Renaming of Settlements of the East Kazakhstan Region in 1900-1917 as a Violation of the Stability of the Toponymic System

Kalimoldina Zhanneta Amangeldinovna Senior Lecturer, Department of History of Kazakhstan and Rukhani Zhangyru, Sarsen Amanzholov East Kazakhstan University 070005, Kazakhstan, East Kazakhstan region, Ust-Kamenogorsk, A.kashaubaeva str., 26 zkalimoldina@bk.ru

The historical events of the early twentieth century had a significant impact on the toponymic system of the region, which led to the renaming of settlements.

Materials related to the history of renaming settlements have been deposited in the State Archive of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The analysis of these documents allows us to determine the reasons for the name changes. For example, Fund No. 15 has preserved the case of renaming Kazakh villages: Mechetskoye to Beloyarskoye, Bukonskoye to Chernoyarskoye, Akhmerovskoye to Temnoyarskoye. In the journal "The General Presence of the Semipalatinsk Regional Board for Peasant Affairs" dated July 17, 1917, the issue of renaming the Kazakh villages of Ust-Kamenogorsk district is considered ^{[1, l.5]}: according to the decision of the General Presence of the Regional Board for Peasant Affairs, the Mosque was renamed Beloyarsk, Bukon – Chernoyarsk, Akhmerov – Temnoyarsk (S.Bukon settlement of Kokpektinsky district of East Kazakhstan region, with Akhmerovo settlement of Oktyabrsky district of Ust-Kamenogorsk).  The same documents contain information that the village of Bukon was formed in 1838, the village of Mosque – in 1843 and Akhmerovskoye (previously renamed from Kasybaevsky to Menovnoye, then to the present name) – in 1755. At the same time, the general presence was guided by the circular order of the head of the region on the mandatory naming of all migrant and Kyrgyz settlements with Russian names, and not Tatar and German. In the same order, it was prescribed that localities should not be given the names of officials in the local service. Circulars like the one set out in this case were in effect in all regions of Kazakhstan and reflect the policy of the imperial authorities, which was carried out in the outlying colonial territories.

It should be noted that in the journal of the general presence of the Semipalatinsk regional board there are materials about the change of one rural society several times. For example, in the fund 15 of the Central State Archive of the Republic of Kazakhstan there is a case of renaming the village "Semenovskoye" of Ust-Kamenogorsk county to "Belokamenny", then this name changes to "Lubyansky", since there was already a village of Belokamenny in Zaisan county, i.e. when choosing the name of the settlement, the rules were followed that the county should not there should be identical names.

The funds of the Central State Administration of the Republic of Kazakhstan contain extensive information on the names of resettlement settlements formed on the territory of the Semipalatinsk region. One of such sources is the "List of settlements of the Semipalatinsk region" of 1910 ^{[2, l.12]}, where the names of settlements of Ust-Kamenogorsk, Semipalatinsk and Zaisan counties are indicated. It contains information about the formation of toponyms related to the economic activities of immigrants. For example, migrants often changed their place of residence in search of new, more abundant fishing grounds. "Mys Tyuyuk", "Topolev Mys", "Tugyl" are toponyms formed in connection with the settlement in new places for fishing. Later, the settlements "Mys Tyuyuk", "Topolev Mys" of the Chorginsky parish of Zaisan county remained under water due to the increase in water in Lake Zaisan.

In 1910, the Boundary division of the Semipalatinsk regional Board presented a "List of volosts, villages, villages and newly formed resettlement sites of Ust-Kamenogorsk County", which contains the names of volosts, villages, villages and newly formed resettlement sites. In the same document there is an appendix "A list of accounting institutions of the Zaisan district with an indication of the volosts and villages under the jurisdiction of each of the designated educational institutions." Here, in addition to the resettlement villages, there are names of Kyrgyz (Kazakh) volosts that are under the jurisdiction of the Zaisan county administration. As well as a list of unofficial villages, such as Topolev mys, Karakas, Peschany, Tyuyuk, Tugusken, Muzhuk-su, independent villages: Rozhdestvenskoye, Storozhevoy, Ivanovsky, Petropavlovsk (Table 1).

Table 1

      List of volosts, villages, villages and newly formed resettlement sites of Ust-Kamenogorsk county in 1910 ^{[3, l.7]}

Table 1 contains the names of 91 settlements in the region, of which 12 are independent villages, 28 are newly formed resettlement sites. The table shows the names of Kyrgyz municipalities. The names Kurchumsky, Ulansky have retained their names in the modern administrative-territorial system of the country, and the municipalities of Targynsky, Shakhtinsky are the names of settlements in the modern Ulansky district. At the same time, in the table, the name of the parish coincides with the name of the newly formed resettlement sites (in the list of Kyrgyz volosts there is the Taiynta parish, and here, among the newly formed resettlement sites, the village of Mystery is indicated as part of the Mystery parish). 

There are several versions about the origin of the name Akhmirovo. N.Ya. Konshin's article "On Ust-Kamenogorsk Uyezd (travel notes)", published in the Commemorative Book of the Semipalatinsk region in 1899 ^{[4, l.15]}, states the following: "The village is so named chalakazakov (Kazakhs married to Tatars. – auth.) Akhmirova in versts from Ust-Kamenogorsk. There are two streets in Akhmirova with a square where there is a mosque. The houses are mostly made of mud bricks; there are also wooden ones smeared with clay. There is a school in the village (at the mosque), where Kyrgyz give their children. The general appearance of Akhmirov is kind of sad. There is not even a river: the Akhmirov swamp spring flows near the village. According to Akhmirov residents, their village has existed for more than 100 years and is named after the Tashkent resident Akhmir, who was the first to settle here with his relatives. Little by little, other natives of Turkestan began to settle near the Irtysh, there were also wintering Kirghiz, with whom the Tashkent people, through marriage, eventually completely merged. There are 62 caravans in Akhmirov, of which 55 caravans are 6 seniority, 5 seniority of Sibinsk volost, 1-Targyn volost, 1-Ulan volost, 1-Ayyrtava volost. There are 346 residents in Akhmirova. Of these, there are 179 men: 85 married men, 94 unmarried men. Women 167 of them 69 unmarried, 98 married. Caravans with Kyrgyz ancestors 36, with ancestors from Tashkent 26. Caravans with Kyrgyz ancestors 36, with ancestors from Tashkent 26" ^{[5, l.8]}.

Along the Irtysh line, a flat area called "Red Willow" was leased by local Kazakhs from line officers. N.Ya. Konshin bypasses villages along the Irtysh line, defines the names of mountains and rivers. For example, "The Northern village stands near the Smolyanka River, so named probably because of the black earth bottom and the water of the river seems dark. Behind the Northern village there is a large mountain with a strange name "Saddle", behind which the gorge of the river "Fir" is expensive. Due to the fact that the bottom of the river called "Smolyanka" consists of chernozem, its surface appears black, so the name of the river is "Fir". The river has its name for a reason, as fir trees have grown a lot on the mountainside." And also N.Ya. Konshin in his article "Resettlement settlements of Ust-Kamenogorsk district" describes in detail the origin of the name of the resettlement settlements. These are the resettlement settlements of Toskayyn, Shaganat, Balykty-bulak, Katon-kagay, Mikhailo-Archangelsky, Alexandrovsky, Marinsky, Nikolaevsky, Georgevsky.

 In the same fund there are materials concerning the introduction of the rural general administration of the site "Aulie Bulak" of Ust-Kamenogorsk county with the name of its village "Holy River" ^{[6, l.25]}. In this case it is written: "in the village  69 families lived in Aulie bulak of Ayyrtava parish. And the residents of Aulie Bulak suggested the name "Holy River" in translation from the Kazakh language of the word "aulie holy, bastau – spring, river". It should be noted that by order it was impossible to give a translation of the name of the settlement during the renaming of the settlement. And by order of the regional chief, the village was given the name "Vlasevsky". Such a fate befell the village of "Ak Bastau", where 13 families lived. Residents offered to give the name in translation "White well". But by the decision of the listeners, the case of the village "Ak Bastau" of Ayyrtau bolys was given the name "Ermolaevsky". The verdict was signed by 12 people" ^{[7, l.11]}. Residents of the village "Shokpartas" of Ayyrtavsky bolys of Ust-Kamenogorsk county offered the translated name "Kruglokamenny", but the authorities decided to give the settlement the name "Zyablikovsky" ^{[8, l. 4]}.

The case on the introduction of rural public administration in the Kazakh village "Seketas" of Ust-Kamenogorsk district with the name of its village "Knyazevsky" was started on December 22, 1916 and ended on May 19, 1917. This case was considered by the vice-governor G.A. Savrimovich, the chairman of the district court O.K. Stankevich, the prosecutor of the district Sdua I.K. Krivizky, the non-elected member D.P. Sailatovich, the head of resettlement affairs A.V. Klochkov. We listened to the head of the Krestyansky 1st section of Ust-Kamenogorsk district, who reported that 25 families lived in the village of Seketas and suggested calling the village "Knyazevsky" ^{[9, l.22]}.

It was decided to rename the locality with the name "Sagyr" to the name "Kolokolny" based on the report that "in order to eliminate the non-Russian name of the settlement, it is necessary to give the village a different name" ^{[10, l.13]}. At that time, 84 families lived in the village of "Sagyr". And also in this case it is mentioned that the village before the name "Sagyr" had the name "Betegeli". In Soviet times, the village "Sagyr" was named "Leninka" in honor of the leader of the October Revolution V.I. Lenin. After the Independence of Kazakhstan, the name "Sagyr" was returned to the village.

The archive also preserved "The case of the introduction of rural public administration in the Kazakh village "Dzhangyz Agach" with the name "Sukhovsky". This case was started on January 16, 1917 and ended on May 19, 1917 ^{[11, l.17]}. The mass renaming of Kazakh villages, which provides for the replacement of Kazakh names with Russian ones, took place in February 1917 on the basis of a separate order of the Governor-General of the Steppe region (Table 2).

 Table 2

Renaming of Kazakh villages (based on Order No. 5565 of the Steppe Governor-General on February 28, 1917)^{[12, L.8.]}

The basis for renaming settlements in East Kazakhstan was a circular order of the head of the region on "the indispensable renaming of all resettlement and Kyrgyz settlements – with Russian names, not Tatar, German, etc..." On the proposal of local residents, that is, Kazakhs – to leave the former name as a translation, for example, "Shokpartas" to "Round Stone", "Ak bastau" to "Belokolodezny", was refused. The reason for the refusal was Order No. 10030 of August 10, 1910 and March 15, 1910 No. 4397 - "it was proposed not to name villages with Kyrgyz, German and other non-Russian names." Also in this order, "it is forbidden to name villages by the surnames of officials who were in local service." 

Some renaming of settlements concerned the economic activities of migrants, who often changed their place of residence in search of more abundant fishing grounds.

When renaming settlements, there was also a requirement not to name several settlements in a certain county with the same name, for the convenience of the postal service and telegraph communications.

The toponymic space of the East Kazakhstan region represents an interesting and peculiar page in the onomastic system of Kazakhstan. Here, at the junction of the borders of several states, toponymic names represent a unique opportunity to compare cultures, traditions, and the history of the peoples inhabiting the territory of the region. From the depths of centuries, they tell about the pages of the history of the region, testify to historical transformations, about borrowings, when, together with the name, the actions or phenomena themselves, which they once designated, gradually entered into another environment.