Abstract:
The history of Russian-Kazakh relations in the first half of the 19th century has been poorly studied.
Thus, the “white spots” of the historiography of the topic remain the personalities of Kazakh public figures
and their participation in negotiation processes with the border imperial services. Not only khans, sultans
and batyrs, but also representatives of the clergy, as it turned out, were involved in political processes in the
border regions. In the twentieth century, these categories of nomadic society were classified as a “hostile
class” and completely removed from scientific circulation. From a new methodological standpoint, it makes
sense to study the essence of social protest among the Orenburg Kazakhs of the eastern part, in which Maral
Ishan Kurmanov, of course, played the role of a spiritual leader. Based on scientific methods (analysis and
synthesis, comparative studies, principles of historicism and verification of sources), materials from the
central historical archives of Russia and Kazakhstan, periodicals and books of the XIX century were
identified, systematized and studied. The discovery of correspondence between the border administration
and M. Kurmanov reveals little-known aspects of border contacts. The article attempts to compare the tactics
of steppe leaders, who often used diplomacy as a peaceful way to solve problematic issues. The materials of
the pre-revolutionary press have been critically studied. The facts of migration, together with M. Kurmanov,
of Kazakh families in the southern and south-eastern directions, as a result of the land crisis and a number of
unresolved issues, have been revealed.
