Social transformation of the Siberian cossackdom within the formation of the urban area of Northern Kazakhstan on the Cusp of the XIX-XX centuries

Abstract

This article examines the specifics of the urban space formation in Northern Kazakhstan, which at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries was part of the Steppe Governorate General. The authors explored the processes of the establishment of urban culture and the participation of the Siberian Cossacks in it using the example of the cities of Akmolinsk and Petropavlovsk. The active development of the urban area of Northern Kazakhstan is determined by the administrative and economic activities of the Cossacks. It is obvious that the pre-revolutionary city had specific functions and character, due to geographical and civilizational factors, whereas the Cossacks on the cusp of the XIX−XX centuries experienced a complex transformation caused by the introduction of new forms of life and adaptation to urban life. This article is aimed to identify the specifics of interaction of the Cossack class and the city in the context of colonial events, where the Cossack and the city act as equal dialectically interrelated subjects. The transformation and formation of new social categories and professional orientations became relevant due to the energy of the city making them enjoy application of their labour abilities in the objective socio-economic conditions of the mentioned period. Thus, new professions and new social categories were developed in the Cossack environment. According to the authors, the cities were formed exclusively on the territory of the Border Lines. On the one hand, this fact was supposed to contribute to the development of the city and the formation of an urban lifestyle among the Cossacks, and on the other hand, the Border Line, performing the protecting function, grew to an area where the interests of the local Kazakh population and the Cossacks collided. Socio-economic communications of the Kazakh and Cossack societies led to a complex format of interaction between two differently oriented communities, speakers of different languages, bearers of different traditions and cultures