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.
Samples of Land Documents from the Kokand Period
The process of disintegration of communal and the separation of private land ownership among the Kyrgyz began during the Kokand rule and, it seems, was more actively occurring in the cities. In any case, one such characteristic document from the year 1254 AH (1838 AD) is known, which confirms the consolidation of a large area of previously communal land in the city of Osh into the personal ownership of a certain Mullabay Akhun Narbotobayev.
The document, translated by a Turkestan official of the last century, stated: "In the locality of Mady—a part of the land, irrigated from the springs of Karasu, borders to the west with the fields of the khan, to the east a part adjoins the fields belonging to the bakal department, a part adjoins the fields belonging to the yuvash department, to the north— to the Mady canal, to the south— to the Yuavash canal. The month of Muharram 1254 AH.
We, the undersigned Kyrgyz Mulla Toychi Kurbanbiev, Tarakchi and Kozhur Niyazbekov... (and others, a total of 44 people—ed.) confirm that from the aforementioned land within the boundaries, a part with irrigations from the Yuavash canal with 11 scheduled irrigations belongs to Narboto Abdaazimbaev, Samulu Khusainov, Mullabay Narbotobayev, Gait-bibi Baldishankhova, Mulla Kyrgyz Ali Abdramankbaev, Maat Karim, Mulla Shanazarov, Yusup Ali Suvankulov, and Mirza Ameli Abdushukurov, and we, in turn, confirm that from the land belonging to us, half of such with five scheduled irrigations belongs to Mullabay Akhun Narbotobayev, against which we have no claims. In which we have given this document in the presence of the kazis, who affixed their seals on it."
In many respects, another similar document, executed as a land sale, but in fact serving as a kind of quitclaim deed, is interesting. The original document is kept in the Osh Regional Museum, whose employee E. V. Druzhinina kindly provided it to us, and the translation was made at our request by the orientalist V. N. Nastich. This is a large scroll, of typically Eastern (Kokand) ornamentation and paper, written with a pen in ink. The document, dated 1864, is composed in the clerical Tajik language and is a deed of sale—transaction for a homestead and several plots of arable land in the area of the city of Osh. It contains 25 lines of text, sealed with 4 seals and 3 signatures of witnesses. Due to technical features, the reproductions of the Osh madrasah Alymbek make it difficult to decipher individual words in the text, and the signatures on the impressions of the seals are not readable at all.
From the perspective of the form, traditional in late medieval Central Asian documentation and prescribed by Sharia, the document consists of several "takhdid"—definitions of the subjects of the transaction, and the actual protocol of the sale. In general, it represents the so-called "vasika."
Here is this document;
"Description of the boundaries of one building along with the adjacent courtyard plot with known boundaries, which is located in the blessed city of Osh, in the quarter of the late Narbay—so that [this plot] partially borders to the west with the public road, partially borders with the land of Barat-khodja, son of Ruzi-khodja, and partially borders with the land of Khusain-bay, son of Yakub-ake; to the east—partially borders with the land of Abd al-Jabbar-bay, son of Mirsadik-bay, partially borders with the land of Mulla Muhammad Amin, son of the late Muhammad Ali kaznya; to the south—partially borders with the land of Zakir-bay, son of the aforementioned Narbay, partially borders with the land remaining |[after the death] of Nimat-bay, son of Saifullah, and to the north—partially borders with the land remaining [after the death] of Yakub-ake, son of Allanasar, and partially borders with the land of the aforementioned Barat-khodja.
Also, the definition of one plot of arable land with known boundaries, which is located on the Kenzhe-kuli canal (?), which is one of the canals of the aforementioned city—so that from the herd it completely borders with the reserved part of the kapala of common use, from the east—completely borders with the land remaining [after the death] of Yakub-ake, son of Allanasar-bay, from the south—completely borders with the reserved part of the aforementioned canal of common use Kenzhe-kuli, from the north—partially borders with the land remaining [after the death] of the aforementioned Yakub-ake, and partially borders with the land of the heirs (?) of Ibrahim-sheikh, son of ...
Also, the definition of one plot of arable land with known boundaries, which is located in the aforementioned Kenzhe-kuli canal—so that from the west it completely borders with the land of Abduhalik, son of Muhammad Murad, from the east—completely connects with the milk of Nurmuhammad-sheikh, son of Tura-sheikh, from the south—completely borders with the reserved part of the aforementioned canal Kenzhe-kuli, and from the north—completely borders with the land remaining [after the death] of Yakub-ake.
Also, the definition of one plot of arable land with known boundaries, which is located in the aforementioned Kenzhe-kuli canal—so that from the west it partially borders with the public road, partially borders with the land of Satylgan, son of Tilek, partially borders with the land of Suranchi-yala, son of Jankuzi, and partially borders with the land of Ighamberdi, son of ..., from the east—completely borders with the reserved part of the canal of common use, from the south—partially borders with the land of Akhundbek, son of Tilek-bay, partially borders with the land of Seri, son of Konakbay, and partially borders with the land of Shirgazi, son of ..., from the north—partially borders with the property of Malla, son of Khojamkul, partially borders with the land of Konche, son of Koytiks (?), and partially borders with the land of Uraza, son of ...
Also, the definition of one plot of land with known boundaries, which is located on the Ashkiya canal (?)—as it is one of the canals of the aforementioned city—so that from the west it partially borders with the land of Mulla Abd ar-Rasul, son of Shir-baba, and partially borders with the land of Abdurashul, son of Shakhnazar, from the east—completely borders with the land remaining from Yakub-ake, son of the aforementioned Allanasar, from the south—completely borders with the land of M.sh.t. ray (?)-baba, son of Mulla Khojanazar, and from the north—completely borders with the public road. The boundary markers of all five mentioned plots are known.
In the sacred month of Muharram of the year 1281—one thousand two hundred eighty-first, a clear, correct statement recognized by law was made by [a woman] named Hakim-bibi, red-haired (i.e., with red hair), round-faced, plump (literally "fleshy"), according to her own words—seventy years old, daughter of Allanasar, [being] in a state of competence and capacity for her dispositions, voluntarily and [as prescribed] by law, personally, in that: "from all rights and claims inherited by me from my father and mother, which I had and presented to Mulla Khojanazar, son of [the aforementioned] Allanasar, — particularly concerning the plots mentioned above, in exchange for six misqals of gold, full-weight, high-grade, Kokand mint, currently in circulation, having received, I renounce in favor of the aforementioned Mulla Khojanazar a full and final renunciation for all time (?), being aware of the meaning of [the word] "renunciation," which is the cessation [of all rights], with the provision to him [of what is in this statement]... In this lies the event that is recorded. Done in the presence of fair and conscientious witnesses."
Impressions of four seals (three round and one oval), the inscriptions are unreadable.
Witness signatures: "Present at the meeting— Khusayn-bay, Abd ar-Razik, and Pirmukhammad."
As can be seen after a careful review of the document, it represents not a simple deed of sale, but rather a kind of quitclaim deed: the elderly woman renounces her inherited rights from her parents to a homestead and several plots of land in favor of another person (judging by their common "patronymic," this is a brother and sister). Even without special calculations and estimates of the terrain, it is clear that these plots are quite large and fertile (if only because almost all border on the canal, from which they can be irrigated). There is no doubt that all legal entities named in the document are quite wealthy citizens. However, the price received by "red-haired" Hakim-bibi from her brother for all this real estate—6 gold tilas—does not represent a particularly significant sum: at that time's exchange rate, this amounts to 22 rubles and 80 kopecks in Russian money. It creates the impression that the respectable Osh residents cleverly "duped" their elderly and possibly impoverished relative.
The document is interesting, among other things, for the abundance of names of residents of pre-revolutionary Osh (both living at that time and deceased), among which there are many purely Turkic names, including Kyrgyz, as well as the mention of several terms (names of quarters and canals) important for historical toponymy. Moreover, the description of the plots is so detailed that with knowledge of the modern topography of Osh, one can attempt to find them "in nature" and determine more accurately how fair the transaction described in the document was. Likewise, the "vasika" provides certain material for the study of economic terminology, issues of land use, and its legal formalization.
We have dwelled on this document in such detail because, firstly, it is being introduced into scientific circulation for the first time; secondly, it is a document from recent, relatively recent acquisitions in the Osh Regional Museum; thirdly, it was obtained from Osh residents—possible heirs of their ancestors from the mid-19th century; fourthly, the "vasika" is a typical example of land documents from the Kokand period, evidencing the existence of private land ownership in Southern Kyrgyzstan at that time.
Waqf Lands
Kyrgyz and Kipchak feudal lords (Alymbek, Alymkul, and others) had "ancestral lands" both in Osh itself and in the surrounding areas.
The largest Kyrgyz landowner was the Alay tribal leader, a khan's official Alymbek. He built a madrasah in Osh, allocated a hereditary waqf (the so-called waqf-avlod) of a land mass in the village of Chin-Abad (Alymbek-chek). Alymbek's heirs defined urban land plots and shops in Osh for the waqf madrasah with special documents.
The Kokand khans exempted from taxes ("whitewashed") the waqf of powerful Alay feudal lords. Since the Osh madrasah of Alymbek will be specifically examined later, we will only note that this was not a unique case. Over time, Kyrgyz tribal leaders increasingly adopted Kokand feudal customs, becoming typical representatives of the ruling nobility of the state. Documents occasionally mention the ownership of individual waqf institutions not only of arable lands, trading shops, and mills but also of hayfields and pastures. Thus, the Osh madrasah of Alymbek-dakhi had waqf haymaking lands.
In one of the named lists of defters of religious officials—muftis, alams, ishan, as well as biys, sarkars, batyrs, and others—for the Osh vilayet regarding exemption from tax (tanaban) and the return of collected money to the owners, the waqf madrasah of Alymbek is also named, for which the institution was instructed to return 24 tangas of collected tax for hayfields.
In the Kokand Khanate, there was a rather rare practice for the Muslim world of selling land in waqf. And it also found distribution among the Kyrgyz.
In 1288 AH (1871/72), certain Baybek-Sufi and Nurmat Bek-Aliyev of the Koybka clan of the Irke-Kashka society sold a plot of arable land on the Kairma canal in the Archa-Mazar locality for 64 tilas to the mutawalli of the mosque in the mahalla of Alymbay in the city of Osh. The land was purchased with waqf money and added to the ownership of the Osh mosque.
In 1280 AH (1863/64), Kurban Khoja Islambaev sold his plot of land in the village of Kypchak-Kurgan for 28 tilas to the mutawalli of the village mosque. Since the money was waqf, the qazi recognized the land as waqf. Here, in 1282 AH (1865/66), Muhammad Azimbay Satybaldiev sold for 17 tilas "a plot of land with all waters and roads" to the mutawalli of the same mosque. A recent nomad sometimes preferred to sell land in waqf rather than just donate it. However, overall, the waqf land ownership institution in Kyrgyzstan did not gain wide distribution, and with its incorporation into Russia, it was initially significantly restricted and then almost liquidated. In 1882, within the city limits of Osh, waqf lands amounted to only 51 desyatinas 1340 square fathoms.
Trade in Osh
Osh has long been renowned as a trading center for exchanging products between the farmers of Eastern Fergana and the nomadic herders of the nearby foothills and Alay. There were several bazaars here, which can be inferred from mentions in sources about the "sheep bazaar." In addition to grains and melons, livestock and animal products were displayed (and produced here) by folk craftsmen—usta: saddlers, blacksmiths, carpenters, and others. Apparently, there was also a slave market, as evidenced by the sale of people into slavery and the sale of captives.
Osh not only lay on a convenient trade transit road but was also a city where merchant caravans underwent customs inspections, trade duties were collected, and merchants were forced to unpack their goods. This led to Osh becoming one of the active trading centers on the route from Kashgar to Fergana. The significance of Osh in foreign trade between the Kokand Khanate and Kashgaria was reported by the Siberian Cossack Maximov, who visited the Kokand Khanate in the early 19th century.
Located at a busy trading spot—the road from Kokand to Kashgar, which passed through Andijan and the pastures of local Kyrgyz, Osh, even though it was smaller than other cities in the Fergana Valley, conducted extensive intercity and transit trade. According to F. Yefremov, Khiva, Bukhara, Tashkent, and other Central Asian merchants flocked here, attracted by the opportunity for cheap purchases of Kashgar goods and exchanging Central Asian handicrafts for livestock brought in by the Kyrgyz. As noted in the writings of Mir Izzyat Ulla (who visited the city 33 years after F. Yefremov), the lively trading life of Osh was evidenced by the weekly bazaar on Tuesdays. In spring, there was also a "spontaneous market" (fair?) where pilgrims flocked to the city. The latter brought with them a multitude of various goods for sale and exchange with Central Asian merchants, townspeople, and neighboring nomadic Kyrgyz.
The information from previous travelers about the trading significance of Osh is supplemented by the notes of F. Nazarov. In particular, he highlights Osh as one of the centers of foreign trade of the khanate. "On the road descending from the mountains of Kashkar-Divan on the Syr Darya River," he wrote, "a port (i.e., trade—ed.) customs post was established in Osh, where duties were collected from caravans passing from China and to China."
In apparent contradiction to all this is the published account of Murtaza Faizulin about the absence of trade in Osh, where allegedly for this reason merchant caravans do not even unpack their bales. The published text distorts the original record of Gens regarding Murtaza's account of the trading significance of Osh. "There is almost no trade in the city, and the residents are almost exclusively engaged in livestock breeding and farming (our emphasis—ed.)." This important, albeit fleeting observation ("almost") about the economic activities of the citizens of Osh was conveyed in the edited version by N. A. Aristov as: "There is no trade here; the residents engage in farming and livestock breeding." Although such a definition of the economic base of Kokand's Osh in the first half of the 19th century contradicts the reports of the aforementioned and other travelers, it has somewhat solidified in literature.
Additionally, the temporary disruption of Kashgar-Kyrgyz trade, as well as during Murtaza Faizulin's visit to Osh, could have been influenced by the consequences of the frequent anti-Qing uprisings in Kashgar by the local population, supported by the Kyrgyz. Nevertheless, in the handwritten notes of G. F. Gens regarding Murtaza Faizulin's responses to the questionnaire of the Orenburg Border Commission, it is specified that the duty (ziakat) from foreign merchants was collected either in Osh or in Kokand itself. Most likely, the duty was collected on-site, in Osh, if the trading guests arrived specifically to trade with the townspeople and neighboring Kyrgyz. The subsequent merchant caravans heading further into the khanate were escorted to the capital by khan's officials sent from there. In this case, the duty was collected in Kokand itself.
The Role of Osh in the Transit Trade of the Khanate with Eastern Turkestan
Russian sources from the third quarter of the 19th century also indicate the important trading role of Osh as a major center of foreign and transit trade of the khanate with Eastern Turkestan. Through Osh and Andijan, Kashgar caravans brought various goods to Fergana, including Yarkand carpets, tea sets (blue Kashgar porcelain), and tea. By the way, the latter constituted one of the important items of this trade.
If after "clearing" the duty in Osh, the imported goods did not find a market locally—in the city, surrounding villages, and ails, they were taken further—to Namangan or Kokand. According to information collected by Ch. Ch. Valikhanov, through the Osh border customs in the 1830s, annually passed only with tea from 50 to 80 thousand horse loads. From Kokand, alongside traditional Central Asian goods, Russian imports were also sent to Osh, which were transported for sale in Eastern Turkestan cities. Part of the factory and industrial goods from Russia was purchased by Osh merchants, who sold them in city shops at the bazaar, while the leftovers were distributed by barter traders to the surrounding Kyrgyz pastures. Thus, Osh played the role of one of the important trade-distribution centers in the region.
The lively foreign and local trade of Osh, the branching of its trade-economic connections, and the intensity of caravan movement led to the emergence of many individuals servicing caravan trade—caravan-bashis, guides, porters, loaders, packers of goods.
The ancient trading center of Southern Kyrgyzstan—Osh city has long been known for producing handicrafts, being a major point for exchanging agricultural and handicraft products for livestock and animal products with the surrounding nomadic population. In the late 18th and first half of the 19th centuries, the constant feudal turmoil in the Kokand Khanate and competition from more developed craft centers in Central Asia, such as Fergana, Bukhara, and Samarkand, adversely affected the development of crafts and artisanal production. Nevertheless, Osh was a supplier of fabric, clothing, and footwear for the khanate. Documents from the archives of the Kokand khans, processed by A. L. Troitskaya, contain orders from khan's officials Mulla Abduljalil, Sultan Muhammad Murad-bek, Mirza Muhammad Yusuf for the export of clothing and footwear from Osh, which were, however, the simplest and cheapest.
The city had saddlers, tailors, barbers, and gardeners. Like in any other city of the khanate, soldiers (soldiers, gunners) and officials were fed from the collection of natural taxes.
Osh craftsmen satisfied the needs not only of the urban but also of the surrounding rural population. The organization of crafts in Osh and among settled rural residents during the khanate's rule approached medieval guild systems. It approached but did not reach its development—this was hindered by the disorganized taxation of the townspeople.
Osh is also associated with some mining developments. On the road from Osh to the fortress of Irkeshtam in the area of the Kara-Darya River, there were small copper developments. Larger copper developments in the Kokand Khanate were at the Naukat deposit. Perhaps precisely because copper was mined near Osh, a mint was established in the city, where small Kokand coins were cast from copper—pul. There are reports of the extraction of rock salt in the vicinity of Osh during the "Kokand period." Cossack Maximov mentions the salt ridge "Tuz-tau," located not far from Osh.