Land Conflicts
Conflicts over land frequently occurred between the nomadic Kyrgyz and the settled population of Fergana.
The quantitative growth of the settled population and the aspirations of the landowning nobility required the expansion of crops and the increase of arable land, which could only happen at the expense of the lands of the nomadic population, which itself began to transition to agriculture intensively from the mid-19th century. Land conflicts intertwined with the political interests of various feudal groups, which supported one or another claimant to the khan's throne for this purpose. In particular, Shir-Ali Khan, Mallya Khan, and Sha-Murad owed their thrones to nomadic elements. With the change of khans, the rights to lands of one or another group also changed. As a result, there could be decrees from different khans for the same plot or land mass, which caused constant disputes and quarrels over land. As seen from the petition of the Kyrgyz of the Ichkilik volost, they had the entire area of Nauket or Temir-Kuruk in the Osh district, which belonged to them for hundreds of years. "It was, - the Kyrgyz wrote, - gifted to us by the former Kokand khan Abdullah Khan." Later, the land passed to the pansat Bek Temir-bi (granted to the Kyrgyz feudal lord). Gradually, it was settled by the Sart, with whom an open dispute arose during Mallya Khan's time, "Mallya Khan confirmed this land for us, - the petitioners wrote, - issuing a document from the kaziy."
The dispute flared up during Khudoyar Khan's reign, who also forced the Sart to issue a receipt stating that they would no longer contest the land, followed by a document from the Margilan bek, etc. The dispute arose when the Russians occupied the region. In general, the Sart, who by that time made up half of Nauket's population, renewed the dispute over land at every opportunity. Ultimately, it seems that only the area behind Nauket - the Temir-Kuruk region - remained disputed. An archive holds a document - a receipt from the villagers stating that "the aforementioned vegetation indeed belongs to the Kyrgyz of the Chuchuk clan" (13 people).
Such a situation was observed in densely populated areas of the Fergana oasis. Where there were more pastures, in the foothills, sharp disputes between settled residents and nomads over land did not occur. Thus, according to the materials of Captain Medynsky, there were no land disputes between nomads and settled urban residents in the Talas Valley.
The urban population of Auliye-Ata had a negligible amount of livestock, and in the summer, the Kyrgyz had no objections to grazing it on Kyrgyz lands. In winter, however, the livestock was kept on stall feed. In summer, the Kyrgyz did not camp close to the settlements of settled residents, and there were no cases of trampling of fields, clover, or gardens of the agricultural population.
One of the factors influencing the economic life of the Kyrgyz was the transition of some Kyrgyz (due to poverty and by the example of the farmers of Fergana) to a certain extent to settled life. Among the centers of settlement in Fergana, between cities, villages, and kystaks, there were occasionally ayils of nomads. However, they could not be classified as purely nomadic populations. "They lead a semi-settled life, which in the near future will completely turn them into settled people," wrote A. Kun in 1875. In this case, poverty in livestock is the driving force for the Central Asian nomad.
But this process of transitioning from nomadism to agriculture took a long time. For many decades, settled agricultural culture and nomadic animal husbandry coexisted side by side.
Hanafism as a Direction Most Tolerant of the Pagan Myths and Traditions of the Kyrgyz