The phenomenon of Nagaibak identity as a result of political and administrative reforms and Russian cultural influences of the second half of the XVI - early XX century

Slavic-Turkic contacts were of great importance in the panorama of the ethnic history of Eurasia. In the XVI-XIX cc. the Turks of Russia were involved in ethnic processes, the results of which were the emergence of new identities. The purpose of the article is to determine the reasons, mechanisms and logic of such processes using the example of the Nagaybaks - the Turkic people of the Southern Urals. The material offered to the reader has been prepared on the basis of the author’s research and literature of the XVIII-XX cc. The genesis of this identity is associated with Russian influences on the Turks in political, social and cultural aspects. After the victory over Kazan, the state task was to ensure the protection of new borders and security in new territories. The strategy consisted in the formation of a population loyal to the Russian authorities through Christianization, estate building and administrative reforms. As a result of mass Christianization, a new identity appeared - the baptized Tatars. The authorities have had some success. The baptized Tatars did not support the Bashkir uprisings. In the XVIII c., part of the baptized Tatars, together with the Russians, entered the Orenburg Cossack Army. Now they have become socially isolated and adopted a new identity - the estate one. By the name of the Nagaybakskaya fortress, they were called Nagaybaks. In 1843, together with the Russian Cossacks, they were resettled on the Southern Urals. Russians were in the majority here, and they perceived the Nagaybaks not so much as Cossacks or Christians, but as another people speaking an incomprehensible language with their own culture. However, the Nagaybak-Russian contacts intensified. In the XIX с., under Russian influence, they became a people with an original complex of culture. The state carried out the administrative structure of the Nagaybaks. In the XVIII c., Muslims were resettled from them, and the settlements were administratively united with Russians. This strengthened their confessional and estate identity. In the XIX c. their villages, being close to each other, were subordinate to different Russian administrations. This ensured both intra-group family ties and helped to get closer to the Russians. In 1926 and 1927, the population census for the first time recorded them as an ethnic group, and the Nagaybak district was formed. The people received official recognition and ethnic territory, delineated by the administrative boundary. The history of the Nagaybaks is an example of how a new people can arise in a short period. It appeared thanks to the influence of the Russian administration on the Turkic population of the Volga region and the Urals, through the strengthening of state security and social reforms in new territories.

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