Osh. Economic Activities of the Urban Population
The Transfer of Land Relations Practices from the Kokand Khanate to Southern Kyrgyzstan
The majority of Osh's residents were engaged in agriculture, many in transportation and trade, and a significant portion in crafts. The branches of agricultural production remained traditional from the late 18th century until 1875: irrigated farming ("the city is surrounded by fertile land," "the fields are watered by canals," reported Murtaza Faizulin and other informants of G. F. Gens), horticulture ("the residents have good gardens and ... produce a lot of fruits"), as well as livestock breeding ("the residents have a lot of livestock grazing near the city").
Tax and revenue materials from the 1840s to the early 1870s, particularly published documents from the khan's office, allow for a more detailed understanding of the agricultural activities of the Osh residents. Thus, the inhabitants of Osh and the surrounding villages primarily sowed grains: predominantly corn, significantly less wheat and barley (the sowings of the latter were approximately equal), and a little rice and millet (jugaru). Among fiber crops, cotton was cultivated, and among oilseeds, flax and sesame, as well as poppy (which was used for food and to prepare drugs) and alfalfa. Home gardening was widespread (they grew, as in neighboring areas of Fergana, cucumbers, onions, and especially a lot of carrots), melon cultivation, backyard gardening, and viticulture. Wealthy citizens had extensive country vineyards, gardens, plots, and melon fields. In the early 1870s, more than 50 plots in Osh were occupied by melons. In the summer, the poor of Osh fed on melons with flatbread. The early-maturing melons were particularly favored by the residents of Osh. Various varieties of "sugar" melons and grapes were dried for future use.
According to narrative sources, the spread of rice cultivation in Kyrgyzstan began with the city of Osh. After the conquest of the city in 1762, the Kokand ruler Irdana ordered the dispatch of 50 families of colonists to Osh to grow rice here. Adopting the experience of Uzbek settlers in cultivating rice plantations, the Kyrgyz successfully continued the cultivation of this crop. Even today, the so-called "Uzbek" rice is considered the best for preparing the favorite dish of the citizens—plov.
Cotton, as an important technical crop in the 19th century, was sown only in the vicinity of Osh. In 1877, the year after the fall of the Kokand Khanate, 6,200 poods, i.e., about 200 tons of cotton were harvested here, which was quite a high yield for that time.
Many families in Osh were engaged in the breeding of silkworms. Craftsmen who spun silk were required to pay tax in kind to the khan's treasury. The Kokand documents particularly note "offerings from silk spinners."
Horses and oxen served as working and transport animals. Many city residents kept sheep.
The inclusion of Osh and the southern regions of Kyrgyzstan into the Kokand Khanate led to changes in the traditional forms of agrarian relations among the Kyrgyz. The khan legally and factually became the supreme owner and manager of all cultivated and uncultivated lands, whether assigned to someone or free. He was the head of state, and thus all lands were nominally considered state property. The khan had the right to gift, sell, grant to anyone, confiscate, and resell them.
As a result of the transfer of land relations practices from the Kokand Khanate to Southern Kyrgyzstan, a system of state, private, and communal land ownership was established here, a system of land tenure—feudal and peasant, a system of land use—individual and collective (communal). As the influence of the Kokand clergy expanded in Kyrgyzstan, Muslim land ownership (waqf properties) also emerged. However, the influence of Kokand on the land relations of the Kyrgyz largely depended on the strength of its power in Kyrgyzstan and weakened as one moved away from the centers of the khanate.
Overall, the agrarian relations system of the Kokand Khanate, which influenced the development of land relations in the city and among the surrounding Kyrgyz, corresponded to the interests of the ruling class and had a feudal character while retaining elements of a patriarchal-tribal structure.
