar verdict on the stanitsa and guard service" was issued. On the eastern borders, for a long time, the main burden of protecting the border, combined with the possibility of raiding neighbors, was borne by the Cossacks (Volga, Ural, Siberian). There were significantly fewer regular troops here than on the southern and western borders.
During the Time of Troubles, the border service ceased to exist and was recreated by the Romanovs. It was they who supported the policy of building border fortifications and border lines with the involvement of regular and Cossack troops in them, as well as the gradual settlement of the fortresses themselves by the agricultural and artisan population and the formation of rural suburbs.
Only on August 5, 1827, Emperor Nicholas I approved the Regulations on the formation in Russia of a customs border guard based on military principles. This is considered the date of the creation of the border service in Russia. Initially, this service was engaged in the fight against smuggling, but was soon endowed with other powers inherent in the border services of the present [7. S. 6-7].
K.Sh. Khafizova believes that the Kazakhs solved the issue of border protection during this period as follows: there was no special service. “Only small detachments were left at important river and mountain crossings, caravan routes, which simultaneously served as routes for military campaigns. The camps of nomads closest to the borders were vigilantly watching for signs of the appearance of strangers. The foremen of the auls reported, if necessary, the threat of a military invasion [8. S. 110].
After joining in the XVI century. Kazan, Astrakhan and Siberian khanates, as well as parts of the Nogai Horde, the borders of Russia in a vast area began to come into contact with the Kazakh Khanate. These contacts were not regular and were mainly of a commercial nature. However, there were also diplomatic relations and military clashes.
One of the first mentions of the Kazakhs in Russian sources refers to February 1569, telling about the events of the autumn of 1568, when Hakk-Nazar made a campaign against the Nogai Horde, which received support from the Astrakhan governor [9. S. 592].
In 1574, the first agreement on duty-free Russian-Kazakh trade was concluded [10. S. 7].
During the reign of Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich, an agreement was concluded with the Kazakh ruler Tauekel Khan on joint actions against the Siberian Khan Kuchum and the Central Asian ruler Abdallah Khan II [11. S. 29-33]. Moreover, within the framework of the surviving correspondence and documentary evidence, the issues of the development of trade, the protection of caravans, and the acceptance of the Muscovite kingdom as subjects were raised [12. Doc. 5]. The defeat of Kuchum was considered by the Moscow court as an automatic entry of all territories and population of the former Siberian Khanate into Russia. In particular, the territories of the basins of the Ob and Irtysh rivers are indicated as part of the state under Tsar Fedor Ioannovich [13. L. 32].
Speeches on the delimitation of possessions between the Moscow kingdom and the Kazakh Khanate in the documents of the XVI-XVII centuries. was not done. Those. there was no delimitation on the map - delimitation - there was also no marking on the surface of the earth - demarcation, although the so-called natural borders - mountains, rivers, lakes, etc. existed and could be perceived as conditional boundaries.
During the Northern War, Peter I sought to put under the control of Russia the transcontinental trade routes that passed through Central Asia. In 1714-1717. A number of attempts were made to penetrate Khiva. These expeditions were led by Prince Bekovich-Cherkassky. The route of the expeditions changed, land and water options were tried. The composition of the expedition also changed. In its composition were at different times from 1500 to 17600 people. As a pretext, the proposal to join Khiva to Russia was considered. The first Caspian expeditions ended badly [14. pp. 133-145; 15. S. 237-424].
In 1714, the Siberian governor Prince M.P. Gagarin reported to the sovereign about the large reserves of native gold deposits in the Yarkand region. Peter I ordered to equip new expeditions up the Irtysh. Their number did not exceed 3 thousand people, the first was headed by I.D. Buchholz [16. L. 132v, 144-147v]. The difference between the Irtysh expeditions was not just the advance to Central Asia, but also the consolidation of new territories for Russia through the construction of fortified points [17. S. 135]. The Buchholz expedition founded the fortifications of Yamyshevskoye and Omskoye, but in 1716, due to opposition from the Jungars, it returned back. During the years 1715-1720. in the same direction, a number of expeditions were equipped, which founded the fortifications of Zhelezinskoye, Semipalatnoe and Ust-Kamenogorsk. The expedition of I.M. Likharev. They could not reach Yarkand, however, they managed to gain a foothold in the Middle Irtysh region, and here Russia encountered not only Dzungaria, but also the Kazakhs.
In 1724, Emperor Peter I granted the request of the Siberian authorities to protect the border settlements along the Ishim, where the Kazakhs migrated, having made a number of attacks on Russian settlements [17. S. 443]. In 1732, the Siberian governor A.L. Pleshcheev reported to the Empress Anna Ioannovna that further strengthening of the borders of the Siberian possessions was required, primarily on the border with the Dzungars and the Chinese. Together with P.I. Baturin, he reported that the existing three infantry regiments, an incomplete dragoon regiment and irregular troops were not enough to reliably protect the border. Also, in their opinion, it was required to strengthen the garrisons on the borders with the Kazakhs [19. S. 62-63].
Thus, at an early stage of development of the territory, the Russian authorities entrusted the protection of the borders on the Siberian lines mainly to regular troops.
In the Orenburg Territory, initially, irregular troops were primarily engaged in guarding the borders. Initially, the guards were carried by the Ural, later - mainly by the Orenburg Cossacks. Since 1743, representatives of local peoples (the Bashkir-Meshcheryatsk Cossack army) were also involved in this [20. S. 516]. At the same time, regular units were stationed year-round in fortresses on the border lines, and irregular units for about three months, after which they were rotated.
The claims of the Dzungarian rulers on the Irtysh region were received until the liquidation of the Dzungar state. The Chinese authorities, after the defeat of the Dzungar Khanate by the Qings, also entered into diplomatic correspondence several times, considering the Irtysh region and a number of other areas to be disputable [21. L. 422 about. – 423]. The Qing tried to force a part of the Kazakhs to recognize dependence by force, which prompted the Kazakh sultans to seek protection near the Russian fortresses [22. L. 27v.].
When the Kazakhs of the Little Zhuz were accepted as subjects in 1731, one of the obligations of the Russian government to the Kazakhs was the construction of a city on the Or River, where it was supposed to allow Russians to trade with Kazakh and Central Asian merchants. The question of the construction of cities by Russians in the border area and on the territory of the Kazakh nomads was interpreted by the Kazakh rulers in different ways. If the rulers of the Little Zhuz generally supported the construction of fortifications and sometimes, as can be seen from the above examples, they themselves entered the government with a request for this, then the rulers of the Middle Zhuz did not have such unanimity. There is evidence from Akhmet Kenesarin, who was in the Russian service, that the “Russian border authorities” of the Siberian department turned to the son of the late Khan Ablai, Gubaidulla, whom the Russian authorities did not recognize as a khan, with a proposal to build a city in the Kokchetav tract. However, he refused, answering like this: “I do not agree to the construction of the city. It would be better if we live in peace, each in his own place, according to a written agreement concluded between Ablai Khan and the White Tsar" [23. S. 17].
In 1741, a trade was founded in Orenburg, where, in order to attract Central Asian merchants, the customs duty was reduced by 3 times compared to Astrakhan for the first 10 years - to 1.5%. Russian merchants were forbidden to resell goods bought in Orenburg in the interior regions of the empire with a markup of more than 20%. To oversee trade under the Orenburg Commission, the position of a special commissioner was established [24. L. 64-67]. Kazakhs were exempted from the trade duty in Orenburg, then in Troitsk and in Siberian cities [25. L. 70]. Despite the shorter route for Bukhara merchants through Astrakhan, even at the beginning of the 19th century. the government retained privileges for the Orenburg trade in order to encourage Central Asian traders to use it. Moreover, in Astrakhan, collections were made in silver, and in Orenburg and Troitsk, in banknotes, which had a much lower market value. The Siberian cities of Tobolsk, Tyumen, Tara, and later Tyumen since the 16th century. received benefits for Central Asian merchants. For a long time, caravans here did not pay duties at all [26. S. 220-221].
The Russian authorities tried to involve the Kazakhs in protecting the borders from the steppe side [27. S. 72].
Accurate maps until the 19th century. didn't exist. Moreover, the borders on them were also not indicated, and the countries and peoples were indicated conditionally. The maps were full of numerous errors due to the incompetence of topographers and the uncertainty of the names of geographical places [28. S. S. 114-115].
Only since the 1820s. the regional mapping of the territory of Kazakh lands began on the basis of geodetic survey materials created by a separate Orenburg corps of military topographers and geodesists [29. S. 36-37].
By 1801, the density of the Cossack population of the Urals, primarily due to artificial growth, increased here to 29,588 souls of both sexes. At the same time, about two people per 1 verst were assigned directly to the protection of the borders. The total length of the Yaitsky (Ural) border lines was in the middle of the XVIII century. 1780 versts.
In 1815, the length of the Siberian border lines was estimated at 2360 versts. The total composition of the service class was 19640 male souls and 17885 female souls [30. S. 293-294]. Here, about 3 people per verst were determined to guard the borders. The distance between the fortifications ranged from 12 to 33 versts, the average distance was 21.8 versts.
The protection of the borders was led by the highest provincial authorities, up to the governors-general / governors. Special bodies appeared in the name of which the concept of "border" appeared: expeditions, commissions, courts.
With the formation of a ten-verst strip in the Irtysh region and the appearance of a number of similar regions in the Urals, it becomes necessary to establish landmarks on the ground, which can hardly be correctly called a demarcation line; it is more appropriate to consider such a concept as a boundary, i.e. distinction between administrative units [21. L. 424v.]. Surveying on the ground in the steppe regions of the Orenburg region, inhabited by Kazakhs, began later and was of a local nature. At the same time, the Kazakhs here were familiar with boundary marks [31. L. 12].
Thus, the Russian-Kazakh borderland was formed for almost 500 years. At the same time, the first period of its formation turned out to be the longest in time, ending only at the beginning of the 19th century, when the Russian authorities embarked on large-scale reforms aimed at introducing a new administrative-territorial administration in the Steppe region with a larger-scale incorporation of the Kazakhs into the imperial structure and infrastructure.
In the zone of interaction, Kazakhs and Russian subjects (in addition to Russians, also Tatars, Bashkirs, Meshcheryaks, Nogais, Kalmyks, Altaians and representatives of European peoples who were in the Russian service), as the geographical border of the neighborhood expanded and the population in the border area condensed, inevitably expanded contacts between themselves. In addition to spontaneous exchange relationships since the 18th century. regular trading began, which gradually became part of international trade, providing overland transit of European goods from Western Europe and Russia to Central Asia, Chinese and partly Persian goods, as well as goods produced in Khiva and Bukhara, and Kazakh cattle to Russia and partly to Western Europe. The first inter-ethnic marriages appeared, the number of which also increased due to the gender imbalance of the Cossacks who served on the border and the resettled peasants assigned to this class. Almost all of the time under consideration, interfaith relations were calm.
The first attempts were made to include the Kazakhs in the imperial bureaucracy through the creation of special border agencies, part of whose employees must be made up of Kazakhs and representatives of other non-Russian peoples of the Volga, Urals and Western Siberia. There was no talk of direct control of Kazakhs by Russian officials at that time.
A significant role in the formation of the Russian-Kazakh borderland was played by conflicts that arose both between the Kazakhs and the Cossacks, and between the Kazakhs and other ethnic groups included at different times in the Russian Empire and having different political and legal status. It was the confrontational component that was decisive at that time in the formation of the Russian-Kazakh border, which was not fixed by treaties, but was mentioned in many acts of the Russian government. Initially, it passed along natural boundaries: the Ural and Irtysh rivers and their tributaries, lakes, and only slightly along territories without natural markers of the limits of ownership. Gradually, this border began to shift deeper into the steppe regions.
For a significant part of the traditional Kazakh nobility, the appearance of Russian fortresses created new opportunities for expanding trade and economic relations and raising their own status and personal enrichment, including through the use of the emerging infrastructure and border regime.
In the XVI - the first half of the XVIII centuries. The foreign policy factor played an important role in the formation of the frontier and the borders themselves. The change in the interstate border of Russia with the Dzungars, and the later registration of the "internal" boundaries of the settlement of the Bashkirs, among other things, contributed to the determination of the limits of the Kazakh nomads and the weakening of threats to them from the southeast and northwest. With the fall of the Dzungar Khanate and the signing of an official treaty between the Russian Empire and Qing China, the territory inhabited by Kazakhs, including in the Russian-Kazakh border, took shape and later transformed within the framework of administrative reforms, and not in the format of interstate interaction.
An attempt to form a certain neutral zone, for example, in the form of the so-called ten-mile strip, caused misunderstanding and opposition from both the Kazakhs and the Cossacks and the provincial administration. As a result, the tsarist government refused to create territories with such a status in the future.
From the moment the Kazakhs were included in the Russian Empire, notches everywhere began to be replaced by beacons, including sims. The protection of the Russian-Kazakh border was carried out only from the side of the so-called internal territories. Initially, it was predominantly carried out by regular troops, but gradually it was almost completely transferred into the hands of irregular troops, and in the Urals for a long time the basis of the guards were Cossacks from among the Bashkirs and Meshcheryaks, only in the 19th century Orenburg Cossacks began to form the basis of the border guard.
The work is carried out within the framework of the targeted financing program of the project BR10965282 “Kazakhstan-Russian border: historical context and new geopolitical reality” (headed by Dr. S.B. Kozhirova).
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