RECORDS OF RUSSIAN OFFICIALS HELD CAPTIVE IN THE KAZAKH STEPPE (LATE 18TH CENTURY - EARLY 19TH CENTURY, BASED ON ARCHIVAL DOCUMENTS)

Abstract

Annotation. The article discusses the records of Russian officials who were held captive in the Kazakh steppe and the information they left about the daily life of the Kazakh region. Based on the provided data, a comparative analysis was conducted. Many works, records, memoirs, and diaries written about the Kazakh people in the late 18th and early 19th centuries were written in a similar vein. To verify the accuracy of the descriptions of the Kazakh people in the diaries and memoirs of Russian researchers, they were thoroughly studied and analyzed.

The archival documents detail the records of Russian officials held captive in the Kazakh steppe and the attitude of the Kazakh people towards the captives. The research utilized data from expedition reports, diaries, and memoirs of travelers, which provide considerable information about the daily life of the Kazakh people. The documents were obtained through work with archives and rare collections. One of such materials is the archival records of Russian officials about the Kazakh people presented below. First and foremost, the record of Russian officer Savva Bolshoy, who was taken captive by the Kazakhs when he arrived in the Kazakh steppe, was examined.