Works of G. E. Katanaev as a source on the history of the siberian cossacks

The article is devoted to the analysis of the creative heritage of the famous Cossack figure of the second half of XIX - early XX centuries G.E. Katanaev. The authors note the fact of recognition in the scientific literature of the special role of G.E. Katanaev in the historiography of the Siberian Cossacks, however, it is emphasized that this assessment is based on the analysis of his most famous published works. The purpose of the article is to introduce the works of G.E. Katanaev on the history of the Cossacks and their systematizatio n not used by researchers into scientific circulation. The authors of the article set and solve the problem of analysis and systematization of G.E. Katanaev's works. Recognizing that as an object of research, published and handwritten works of G. E. Katanaev on the history of the Cossacks do not represent a homogeneous and compact complex, because they were created at different times, are diverse in form and purpose, differ in the degree of mastery of the material and the range of analyzed problems, the authors consider it possible to fairly conditionally distinguish several major groups. These are “early printed works” of G. E. Katanaev, “main of his works”, “works on land issues” of the Siberian Cossack army and journalistic articles. The history of creation, publication and specific content of these works are considered. It is emphasized that in addition to the published works of G. E. Katanaev, his memoir literature and unpublished manuscripts have a great importance for the interpretation of his historical views. Analysis of the creative heritage of G. E. Katanaev allows the authors to draw the following conclusions: - The complex of G. E. Katanaev's works is very important from the point of view of the number and diversity of the problems of the studied issues and the depth of their scientific development. They contain a large amount of factual material about the Cossack pioneers, the socio-economic situation and the life support system of the Cossack population of Western Siberia, material, spiritual and everyday culture of the Siberian Cossacks. - In his works G. E. Katanaev not only used a huge amount of statistical and genealogical data, but also passed on their basis to a fairly broad theoretical generalizations. - G. E. Katanaev was one of the first to attempt a complete, in a certain sense, systematic exposition of the “history” of the Siberian Cossack army. The first of the pre-revolutionary researchers G. E. Katanaev refered to the study of the problem of land relations of linear Siberian Cossacks and Kazakhs, and also offered his own vision of the process of providing the Siberian Cossacks with land and the formation of the land fund of the Siberian Cossack army. In conclusion, the authors emphasize the significant contribution of G. E. Katanaev in the study of the history of the Siberian Cossack army and note the importance of his works as a source on the history of the Cossacks.

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