FEATURES OF THE POPULATION SETTLEMENT SYSTEM IN EAST KAZAKHSTAN REGION IN THE LATE 19TH–20TH CENTURIES: AN ETHNODEMOGRAPHIC PERSPECTIVE

Vollständiger Abstract

Worum geht es in dieser Arbeit?

Introduction. The relevance of this study stems from the need for a long-term retrospective analysis of settlement patterns in the East Kazakhstan Region from the late nineteenth to the late twentieth centuries. The primary focus is on population dynamics and changes in the region’s ethnic composition. The authors examine the impact of socio-economic, historical, and political processes on the evolution of demographic indicators in the East Kazakhstan Region. Particular attention is paid to the resettlement movement to the peripheral territories of the Russian Empire resulting from the agrarian reforms of P. Stolypin, the national liberation uprising of 1916, the Civil War, the famines of the 1920s and 1930s, and the administrative-territorial transformations implemented by the Soviet government. The aim of the study is to analyze the distinctive features of the settlement system of the East Kazakhstan Region in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The methodological framework is based on the principles of historicism and a systemic approach, as well as problem-chronological, historical-comparative, and typological methods. These methods ensure a comprehensive analysis of events and their consequences and allow for an accurate interpretation of the ways in which socio-economic reforms shaped the formation of the region’s multiethnic population structure. Results. Based on extensive statistical data–primarily the 1897 All-Russian Census and the All-Union population censuses of 1926, 1939, 1959, 1970, 1979, and 1989-as well as scholarly works by historians and demographers, the study traces the long-term development of the multiethnic composition of the population of the East Kazakhstan Region. The findings highlight the decisive role of migration flows in the significant growth of Russian, Ukrainian, German, and other non-titular ethnic groups in certain districts of the region. Particular attention is given to changes in the size of the Kazakh population and the factors that caused them. The migration of non-titular populations contributed to a decline in the proportion of ethnic Kazakhs within the regional demographic structure. The primary causes of the substantial reduction in the Kazakh population during the 1920s and 1930s were famine and the mass displacement of nomadic populations. Conclusions. The study identifies the factors that exerted the greatest influence on population dynamics and the settlement structure of the main ethnic groups of the East Kazakhstan Region over an extended historical period. The authors conclude that between the 1950s and 1980s significant changes occurred in the ethnically differentiated settlement system based on traditional economic practices. Trends toward the formation of a new settlement system developed on a multiethnic basis. Furthermore, the administrative boundaries of districts in the East Kazakhstan Region, established as a result of Soviet-era reforms, did not always coincide with civilizational and economic boundaries. The removal of political borders through administrative measures did not immediately lead to the elimination of civilizational boundaries.