Russian settlers in Turkestan in the late 19th - early 20th centuries: the main socio-cultural characteristics

The resettlement policy of the Russian Empire in the Turkestan Governor-Generalship was aimed at the formation of the Russian agricultural enclave, which together with military contingents would become "a bulwark of the Russian autocracy in Turkestan" and contribute to the development of the empire's economy. The aim of the article is to identify the main features of settlers' adaptation in Turkestan. Their socio-cultural characteristics were documented in the reports of the tsarist administration at the beginning of the 20th century. At the beginning of the 20th century commissions of A.A. Kaufman in 1903, N. Gavrilov in 1910 and senatorial inspection of Earl K.K. Palen in 1908 were sent to Turkestan. According to the results of these commissions, reports about the conditions of the resettlement in Turkestan were published. The principles of the resettlement policy influenced the formation of the specific socio-cultural characteristics of Russians in Turkestan, which distinguished them from the majority of the indigenous population of the region. The sources for the article are materials of senatorial inspections of the early 20th century in the Turkestan Governor-Generalship. Analyzing various documentary sources about the Russian settlement of Turkestan in the late 19th - early 20th centuries, the author of the article comes to the following conclusions, distinguishing the sociocultural characteristics of the Russian community: 1. Adherence to Orthodoxy, the most important feature. Predominantly Russians of Orthodox faith, belonging to peasantry were allowed to resettle in Turkestan. Russian settlers from different regions of the Russian Empire, differing in dialects, peculiarities of farming and ordinary life, traditions and mentality could unite in Turkestan in the most successful way on the basis of belonging to the Orthodox community. Orthodoxy as the state religion in the Russian Empire provided links of settlers with the state in Turkestan, which was mostly populated by Muslim indigenous population. 2. Living in separate enclaves in the newly established resettlement villages or the "Russian part" of the Turkestan's city. This way the Russian administration sought to protect settlers against contacts with the local population in the household. 3. The alienation and lack of consolidation of settlers. The high degree of disconnection and alienation can be attributed to the clearly manifested sociocultural characteristics of Russian settlers in Turkestan. Russian settlers were not a consolidated group, the difficulties were manifested in the social and economic disconnection and competition between sourdoughs and newly arrived settlers in the late 19th - early 20th centuries, between settlers from different provinces of the Russian Empire. In pre-revolutionary Turkestan important features of the Russian community in Middle Asia were designated due to which the Russian administration had difficulties in the consolidation of settlers.

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