Northern Kyrgyzstan as a National Borderland of the Russian Empire in the Context of Decolonization Discourse of the late 19th – early 20th centuries

The article examines the features of the development of Northern Kyrgyzstan since the end of the 19th century in the context of its integration into the Russian Empire as a national outskirts. A review of modern discourses of scientific literature concerning the history of settlement and advancement into new territories of the Russian Empire is provided, with an emphasis on the terms “colonization”, “development” and “national outskirts”. A historiographical analysis of the pre-revolutionary period of the history of Kyrgyzstan is carried out to identify the main concepts and assess the role of Northern Kyrgyzstan as part of Russia. Particular attention is paid to the stages of peasant resettlement to Semirechye, with an emphasis on the Przhevalsky and Pishpek districts, which were key to this process. The variety of methods of development of the region through changes in the settlement and ethnodemographic structure, as well as changes in agriculture and cattle breeding, and the development of industry are considered. In order to reveal the development of national outskirts by the Russian Empire, the work examines the disagreements between the Turkestan Governor-General and the Main Directorate of Land Management and Agriculture on resettlement issues. It is concluded that the analysis of the differences between the concepts of “colonization” and “colonization policy” emphasizes the importance of an accurate terminological approach for a deep understanding of historical processes. The article argues that the term “colonization policy” more accurately reflects the complexity of imperial strategies to influence the development of the region. It is concluded that the use of this term contributes to a deeper and more accurate analysis of historical processes and their impact on modern challenges and the failure of the discourse of decolonization of Kyrgyzstan.