Keywords
How to Cite
Abstract
At the beginning of the 20th century, the processes of urbanization were actively taking place in the Russian Empire, but in different regions they went with varying degrees of intensity. Modernization changes in the traditional agricultural and nomadic societies of the Central Asian region began after its final annexation to the Russian Empire, which happened quite late – in the 60-70s of the 19th century. Based on the data of statistical surveys of the Steppe and Turkestan general-governorate’s areas, the authors analyze the urban population’s dynamics, the movement of its class and national composition in order to assess the level of urbanization of the region, as to what extent it reflects the general patterns of modernization and what is its regional specificity. The graphs compiled according to the Surveys show that in all nine areas of the region there was a quantitative increase in the urban population. The main incentives for urban growth were trade and railway construction. At the same time, another trend is observed: the proportion of citizens in the entire population does not increase significantly, but fluctuates in the range of several percentage points. The absence of pronounced dynamics of the urban population outpacing growth over the rural population indicates the initial stage of the Central Asia’s urbanization. The low intensity of urbanization is quite corresponded to the Central Asian economic modernization imperial strategy, which consisted in the development of commodity specialization of agricultural sector for the needs of the metropolitan industry and peasant colonization of the region.
References
Aleshin, P. N. (2019). Functioning of zemstvo veterinary service in Russia in the second half of the 19th – early 20th century (based on surveys of provinces). Current scientific thinking, 5, 54–61. (In Russian).
Bochkareva, I. B. (2020). Private capital in the process of railway construction in Turkestan (1970s - early 20th century). Izvestia of Altai State University, 5, 13–18. https://doi.org/10.14258/izvasu(2020)5-01 (In Russian).
Buktugutova, R. S. (2010). From the history of everyday life of the inhabitants of district towns in the Steppe region at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. Bulletin of Kazakh National Pedagogical University named after Abay. Series “Historical and Socio-Political Sciences”, 2, 8–13. (In Russian).
Dzhanieva, R. M.(2007). Socio-economic and cultural development of the district towns in the Steppe region in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. [PhD thesis]. Omsk State Pedagogical University. (In Russian).
Eremin, A. A. (2021). Oblast Reviews as a Source for the Credit-Banking System in the Stepnoy Krai at the Turn of the 19th-20th Centuries. In Current Issues of Siberian History. Thirteenth Scientific Readings in Memory of Professor A.P. Borodavkin: Collection of Scientific Articles (pp. 204 209). AZBUKA. (In Russian).
Fortunatov, A. F. (1906). Some data on the size and composition of Russia's population. Printing house of F. J. Burche. (In Russian).
He, Ch. (2011). Overview report on modernisation in the world and China (2001-2010). Vws Mir. (In Russian).
Kharseeva, O. V. (2017). The reviews of provinces as a source of information on the state of crime in Russia in the 19th and early 20th centuries. History, theory and practice of Russian law, 10, 125‑137. (In Russian).
Lappo, G. (2001). Cities of European Russia in the late 19th century. In City and Village in European Russia: One Hundred Years of Change. A monographic collection (pp. 65–78). OGI. (In Russian).
Lysenko, Y. A. (2019). Actors of socio-economic modernisation of the Central Asian region of the Russian Empire (second half of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century). In Central Asia at the Crossroads of European and Asian Political Interests: 18th-19th Centuries: Proceedings of an International Seminar (pp. 40–57). Onto-print. (In Russian).
Makushev, A. E. (2020). Metamorphosis of industrial statistics in reviews of the provinces of the Middle Volga region in the early 20th century. Economic history, 16(4), 388–398. https://doi.org/10.15507/2409-630X.051.016.202004.388-398 (In Russian).
Miller, A., & Cherny, D. (Eds.). (2017). Cities of the Empire during the Great War and Revolution: A Collection of Articles. Nestor-History. (In Russian).
Mironov, B. N. (2003). Social history of Russia in the imperial period (18th - early 20th century). (Vol. 1). “Dmitry Bulanin”. (In Russian).
Nefedova, T., & Treyvish, A. (2001). Cities as Economic Centres: A Century of Evolution. In City and Village in European Russia: One Hundred Years of Change. A monographic collection (pp. 95‑123). OGI. (In Russian).
Number and composition of workers in Russia, based on data from the First General Population Census of the Russian Empire in 1897. (Vol. 1). (1906). Saint Petersburg. (In Russian).
Overview of Akmola Oblast ... [By year]. (1871-1917). State Public Historical Library of Russia. http://elib.shpl.ru/ru/nodes/45712 (In Russian).
Overview of the Ferghana region ... [by year]. (1889-1916). State Public Historical Library of Russia. http://elib.shpl.ru/ru/nodes/50832 (In Russian).
Overview of the Samarkand region ... [by year]. (1891-1912). State Public Historical Library of Russia. http://elib.shpl.ru/ru/nodes/46521 (In Russian).
Overview of the Semipalatinsk region ... [by year]. (1871-1913). State Public Historical Library of Russia. http://elib.shpl.ru/ru/nodes/46327 (In Russian).
Overview of the Semirechenskaya oblast ... [by year]. (1883-1915). State Public Historical Library of Russia. http://elib.shpl.ru/ru/nodes/50512 (In Russian).
Overview of the Syr Darya region ... [by year]. (1890-1916). State Public Historical Library of Russia. http://elib.shpl.ru/ru/nodes/50528 (In Russian).
Overview of the Trans-Caspian region ... [by year]. (1892-1916). State Public Historical Library of Russia. http://elib.shpl.ru/ru/nodes/46320 (In Russian).
Overview of the Turgai region ... [by year]. (1871-1916). State Public Historical Library of Russia. http://elib.shpl.ru/ru/nodes/50764 (In Russian).
Overview of the Ural Region ... [by year]. (1868-1916). State Public Historical Library of Russia. http://elib.shpl.ru/ru/nodes/28162 (In Russian).
Regulations on the Turkestan Province Administration. (1903). V. N. Ilyin's Printing and Lithography. (In Russian).
Rygalova, M. V. (2021). Overviews of the Regions of the Russian Empire as a Source for the History of Education (Using the Regions of Stepnoy Krai and Turkestan as an Example). Izvestia of Altai State University, 2, 66–70. https://doi.org/10.14258/izvasu(2021)2-10 (In Russian).
Semenov, V. P. (Ed.). (1903). Russia. A Complete Geographical Description of Our Fatherland. Vol. 18. Kirghiz territory. A. F. Devrien's edition. (In Russian).
Statistical Yearbook of Russia 1914. Year eleven. (1915). Petrograd. (In Russian).
Vlasova, A. I. (2020). Characteristics of the medical and sanitary service of Akmola region of the Stepnoy Krai in the 1970s - early XX century. (Based on statistical reviews of the region for 1870-1915). Izvestia of Altai State University, 3, 25–30. https://doi.org/10.14258/izvasu(2020)3-03 (In Russian).
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.