Agrarian policy of the Russian Empire in the Kazakh steppe through the prism of Orthodox missionary work

Abstract

The article is devoted to the consideration of the Russian state agrarian policy in the Kazakh steppe, as well as reveals the influence of the Tatar sedentary agricultural practices and everyday culture on the Kazakhs, moving towards a settled way of life. The paper studies the investigated archival and ethnographic sources, describing the process of changing the everyday culture of the Kazakhs in the process of transition to a settled way of life. The study presents that during the transition to agriculture that happened to last the whole 19th century, the Kazakhs transformed their way of life not to Russian model, but to the Tatar one. Under the influence of Tatar Muslim culture, the Kazakhs strengthened their Islamic identity and, despite the efforts of Orthodox missionary work, for the most part remained Muslims.