Cities of Eastern Kazakhstan btween 1891 and 1917: Socio-Economic Aspects

Касымбаев, Ж. К. Города
Восточного Казахстана в 1861-1917 гг.:
Социально-Экономический Аспект. Алма-Ата: Гылым, 1990, 180c.

Kasymbaev, Zh. K. Goroda Vostochnogo Kazakhstana v 1861-1917 gg.: Sotsial'no-Ekonomicheskiy Aspekt. Alm-Ata: Gylym, 1990, 180pp.

ABSTRACT

Cities
of Eastern Kazakhstan btween 1891 and 1917: Socio-Economic Aspects

Города Восточного
Казахстана в 1891-1917 гг.: (Социально-Экономический Аспект)

This book
focuses on the history of Eastern Kazakhstan during the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries. Eastern Kazakhstan is a geographical region bordering
Russia in the North and China in the East. Until 1997, this region was divided
into two separate geographical entities: Eastern-Kazakh and Semipalatinsk
administrative regions. By the Decree of the President of the Republic of
Kazakhstan, Semipalatinsk region and all its territory were incorporated into
the Eastern Kazakh Region of the country.

The author of
this book is a famous academic who has published several essential works and
academic books on the history of Kazakhstan. He analyses here the economic ties
of Eastern Kazakhstan cities with the nomadic Kazakh population, Russian
migrants (i.e. peasants), as well as with neighbouring countries. He outlines
the ethno-demographic processes in the region which led to the development of
trading and economic links between Kazakhstan, on the one hand, and Russia and
other Central Asian states on the other. He argues that these ties constitute
the main factors in the population growth in the cities of the Eastern
Kazakhstan.

The book has an
interesting section on the situation of Austro-Hungarian and German prisoners
of war in the cities of Akmolinsk, Pavlodar, Semipalatinsk and Ust-
Kamenogorsk.

A large number
of primary sources and archived materials have been consulted for this
research. Nonetheless, this book is deeply politicised as it is influenced by
Marxist-Leninist ideology. The author himself admits that he conducted his
research in line with the Marxist point of view, and used a methodology
endorsed by Leninists. Despite its subjective approach, this book is a valuable
study on the history of the cities of Eastern Kazakhstan.

Akram
Khabibullaev

Translated by Ivan Leonidov