MEMOIRS AS A SOURCE ON THE HISTORY OF UZBEKISTAN IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19th – EARLY 20th CENTURIES

Abstract

The colonial period in the history of Central Asia is reflected in many written sources, including memoirs. Memoir works are diverse in their genre and content. These are travel records of Russian and foreign ambassadors and travelers who visited Central Asia, and memoirs by local authors. The article examines the memoir works of Central Asian authors of the late 19th - early 20th centuries. They are divided into groups such as autobiographies, travel records, memoirs, and oral history. On the example of specific works of specific authors, the significance of each of the above groups of memoir literature is analyzed, their significant sides and their inherent shortcomings are revealed. It is concluded that methods such as critical approach and comparative analysis allow researchers to effectively use the memoirs of local authors to study the history of the colonial period. KEYWORDS: Memoirs, autobiographies, travel records, recollections, oral history, critical approach, comparative analysis, reliability.