Indigenous Population in the Views of the Yakut Regional Head (1820s-1830s)

Статья посвящена репрезентации коренного населения Якутской области - якутов, тунгусов, ламутов и др. - в ежегодных отчетах якутского областного начальника Н.И. Мягкова. В его отчетах большое внимание уделялось решению земельного вопроса, а также негативному влиянию на жизнь аборигенов ряда земских чиновников, казаков, духовенства и торговцев. Инородческое население в отчетах освещалось с позиций патернализма и позиционировалось как объект заботы и защиты со стороны областной администрации. Сконструирован образ «образованного инородца», способного к организации самоуправления. Прослеживается общеимперская тенденция, характерная для первой половины XIX в., связанная с высокой степенью этнической толерантности в административной политике самодержавия в контексте процесса инкорпорации региона в российское пространство. The article examines the representation of the indigenous population of the Yakut region in the 1820s-1830s - the Yakuts, Tungus, Lamuts, etc., based on the content of the annual reports of the regional head Nikolai Ivanovich Myagkov, stored in the fonds of the Russian State Historical Archive (St. Petersburg), which the official provided to the Minister of Internal Affairs. The principle of historicism formed the methodological basis of the study. The article deals with the problems of “vagrant” and “nomadic” foreigners, it is noted that particular attention in the reports was given to the latter, the Yakuts, who constituted the main indigenous population in terms of their numbers in the Yakut region. The reports focused on the “land issue” associated with the shortage and non-equal distribution of mowing areas for the Yakuts; the problems of delimiting hunting areas between the Yakuts and Tungus. In addition, the issues of the negative impact of some categories of the population on the life of the aborigines were raised, primarily zemstvo officials, and then the Cossacks, the clergy and merchants; the fight against arbitrariness and the restriction of communications were proposed as a solution to the problem. The reports presented the indigenous population in a spirit of paternalism and positioned it as an object of care and protection by the regional administration. The image of an “educated foreigner” was created, capable of organizing self-government, in particular, the Yakut Steppe Duma, established on the basis of the Statute of Alien Administration of 1822; such qualities as laziness or mental retardation were not characteristic of the aboriginal population of the Yakut region, and among the negative qualities only “snitching” was noted. The content of the annual reports reveals a trend characteristic of the first half of the 19th century, associated with a high degree of ethnic tolerance in the administrative policy of autocracy in the context of the process of incorporation of the region into the all-Russian space, as well as the absence of Russification elements.