Fair Trade in a Nomadic Society (in Kalmyk Steppe in Second Half of 19th — Early 20th Centuries)

Abstract

The issues of organization and functioning of fair trade in a nomadic society are studied on the example of the Kalmyk steppe in the second half of the 19th — early 20th centuries. The source base was documentary materials from the funds of the State Archives of the Astrakhan Region and the National Archives of the Republic of Kalmykia, revealing the record keeping practice of the Kalmyk People’s Administration and ulus departments on the organization of fair events in the steppe. The author, based on the historical and geographical approach, focuses on the vastness of the land and the dominant nomadic type of management in the Kalmyk society. It has been established that fairs not only played an important role in satisfying the commodity needs of nomads, which was important in the absence of goods for manufacturing and industrial production and agriculture, but also were a way for nomads to communicate with each other and with representatives of the foreign administration. Despite the importance of fair trade among the nomadic people, the process of establishing and functioning of fairs was associated not only with natural and climatic conditions, but also with the unwillingness of the authorities of neighboring provinces to create competitors.