Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports 2011 Bashkirs between Two Worlds, 1552-1824 Mehmet Tepeyurt West Virginia University Follow this and additional works at: https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd Recommended Citation Tepeyurt, Mehmet, "Bashkirs between Two Worlds, 1552-1824" (2011). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 4803. https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/4803 This Dissertation is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by the The Research Repository @ WVU with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Dissertation in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you must obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/ or on the work itself. This Dissertation has been accepted for inclusion in WVU Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports collection by an authorized administrator of The Research Repository @ WVU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Bashkirs between Two Worlds, 1552-1824 Mehmet Tepeyurt Dissertation submitted to the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences at West Virginia University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy In History Mark B. Tauger, Ph.D., Chair Robert Blobaum, Ph.D. Joseph Hodge, Ph.D. Josh Arthurs, Ph.D. Willard Sunderland, Ph.D. Department of History Morgantown, West Virginia 2011 Keywords: Bashkirs, Russia, Russian History, Russian Empire, nationality, Islam, Central Asia, Muslims of Central Asia, Pugachev Rebellion, Tatars, Urals, frontier Copyright by Mehmet Tepeyurt, 2011. All Rights Reserved. ABSTRACT BASHKIRS BETWEEN TWO WORLDS, 1552-1824 MEHMET TEPEYURT This dissertation examines the transformation of the Bashkir society from a nomadic and semi-nomadic society to a sedentary society under the Russian empire’s control from the sixteenth to the early nineteenth centuries. In particular, it analyzes inter-ethnic relations and the consequences of these relations for both Bashkirs and other peoples in Bashkiria. The historical Bashkir lands formed Russia’s southeastern frontier for more than two hundred years and the penetration of non-Bashkir groups into the region was a slow and arduous process. On the one hand, the region was an extremely dangerous place: the nomadic groups were quite hostile to the arrival of the agricultural groups who carved out farms from the pasturelands, thereby harming Bashkir nomadic economy. On the other hand, the Muscovite Russian governments were fairly averse to the migrations from the European parts of Russia where a labor force was most needed. The Muscovite governments followed inconsistent policies in Bashkiria. They attempted to preserve Bashkir Votchina rights granted by Ivan IV, but on the other hand they were compelled to protect and improve their interests in the region. This was possible only by erecting fortifications and seizing territory within Bashkir lands. In the process, the Russians undermined Bashkir pastoral economy and provoked Bashkir rebellions against Russian policies in the region. The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries witnessed six major Bashkir rebellions against the Russian state. These rebellions and Russian responses transformed Bashkir society. The Russian presence and policies had mixed results for both Russians and Bashkirs. Beginning with the enlightened policies of Peter the Great, the Russian authorities began to consider the natives as ‘others’ and increasingly took a condescending and often hostile attitude toward the indigenous people. The Russian government attempted to assimilate Bashkirs and other non-Russian peoples of the region, including measures to sedentarize nomadic Bashkirs and attempts to proselytize Orthodox Christianity among then through the Office of the New Converts after 1731. In the long term, such efforts had mixed results. On the one hand, by the early nineteenth century most Bashkirs had shifted from pastoralism to agriculture, and became loyal Russian subjects, fighting in the Russian army against Napoleon. On the other hand, they became increasingly Islamicized. Earlier, as a pastoral people, the Bashkirs were not suited to the practice of Islam and their adoption of this monotheistic religion remained largely superficial. The Russian policies of repression and sedentarization of Bashkirs inspired and enabled their full embrace of Islam (because Islam is largely a religion for sedentary societies) as an ideological means to preserve their distinct Bashkir identity. By the 1820s Bashkir society was economically and ideologically a more coherent body. Their pastoral economy had been shattered through the migrations to the region and the Russian policy of fortified lines and their superficial Islam had given way to orthodox Islam. Their rebelliousness had been broken but their resistance to Russian assimilation gained another dimension as a national group. Consequently the imperial policies of the Russian authorities had modernized a native group and connected them to the wider world. TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract………………………………………………………………………………….... ii Table of Contents……………………………………………………………………….....iv Acknowledgments……………………………………………………………………..…..v Introduction……………………………………………………………………………..…1 Frontier Studies……………………………………………………………………..2 Conversion to Islam………………………………………………………………...4 Nationalism…………………………………………………………………………8 New Imperial History………………………………………………………………9 Chapter 1 The Beginning of the Russo-Bashkir Relations……………………………………………16 The Russians’ First Extension of Sovereignty over Bashkiria, 15th-17th Centuries..16 Russians as Patrons of Bashkirs……………………………………………………20 Initial Russian Administrative Policies…………………………………………….26 Bashkir Society in the late 16th-early 17th Centuries……………………………….30 Russian Deviations from Bashkir Votchina Rights………………………………..36 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………40 Chapter 2 Bashkirs and Russian Wars of the Seventeenth and Early Eighteenth Century……………42 Russo-Bashkir Relations in the Period of Early Russian Modernization, ………...43 17th –Early 18th Centuries Russian Administration of the Bashkirs in the 17th Century………………………47 Bashkir Rebellions of the Mid-16th - Early 17th Centuries………………………...52 The Russo-Bashkir Wars in the 17th Century and Steppe Politics………………...58 The Bashkir Rebellion of 1662-1664……………………………………………...60 Muscovite-Bashkir Conflicts, 1681-1684 and 1704-1711………………………...75 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………....88 Chapter 3 Bashkirs under Russians 1711- 1756……………………………………………………....89 Imperial Russia’s Bashkir Frontier, 1700-1734……………………………………91 New Imperial Projects in Bashkiria………………………………………………..94 Bashkir Moves against the New Imperial Projects……………………………...…104 The Apogee of Russo-Bashkir Conflict: the 1735-1740 War……………………..118 The Batyrsha Rebellion, 1755-1756………………………………………………128 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………...135 iv Chapter 4 Strange Bedfellows: Bashkirs during the Pugachev Rebellion…………………………….137 Background: The Russian Government and the Urals Nationalities in the 18th Century………………………………………………………………….139 The Bashkirs and the Beginning of Pugachev’s Rebellion ………………………...141 The Bashkirs and Conflicts within Pugachev’s Forces……………………………. 146 The Bashkirs between the Russian Government and Pugachev……………….........151 The Bashkir Phase of the Rebellion………………………………………………...166 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………..171 Chapter 5 The Colonization of Bashkiria, 1730s to 1790s……………………………………………174 Historiography……………………………………………………………………. .175 Russian Government Policies ……………………………………………………...177 Actual Migrations…………………………………………………………………..181 Relations between Natives and Migrants…………………………………………. .193 Changing Status and Conditions of Bashkirs………………………………………197 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………….215 Chapter 6 The Islamization of Bashkirs…………………………………………………………….…217 Bashkirs’ Conversion to Islam, 900s to 1300s………………………………….….218 Bashkirs’ Embrace of Islam and Russia’s Muslim Question…………………….....223 Bashkir Rebellions in Defense of Islam…………………………………………....226 Bashkirs’ Islamization and the Impact of Tatars…………………………………...234 Efforts to Convert Peoples of the Volga-Ural Region……………………………..239 The Batyrsha Incident, 1755-1756………………………………………………... 241 Catherine the Great’s Policy of Religious Toleration…………………………..…245 Bashkir Popular Islam……………………………………………………………..253 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………...255 Epilogue…………………………………………………………………………………..256 Works Cited…………………………………………………………………………….. 263 v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS History is like uncharted waters and without a good guide it is very easy to get lost. Mark Tauger was the best guide I could ever imagine. This dissertation would be impossible to complete without knowledge and insight of my advisor Mark Tauger. Whenever I lost my direction and encountered writer’s block many times, he always encouraged and supported me to resume my studies. I also owe my special thanks to my committee members; Robert Blobaum, Joseph Hodge, Josh Arthurs and Willard Sunderland who kindly accepted to join my dissertation committee. They all provided many insightful comments and brought new dimensions to the dissertation. My colleagues Isaac Emrick and Jason Roberts provided me best possible support in the office. They did not hesitate to share their thoughtful comments and produced necessary maps for my thesis. The cordiality and friendship of my