Paper short abstract:

The report will present the formation and development of commercial and industrial entrepreneurship of the city Karakol at the end of the XIX and the beginning of the XX century on the example of specific stories of individual famous trading families.

Paper long abstract:

The city of Karakol was founded on the caravan route on July 1, 1869. Since its foundation, it has gradually expanded, becoming international in terms of the ethnic composition of the population.

The report will present the formation and development of commercial and industrial entrepreneurship of the city at the end of the XIX and the beginning of the XX century on the example of specific stories of individual famous trading families and their impact on the socio-economic and socio-cultural state, especially on the architectural heritage of the city of Karakol. Among the famous merchants were representatives of the tatar, kyrgyz, dungan, uzbek, and uighur populations. The shopping malls built on the initiative of merchants became the basis of the unique appearance of the city during the studied period. The combination of functional purpose and national decorative elements in the architecture of houses and religious temples contributed to the creation of interesting cultural objects representing the historical heritage of the city of Karakol.

The main sources were visual materials (photographs from archival collections, museums and private family collections) and information from oral histories of descendants of tatars, uighurs, uzbeks, dungans currently living in the city of Karakol. So, various ethnic groups (tatars, uighurs, uzbeks, dungans), being carriers of historical memory, in their stories reflect the ethnos' own idea of their historical past and ethnic identity through language, trade practices and stories about the development of family entrepreneurship, culture, customs, traditions, religion, etc.