Abstract:
The article examines the issues of studying by the Russian scientists the Kazakh steppe and the people inhabiting it in the 18th century. 18th century became a key and qualitatively new stage in the history of the study, accumulation and deepening of geographical and historical knowledge of the Kazakh steppe. At the beginning of the 18th century the Russian government has intensified the study of Siberia and the Kazakh steppe in the natural and historical-geographical aspects. In this context, the article reveals the role of Russian scientists in the scientific study of Kazakhstan and their contribution to the development of Russian nomad studies.
The results of the scientific study of the Kazakh steppe are a set of sources on history, geography, nature management, ethnic territory, ethnography, economy and place names. Therefore, the works of Russian scientists and materials of academic expeditions published by its participants in the eighteenth century, basically became the source base for subsequent studies of the Kazakh steppe. They accumulated a certain amount of knowledge and ideas about the steppe civilization, which helped to identify common patterns in the development of the steppe peoples. It is logical that all the information of the researchers and the materials of the expeditions had inherent conflicting judgments and conclusions, insufficient accuracy and completeness of information about the Kazakh people, because it was the first large-scale comprehensive survey of the region. Despite this, the works of Russian scientists were of great scientific importance in the ethnographic study of the Kazakh people and in considering the Kazakh steppe as a historical and geographical phenomenon.
