28. The history of assessment of the Small and Middle Zhuses with Russia.

On September 8,1730, Abu'l Khayr, khan of the Small Horde, sent a letter to Empress Anna Ioannovna requesting to become her subject by asking for citizenship (poddanstvo).⁵ The letter, sent without the knowledge or support of the Kazakh people or the other leading sultans, was from one ruler to another, stating Abu'l Khayr's willingness to swear fealty to Anna Ioannovna; he sent it on to St. Petersburg where it was debated by the College of Foreign Affairs. In early 1731, Anna Ioannovna offered Abu'l Khayr the same terms of citizenship that had previously been accepted by the Bashkir and Volga Kalmyks, who had pledged themselves to serve the empress, accepted that Russia was to specify their hunting grounds, and promised to provide safe passage for Russian caravans and merchants.

This sworn offer, dated March 26, 1731, was brought to Abu'l Khayr by Aleksander Ivanovich Tevkelev (Mirza Kutlu Muhammad, a Muslim who served as Tatar translator for the College of Foreign Affairs). The accepting oath was sworn by Abu'l Khayr, his sons (Nur Ali and Er Ali) and his deputies, on October 10, 1731.

For Russia's part, the treaties with Abu'l Khayr and those with the khans of the Middle Horde (Semeke in 1732, Ablai in 1740) gave added security to the fortified line along the Irtysh River.

This enabled the Russians to think seriously about expanding commerce in the area; they did not, however, view these treaties as providing for the annexation of the steppe. The Small and Middle hordes, though considered to be under Russian protection, were not a part of the empire; all maps from the late eighteenth century show the Russian border north of the Ural and Mias rivers just south of Orsk and Troitsk over Omsk and thence along the Irtysh River to the Altai mountains. Kazakh merchants in the markets of Orenburg, Orsk, and Troitsk were charged the same tariff as other foreign merchants.

Tatishchev was particularly interested in expanding trade with the Kazakhs, and he had a market and trading post built on their side of the Ural River. In June 1738 Abu'l Khayr, with his sons, deputies, and allied sultans of the Small and Middle hordes, met with Tatishchev in Orenburg to renew their oath of loyalty to the empress and to promise safe passage to the Russian caravans.

29. The history of assessment of the Great Zhuz with Russia.

The first stage of the expansion of Russia's control of Central Asia was the conquest or annexation of the Great Horde. In the 1730s, when the khans of the Small and Middle hordes swore their fealty to the Russian empress Anna Ioannovna, one part of the Great Horde joined the clans of Er Ali, Abu'l Khayr's son, and became Russian subjects. The majority of the Great Horde, however, remained under the control of the Jungar state. When the Jungar empire was defeated in 1756, vast new pastures were opened up for these Kazakhs who were now under Chinese rule. One group migrated to Jungaria; another remained in the Tashkent area and adopted a semisedentary life-style, some of them joining the agricultural Karakalpak population. This second group became subjects of Kokand when the troops of Alim Khan captured Tashkent in 1808. A third group camped in the eastern Semirech'e region, and quickly established their independence from China.

By the first part of the nineteenth century this third group, ruled by Sultan Suiuk (son of Ablai), found itself forced to choose between two powerful, expansionist states, Russia and Kokand. Suiuk decided that rule by Kokand was the greater evil and so in 1818 swore his loyalty to Russia. This brought an additional 55,000 Kazakhs under Russian rule. The Russians were quick to build on this advantage; in 1820 the governor general of western Siberia sent a military detachment of 120 cossacks to the territory of the Great Horde to secure the trade routes and to gain Russian control over the area without force. In 1824 an additional 50,000 Kazakhs accepted Russian administration. The population was ruled in accordance with the 1822 reforms but was released from the yasak (annual tribute). By 1826 the Russians controlled the entire Karatai region as well. Further expansion among the Great Horde was stalled by the threat of Kenisary Qasimov. It was not until June 1846 that a new okrug of western Siberia was created in the region just north of Lake Zaisan. In 1847 the Russians consolidated their hold over the Kopalsk region when all of the Kazakhs migrating between the Lepsi and Ili rivers, an additional 40,000 families, accepted Russian administration. This resulted in the formation of a council on January 10, 1848, to administrate the Great Horde; in 1854 this territory was made part of the newly created Semipalatinsk guberniia.³¹

The Russians also consolidated their hold over the Kazakhs of the Middle and Small hordes by building a series of military outposts throughout the steppe; Kokpekty was built in 1820, Kokchetav and Karkaralinsk in 1824, and Baian-Aul in 1826. Fort Aleksandrovsk was constructed in 1834 on the Man­gyshlak Peninsula and a new military line was established between the Emba and Ui rivers. During this same period Khiva, under the rule of Khan Muham­mad Rahim (reigned 1806-1825), was expanding northward into the Syr Darya and Aral Sea regions.

30) The main battles of the Kazakhs struggle with Zhonghar invasion in XVII-XVIII

In the spring of 1718 in 3 day battle Kazakhs defeated by Djungar armies on the river Ayaguz.

In 1716-1718 the Russians introduced a string of forts on the edge of the steppe, in southern Siberia. The construction of the so-called Orenburg for­tified line was an expression of Russian concern with developments in the steppe, a concern which was heightened in 1723, when the Kalmyks crossed the Karatau to take control of the Talas valley. The Kazakhs were caught by surprise as they prepared to leave their winter campsites and fled, leaving most of their possessions and livestock. This attack began the Aqtaban Shubirindi, the Great Retreat.

The Great Retreat started in 1723 when the Kalmyks crossed the Karatau to take control of the Talas valley. The Kazakhs were caught by surprise as they prepared to leave their winter campsites and fled, leaving most of their possessions and livestock. During their subsequent campaign, 1723-1725, the Kalmyks quickly captured the Syr Darya River basin from Yasi to Tashkent, forcing the Kazakhs to flee from their ancestral pasturelands. The Kalmyks continued to absorbed the territory; in 1728 they took over the land around Lake Tengiz, so posing a direct threat to Chimkent in the south. They also took control over Lake Balkhash and the lands of the Small and Middle Hordes in central Kazakhstan. By that time it was evident that without Russian assistance the Kazakhs couldn’t resist to the aggressive Kalmyks. In 1731 Abu’l Khayr, with his sons and deputies, swore their loyalty to the Russian empress. This action marked the end of an independent Kazakh state.