Proposals by the Ministry of Internal Affairs Commission Headed by F. K. Girs to Subordinate the Kirghiz Inner Horde under Astrakhan Governorate: Administrative Structure and Judicial System, 1873

Abstract

Introduction. The article examines the 1873 proposals by the Ministry of Internal Affairs Commission headed by F. K. Girs to place the Kirghiz Inner Horde under the administrative control of Astrakhan Governorate. The mentioned proposals constituted a total of five journals and were an earliest reform-related resolution that basically dealt with and somewhat criticized the preceding initiatives of Orenburg-based authorities to restructure the Horde. Results. The paper discusses a number of issues pertaining to the Inner Horde’s administrative restructuring project, relocation of its headquarters from Naryn-Peski, centralized localities for uyezd-level authorities, and its judicial system. Conclusions. The major criteria for the Inner Horde’s resubordination to Astrakhan Governorate included geographical, political, and socioeconomic ones. In terms of geography, the Governorate’s capital was closer, there were vacant pastures and a water transport route, the region was characterized by a sparser population and ‘well-rounded’ borders. The political reasons were that the Bukey Kazaks had somewhat detached from their fellow tribesmen that inhabited Trans-Ural steppes and were subordinate to Orenburg frontier-guarding forces, and from the latter’s Cossack-inhabited lands. Any further division into northern and southern parts — with the former be incorporated into Samara Governorate — would give rise to the necessity that ethnic Kazakhs get involved into zemstvo-level activities, which the authorities believed hardly feasible because of the population’s low civic awareness. The latter circumstance and a meagre population were also viewed by the aforementioned officials as hindrances to that the Inner Horde be transformed into an autonomous oblast. However, the Russian authorities did tend to retain the court of biys for certain spheres of Kazakh life. The socioeconomic criterion was manifested in that the Inner Horde’s executives would stay economically and financially dependent on the Astrakhan office, need to coordinate activities with neighboring nomads of the Governorate (Kalmyks, Kundrau Tatars), and take due account of stationary settlements. The proposals set forth by the Commission may serve a historical source indicative of Imperial Russia’s positions and viewpoints on further administrative resubordination of subject nomads.