Paper long abstract:

The article is focused on the analysis of economic realities in the Turkmen households of the Transcaspian region of the Russian Empire in the last third of the 19th - early 20th centuries. One of the main aspects of the work is the comparison of the economic features of the nomadic and sedentary lifestyle of locals. The peculiarities of the climatic conditions of this region, which determined the uneven distribution of these types of households, as well as local traditions and customs, were a serious barrier to the realization of a consistent and effective policy of imperial administration. It is quite obviously, that its main goal in all of Turkestan was the sedentarization of the population. Therefore, special attention in this work is paid to administrative attempts to implement economic transformations, as well as the perception of this by local residents. In addition, the entire Russian Turkestan became a source of an important agricultural resource-cotton with the significant assistance of the imperial government. Based on this, the article considers the prospects for the development of cotton growing in the Transcaspian sub-region, as well as the degree of interest and participation in this of the Turkmen themselves. Considerable attention is paid to the development of local handicrafts that ensured the economic well-being of local residents. At the same time, the prospects for the industrial development of the region are of particular interest. A significant part of the work is related to the transformation of the Transcaspian region after the building of the railway in the region. The increase in trade turnover with the inner regions of the empire, the ability to sell locally produced goods abroad, the increase in the level of mobility of the local population and other aspects had a positive impact on the economic situation of the region. Therefore, considering the changes that occurred after the construction of the railway in the economy of both individual farms and the entire region as a whole takes an opportunity to evaluate the level of civilizational influence of the Russian Empire. In addition, the article discusses measures to combat alamanism, as well as the evolution of the attitude of local residents to this traditional occupation.

The study is funded by the Russian Science Foundation (project No.19-18-00162 «Central Asia and International Relations in the 18th-19th centuries») and carried out at the Leo Tolstoy Institute of Languages and Cultures.