Establishment of the Kokshetau, Karkaraly districts and the uprising of Sarzhan Kasymov (1824–1836)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the problem of establishing the first Kazakh districts — Kokshetau and Karkaraly. In 1822, the «Charter of the Siberian Kirghiz» was introduced, according to which a new political and administrative-territorial nature of management was introduced. This reform provoked protests from the local population. In 1824, the insurrection of the Kazakhs began under the leadership of the son of Sultan Kasym — Sarzhan. This was one of the largest insurrection, lasting more than ten years, from 1824 to 1836. Siberian Cossacks became the main instrument of tsarism in pacifying the Kazakh people, who opposed the seizure of their lands. On the basis of historical and archival material, an attempt was made to reconstruct the history of the insurrection of Sarzhan Kasymov, to study the role and place of the Siberian Cossacks in Russia's foreign policy towards Kazakhstan since 1822. Statistical data and other research materials are based on documents 338 and 345 of the Central State Archives of the Republic of Kazakhstan. As a result of the analysis of research and comparison of archival documents, the author came to the conclusion that the insurrection of Sarzhan Kasymov slowed down the introduction of a new administrative order in the Kazakh steppe. The tsarist government was actively using the Siberian Cossacks in the fight against the masses. It was the insurrection of Sultan Sarzhan that threw the establishment of new external districts for several years, halting the advancement of the tsarist Cossack detachments deep into the Kazakh steppe. The chronological framework is outlined by the period of the beginning of the implementation of the «Charter of the Siberian Kirghiz» from 1822 to the time of Sarzhan's death — 1836.