The Supply of Flour and Bread by Russia to the Kazakh Steppe and the Development of Agriculture during the Reign of Sultan Abulai of the Middle Zhuz

This article is devoted to the history of development of agriculture and supply of flour and bread to the Kazakh steppe in the XVIII century by the Russian authorities, with emphasis on the importance of Sultan Abylai's activity in this matter.The study revealed that at that time the needs for bread in the steppe territories were increasing, but the volume of flour supplied by the Russian authorities was insufficient.The Sultan of the Middle zhuz Abylai, pursued a policy of spreading farming among his subjects Kazakhs, realizing the importance of this type of economy in the conditions of gradual territorial restriction.The longterm practice of allocation of flour and bread was a purposeful policy of the Russian central and regional authorities, aimed, on the one hand, at strengthening friendly relations, development of economic relations and trade, as evidenced by the fact of transition from free allocation of bread to its sale.On the other hand, strategically, these measures were designed to stimulate the gradual transition of Kazakh nomads to a sedentary way of life for further integration into the space of Russian statehood.In addition, the strategy of agricultural development in the northern Kazakh regions could have been not only to give impetus to longterm economic growth, but also to reduce dependence on Russian grain markets, the obvious presence of which is indicated by numerous requests of Sultan Abylai to send or sell flour, grain and bread.The authors turn to documents from the Historical Archive of the Omsk Region and the Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Empire to objectively reconstruct the relations between Abylai Khan and the Russian Empire, as well as to study the requests for flour and bread supplies to the Middle Zhuz.Historical, chronological, analytical and other methods were used to analyze and interpret the sources, including collection documents and archival materials.