Resettlement of Trade and Craft Population to the Kalmyk Lands of Astrakhan Province in the Context of the State Trade Policy (XIX – early XX centuries)

Abstract

The article analyzes the policy of the russian authorities towards traders and artisans who moved to the kalmyk lands. The reasons and results of migrations of the trade and craft population to Kalmykia are considered, their influence on social, economic and cultural development of kalmyk society is shown. It was found that the settlement of traders in the kalmyk lands was not due to the purposeful policy of the state, and the lack of kalmyks of their professional layer of traders. The state and the kalmyks tolerated the migrations of traders and artisans, because they, firstly, were not of a mass character, secondly, did not lead to a mass seizure of land, and thirdly, the activities of immigrants were in demand by the kalmyk society and did not undermine its vital interests. The strategic line of the Imperial leadership of Russia in trade policy in the kalmyk lands was that the state did not prevent the kalmyks from engaging in trade, but at the same time did not encourage this kind of activity. The top leadership did not connect the future of the kalmyk people with the wide spread of trade relations among them, seeing them as a source of bad influence on the morality of the kalmyk people. By allowing the settlement in the Kalmyk Steppe of a certain number of merchants and artisans of non-kalmyk origin, the state also regulated their stay and activities and supervised them. The main instruments regulating the presence of foreign trade and craft contingent in the kalmyk lands were the lease and issuance of trade certificates for the implementation of trade activities. The trade and craft population, despite its small number, made a significant contribution to the creation of stationary settlements of Kalmykia, the development of trade and crafts, the establishment of international communications.