Agricultural experiments on Tinguta at the end of the XIXth century

10.54398/1818510X_2022_4_22

Annotation

The Kalmyk steppe, in terms of its geographical location and natural and climatic conditions, is included in the zone of risky agriculture, which predetermined the main direction of the economic development of the autochthonous population - extensive cattle breeding. However, at the beginning of the XIX century. the process of integration of the region into the general imperial space led to the first attempts in the field of agriculture. The study of the historical experience of the development of agriculture in an arid territory is relevant at the present stage. The subject of this article is agricultural experiments on the Tingutinsky irrigated area, located in the northern part of the Maloderbetovsky ulus of the Kalmyk steppe of the Astrakhan province. In the course of the analysis of documentary materials introduced into scientific circulation for the first time, from the funds of the Russian State Historical Archive, the author focuses on attempts to cultivate crops on Tingut. In conclusion, it was concluded that the implementation of experimental measures in the field of irrigated agriculture in the arid territories of the Kalmyk steppe was not only of a scientific and practical nature, but also acted as one of the ways to integrate the local nomadic population into the all-Russian space. However, they showed that the policy of transferring the nomadic population to settled life requires a more comprehensive approach focused on improving the well-being of the population. Its individual events cannot contribute to a change in the centuries-old established way of life, regulated by traditions and customs that have proven their worth in practice.

Keywords

• Kalmyk steppe
• Tinguta
• arid territory
• irrigation
• agricultural culture
• horticulture
• cotton
• experimental farm
• experiments
• soil depletion
* click on a keyword to go to the search

Contribution of the authors

Shurguchieva Yu. S. – development of the research concept, work on identifying sources, preparation of the source text; Batyrov V. V. – substantiation of the purpose of the article, revision of the text, final conclusions

Acknowledgments

the work was supported by the Russian Science Foundation, Project № 22-18-00313 “Transformation of nomadic societies of the South of Russia in the context of natural and factors (XIX – mid XX centuries)”.

References

1. Badmaeva, E. N. Organy gosudarstvennoy vlasti Kalmykii v sovetskom i postsovetskom ehksperimente po razvitiyu khlopkovodstva (opyt istoriko-sravnitelnogo i perspektivnogo analiza) [State authorities of Kalmykia in the Soviet and post-Soviet experiment on the development of cotton growing (experience of historical, comparative and perspective analysis)]. Vestnik Kalmytskogo instituta gumanitarnykh issledovaniy RAN [Bulletin of the Kalmyk Institute for Humanitarian Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences]. 2017, no. 2 (30), pp. 25–33. doi: 10.22162/2075-7794-2017-30-2-25-33.
2. Badmaeva, E. N. Problema vodoobespecheniya v usloviyakh kochevogo sposoba khozyaystvovaniya (na primere Kalmytskoy stepi v kontse XIX – nachale XX v.) [The problem of water supply in the nomadic way of management (on the example of Kalmyk steppe in the late 19th – early 20th centuries)]. Vestnik Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta [Bulletin of Tomsk State University History]. 2020, no. 457, pp. 85–93. doi: 10.17223/15617793/457/11.
3. Badmaeva, E. N., Kidirniyazov, D. S., Magomaev, V. Kh. Prirodno-klimaticheskie faktory v khozyaystvennoy deyatelnosti kochevykh narodov Prikaspiyskogo regiona [Natural and climatic factors in the economic activity of nomadic peoples of the Caspian region]. Voprosy istorii [Questions of history]. 2021, no. 10–2, pp. 223–234. doi: 10.31166/VoprosyIstorii202110Statyi69.
4. Boguskiy, I. Opyt poseva khlopka v Astrakhanskoy gubernii, bliz g. Sarepty (iz otcheta predostavlennogo departamenty zemledeliya i sel'skoj promyshlennosti) [Experience of cotton sowing in Astrakhan province, near the city of Sarepta (from the report provided by the Departments of Agriculture and Rural Industry)]. Zemledelcheskaya gazeta [Agricultural newspaper]. 1889, no. 3, 21 January, p. 48.
5. Goryaev, M. S., Avliev, V. N. Khozyaystvennaya deyatelnost naseleniya Kalmytskoy stepi (vtoraya polovina XVIII – pervaya polovina XIX veka) [Economic activity of the population of the Kalmyk steppe (second half of the XVIII – first half of the XIX century)]. Sovremennye problemy nauki i obrazovaniya [Modern problems of science and education]. 2015, no. 2–1, рр. 600.
6. Komandzhaev, A. N. Khozyaystvo i sotsialnye otnosheniya v Kalmykii v kontse XIX – nachale XX veka: istoricheskiy opyt i sovremennost [Economy and social relations in Kalmykia in the late XIX – early XX century: historical experience and modernity]. Elista: Dzhangar; 1999, 262 p.
7. Komandzhaev, A. N. Opustynivanie kalmytskikh stepey v kontse XIX – nachale XX vv. [Desertification of the Kalmyk steppes in the late XIX – early XX centuries]. Vestnik Kalmytskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta [Bulletin of the Kalmyk State University]. 2013, no. 1 (17), pp. 64–72.
8. Komandzhaev, A. N. Ehkonomicheskoe razvitie Kalmykii i polozhenie ee trudyashchikhsya v gody Pervoy mirovoy voyny [Economic development of Kalmykia and the situation of its workers during the First World War]. Sotsialno-ekonomicheskoe i politicheskoe polozhenie krestyanstva Kalmykii v dooktyabrskiy period [Socio-economic and political situation of the peasantry of Kalmykia in the pre-October period]. Elista: KNIFE; 1989, pp. 114–128.
9. Komandzhaev, A. N. Kochevoe khozyaystvo kalmykov: istoricheskiy opyt i sovremennoe zvuchanie [Nomadic economy of the Kalmyks: historical experience and modern sound]. Ekonomicheskaya istoriya [Economic history]. 2011, no. 4 (15), pp. 22–25.
10. Lidzhieva, I. V. Khozyaystvo i prirodopolzovanie v deyatelnosti organov mestnogo samoupravleniya Kalmytskoy stepi v XIX – nachale XX v. [Economy and environmental management in the activities of local self-government bodies of the Kalmyk steppe in the XIXth and early XXth centuries]. Vestnik Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Istoriya [Bulletin of Tomsk state university history]. 2017, no. 46, pp. 22–27. doi: 10.17223/19988613/46/3.
11. Lidzhieva, I. V. Problema vodosnabzheniya v Kalmytskoy stepi v nach. XX v. (po materialam aymachnykh i khotonnykh prigovorov) [The problem of water supply in the Kalmyk steppe in the beginning. XX century (based on the materials of aimach and hoton sentences)]. Magna adsurgit: historia studiorum. 2016, no. 1, pp. 61–70.
12. National Archive of the Republic of Kalmykia. Found I-7, inventory 4, case 24.
13. National Museum of the Republic of Kalmykia named after N. N. Palmov. Found 6795, inventory 1, case 309.
14. Ostrovskiy, M. N. Vsepoddanneyshiy doklad Ministra gosudarstvennykh imushchestv po poezdke v Kalmytskuyu step Astrakhanskoy gubernii v 1891 godu [The most comprehensive report of the Minister of State Property on a trip to the Kalmyk steppe of Astrakhan province in 1891]. St. Petrsburg; 1892, 72 p.
15. The Russian State Historical Archive (RGIA). Found 1291, inventory 85, 1897 year, case 231.
16. RGIA. Found 426, inventory 1, case 16.
17. RGIA. Found 426, inventory 1, case 20.
18. RGIA. Found 426, inventory 1, case 21.
19. RGIA. Found 426, inventory 1, case 151.
Read more

Popular articles