Kenesary Qasymov’s uprising (1837-1847)

     The greatest challenge to Russian authority was the revolt of Kenesary Qasymov in the Middle Horde. Kenesary was born in 1802 in Kokshetau region (grandson of Ablay). He believed that only he could unite the Kazakh people to withstand the twofold threat they faced:

1)      The struggle against absorption by the Russians.

2)      Defeat at the hand of the Kokand and Khiva.

    The main aim: to restore the khanate of the Middle Horde.

    The uprising was spread all over the Kazakhstan. More than 80 sultans, biis and elders supported Kenesary. On November 1837, Kenesary attackted Aktau and Akmolinsk fortresses. In summer and autumn of 1838 all Middle Horde and part of Junior Horde was occupied by Kenesary. He had over 20,000 fighters under his command.

    In august 1841 Kenesary launched campaign to Tashkent. Rebels besieged Sozak, Zhanakorgan, Zhulek and Akmeshet – the Kokand fortresses.

    In 1838 Kenesary sent five lieutenants with a letter of protest to Prince Gorchakov, Governor-General of West Siberia:

1)      Rule of Kazakhs should be returned to the Kazakhs themselves.

2)      The institution of the khan should be restored.

    He maintained that the new political administration was corrupt. The Russians turned down Kenesary’s request and redoubled their efforts to defeat him. Since he destroyed Russian trade not only in Middle Horde but all territory of Kazakhstan. It has been estimated that Kenesary’s revolt cost Russians 8 mln. rubles in lost trade for 1838 alone.

    Furthermore, as the grandson of Ablai, Kenesary had stature throughout the steppe, not just within the Middle Horde. The situation within the Small Horde remained tenuous. Orenburg feared that the continued success of Kenesary’s movement could imperil the stability of Russian rule there. These fears were strengthened when Kenesary sought and received sanctuary from Small the Small Horde in 1838. He remained in the territory of the Orenburg for nearly two years and was granted amnesty by the Russians on the condition that he leaves the territory of the Small Horde.

    Soon after returning to the Middle Horde the next four years (1840-1844) were directed against Russian settlements in Irgiz and Turgai regions on lands that were traditionally used to graze the Kazakh livestock. But the goal of his movement remained the same: to restore the Khanate of the Middle Horde.

The administrative system of Kenesary’s Khanate.

1)      Kenesary was the effective ruler of the most of the Middle Horde with the aid of consul of tribal elders and leading batyrs. His chief aide was his brother Sultan Nairibai.

2)      Kenesary supported his rebellion thought direct taxation and by exacting payment from all caravans passing through his territory.

3)      Kenesary’s rule was based on law. He attempted to devise a code, which was based on Tauke’s Zhety-Zhargy with modifications from Sharia Law.

    The Russians viewed the existence of a rival authority as intolerable. Finally, in 1844, the dispatched troops to the Middle Horde territory to defeat Kenesary. Kenesary left the Russian-controlled territory of the Middle Horde. He joined Jan-Khozha Nur Mukhammed uly in letter’s struggle to liberate the Kirgiz from the rule of Kokand. Kenesary died in battle in Kyrgyzstan in 1847. Following the defeat of Kenesary, the Russians strengthened their military presence in the territory of the Middle Horde and increased the number of Russian settlements throughout the steppe.

The historical significance.  It was the greatest uprising against colonial policy of Russia and was spread all over three juzes.

Лекцияның мақсаты: Ресей империясының Қазақстандағы саясаты, хандық өкіметті жою және қазақтардың кедергі көрсетуі. Сырым Датов, Исатай Тайманов және Махамбет Өтемісов, Кеңесары Қасымов бастаған көтерілістер.

Лекцияның жоспары :

1. Сырым Датов бастаған көтеріліс (1783-1797).

2. Исатай Тайманов және Махамбет Өтемісов бастаған көтеріліс (1836-1838).

3. Кеңесары Қасымов бастаған көтеріліс (1837-1847).

                         

Lecture 15: Administrative reforms in Kazakhstan in the XIX c.

The objective of the lecture: To show peculiarities of administrative reform of the20-s and 60-s of XIX c. Reasons of national-liberation movements in 60-70-s of the XIX c.

Outline of the lecture:

1. Administrative reforms of 20-s of the XIX c.

2. Administrative reforms in Kazakhstan in 1867-1868.

3. Uprising of Turgai and Uralsk oblasts.

4. Mangstau’s uprising (1870).

    1. The main aim of administrative reforms – liquidation traditional Kazakh political system, changing of administrative, legislative and territorial management of Kazakhstan.

    Reforms were begun in Middle juz. After death of Abylay, his son Vali was declared as a khan of Middle juz in 1781. In 1815 Bukey was declared as a second khan of Middle juz. After their death (Bukey died in 1817, Vali in 1819) new Khan wasn’t declared.

    On June 22, 1822 the “Rules on the Siberian Kirghiz” came into effect. This legislation, which applied only the Kazakhs of the Middle Horde, was the product of the eminent Russian statesmen, Michael M. Speransky – general-governor of Siberia. The new reforms divided the eastern portion of the Kazakh territory into territorial units, each with its own administration.

1.       The smallest administrative unit was the clan or aul which consist of 50-70 carts (approximately 15 families) and was headed by an elder chosen by the community.

2.       Volost, which was consist of 10-12 auls and be administrated by a sultan or member of the aristocracy chosen by the elders.

3.       Okrug, which was consist of 15-20 volosts. Each okrug administrated by prikaz.

    Okrugs of Kazakh of Middle juz was a part of “Oblast of Siberian kirgizes” and divided into internal and external okrugs. External okrugs: Karkaralinskyi, Kokchetavskyi (1824), Bayanaulskyi (1826), Ajaguzskyi (1831), Akmolinskyi (1832), Uch-Bulakskyi (1833), Aman-Karagaiskyi (1832). In 40-50-s – Kokpektinskyi, Kushmurunskyi, Alatauskyi.

    Okrug leaded by elder sultan, who elected by sutans for three years.

    Reform in junior juz. “Rulers on Orenburg Kirghiz” was proclaimed in 1824 and produced by P.Essen. Khan of junior juz Shirgazy was requested by Russians to go to Orenburg. There were formed three-tiered systems consisting of: aul, clan, regional administration. Junior juz was divided into three parts: Eastern, Central and Western.

1. Western region – included all Kazakh lands west of Ilek River and east of Aral Sea – leaded by Karatai Nur Ali uly.

2. Central region – included east to the upper course of the Toguzak and Tobol rivers – leaded by Temir Er Ali uly.

3. Eastern region – included junction of the Kala and Syr Darya rivers and the border with Bukhara – leaded by Juma Kudai Meni uly, a nephew of Qaip.

    In 1831 each territorial subsection of the Small Horde was divided into distance, or range districts – 8 in the western, 20 in the central, and 28 in the eastern regions. Subdivisions of the steppe continued until, by the mid-nineteenth century, there were 54 such divisions, the commanders of which were chosen by local population and approved by Orenburg.

    Khan’s power was preserved only in Inner or Bukey Horde till 1845 (between Jaik and Volga).

    2. The Provisional Statute on the Administration of the Zhetisu and Syrdarya Oblast, July 11, 1867, and the Provisional Statute on the Administration of Turgai, Akmolinsk, Uralsk, and Semipalatinsk Oblasts, October 21, 1868 were declared.

    All territory of Kazakhstan was divided into three General-governors.  The 1867 and 1868 legislation divided the Kazakh Steppe into six oblasts, each headed by military governor. The Kazakh oblasts in Turkestan – Syrdarya and Zhetisu – were under the jurisdiction of the governor-general of Turkestan. Until 1891 there was no general-governor of the steppe, Uralsk and Turgai were under Orenburg governor-general and Akmolinsk and Semipalatinsk were administrated by the governor-general of Western Siberia.

    The oblast military governors were the commanders of the troops stationed within each territory. Each oblast was divided into uezd headed by Russian officers who were assisted by local Kazakhs, usually drawn from the aristocracy. The uezd were divided into volosts and volosts into administrative auls, with these authorities elected from the Kazakh population. The volost and auls were formed on a territorial principle.

    Each volost consisted of one or two thousand households, each administrative aul of one or two hundred families.

    Each volost and uezd was having a native court and a Russian criminal court, in which the judges of the former would be elected and those of the latter appointed.

   The cost of this administrative apparatus was to be met by Kazakhs themselves, for which the one ruble seventy-five kopek cart tax was raised to three rubles in four northern oblasts, and two rubles seventy-five kopeks in Turkestan.

    The Kazakhs were also subjected to local (zemskii) taxation to maintain post roads, prisons, and schools, as well as to any traditional or religious taxes.

    The new administration also regulated the religious authorities under the jurisdiction of the ministry of interior. The Kazakhs were limited to one mullah per volost. The Volost officials were the only ones with the authority to permit the construction of the either mosques or religious schools. Once built, these structures were under the jurisdiction of the Orenburg muftiate, a subsidiary of the ministry of the interior.  This was designed to reduce the growing influence of Islam in Kazakhstan.

    The Steppe Commission had recommended that the Russians not intervene directly in the religious affairs of the Central Asians, but rather should restrict the spread of Islam. General Kaufman, the first governor-general of Turkestan, was strongly against Christian missionary activities in the steppe.

Although Muslim clergy in the sedentary regions lost power under the new law, the Muslims of Turkestan were able to continue their missionary activities among the Kazakhs of Zhetisu and Syrdarya. The Orenburg muftiate also engaged in the active of Islam by funding the construction of legal and illegal schools and mosques throughout the northern part of the steppe.

3. Uprising of Turgai and Uralsk oblasts.  News of the Provisional Statutes aroused a strong burst of anti-Russian feelings among the Kazakhs. Uprisings broke out among the Middle Horde, the Small Horde, and Adayev Kazakhs of the Mangyshlak Peninsula.

    In 1869 resistance overtook all the Uralsk oblast and western and southern parts of Turgai oblast. A majority of the fighters were the poor Kazakhs, who were most directly threatened by the tax increase, but they were led by the biis and elders, whose power base was threatened by administrative reform.

    An expeditionary force of 5.300 men and 20 guns was sent in June 1869 under the command of General V.A. Verevkin, the military-governor of Uralsk, the Russian fortresses in steppe. Some 71.000 carts had been killed by Russian troops. Fighters were arrested and sentenced to death, and many Kazakhs were sentenced to terms of between 12 and 15 years.

4. Mangstau’s uprising (1870). People, who lived in the desert and semi desert regions of the Mangyshlak Peninsula, were to be subjected to the provisional statute January 1870. The tribes of the region (Adayev Kazakhs and Turkmen) had existed as buffer zone between Russia and Khiva. In 1846 the Russians had strengthened their military presence in Mangyshlak.

    In the 1850-s the Russians had been forced to send troops to collect the required taxation. Statutes effectively cut these tribes off from their traditional summer pasturage along the Emba. Troops from Orenburg and the Caucasus seized roads and wells, and the Kazakhs who refused to accept the legislation in order to deny water for their animals.

    The new legislation required the Adayev Kazakhs to pay one-ruble zemski tax in addition to the three rubles 15 kop cart tax, that they were already paying Adayev had no currency, they were far from the Russian markets and had little to trade.

    In June 1870 General Komarov moved to Mangyshlak. In December general Komarov organized a meeting with the representatives of each of the major clans. Those communities that paid their tax peacefully to cross into Uralsk and Turgai and so travel to their traditional pasturage.

    For the next 2,5 years Russian troops lived among the Adayev  to enforce order. These troops participated in the Russian campaign against Khiva in 1873. The conquest of Khiva was completed by the spring of 1874. The Adayev resistance was defeated for the final time. The region was organized as Tran Caspian oblast and placed under the direction of the general-governor of Caucasian. The Adayev were again cut off from their summer pasturage.

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