The Population of Kyrgyz in 1897 and 1916

The First General Census of the Population of the Russian Empire 1897

At the time of the First General Census of the Population of the Russian Empire in 1897, the Kyrgyz lived in the territories of the Semirechensk, Syrdarya, and Fergana regions. According to the 1897 census, the population of Kyrgyz in the Fergana region was 201,579 people (in the Andijan district - 123,382 people, in the Kokand district - 12,039, in the Namangan district - 20,700, in the Margilan district - 43,717, in the Osh district - 1,741); in the Semirechensk region, it was 279,414 people (in the Pishpek district - 151,107 people, in the Przhevalsk district - 128,307) (First ... 1904. P. 2,3). In the Auliye-Ata district of the Syrdarya region, Kyrgyz and Kazakhs were counted together, totaling 250,988 people.

The Kyrgyz of the Khojent district of the Samarkand region were also counted together with the Kazakhs, with a total of 11,465 people. Thus, the Kyrgyz-Kazakh population in these regions amounted to 743,446 people (Bekmakhanova, 1986. P. 182).

On the eve of World War I, the Kyrgyz population was approximately 603,700 people (Results... 1963. P. 11).

Table 1
Population of Kyrgyz in 1897 and 1916 (people)

Compiled from: The First General Census of the Population of the Russian Empire. 1897. P. 2-3; Statistical Yearbook 1917-1923 / ed. D.P. Krasnovsky. Tashkent, 1924. Vol. I. 4. 3. P. 40-44; Statistical Review of the Fergana Region for 1914 / Skobelev, 1917. P. 15.

As shown by the data in Table 1, from 1897 to 1916, the population of the Kyrgyz increased by 218,800 people.

However, starting from 1916, it began to decline. The reasons for this were mobilization for military rear work and the consequences of the 1916 uprising. In 1917, compared to 1916, the population decreased by approximately 174,000 people, including a decline of almost 120,000 people in the northern regions. After the suppression of the uprising, tens of thousands of Kyrgyz fled to Chinese Xinjiang: a total of 332,000 people left the Semirechensk region, of which 130,000 were Kyrgyz. According to some data, the population of the northern areas decreased by 41.4% (Asankanov, 2004. P. 167).

Researchers do not have accurate data on the number of Kyrgyz people for 1916-1917. According to K.U. Usenbaev, in the first half of 1916, there were 809,500 Kyrgyz living in the Turkestan region (Usenbaev, 1980. P. 55). According to data from Yu.A. Polyakov and I.N. Kiselev, in 1917 the population was approximately 768,400 people (Polyakov, 1980. P. 46). In some sources, the population of the Kyrgyz is estimated at 670,000-680,000 people (Peoples... 1963. P. 155). According to statistical data from V.S. Zhelokhovtsev, the population in the area close to the modern borders of Kyrgyzstan in 1917 was about 971,500 people, with indigenous residents numbering about 495,200 people. The author believes that from 1913 to 1917, the population of the Kyrgyz decreased by 108,400 people (Zhelokhovtsev, 2009. P. 40). In 1917-1923, largely due to the support of the Soviet government, most of the Kyrgyz refugees who left in 1916 returned to their homeland from China.

Soon after the October Revolution, in 1918, the Turkestan ASSR was established within the RSFSR with the capital in the city of Tashkent, covering the territories of present-day Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, the southern part of Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan itself. The Turkestan ASSR was dissolved in 1924 due to national-state demarcation in Central Asia. In 1920, the Kyrgyz ASSR was established within the RSFSR (renamed the Kazakh ASSR in 1925), covering the northern and central regions of modern Kazakhstan. In 1924, during the national demarcation, the Kara-Kyrgyz Autonomous Region was formed from the southern part of the Jetysu and the northeastern parts of the Fergana region of the former Turkestan ASSR, directly subordinate to the RSFSR. In 1925, it was renamed the Kyrgyz Autonomous Region. It included seven cantons: Frunze, Chuy, Talas, Naryn, Jalal-Abad, Osh, and Kara-Kol (Slonin, 1927. P. 64). In 1926, the region was granted the status of an Autonomous Republic within the RSFSR. Central government authorities began to be established, regional management systems developed, and transportation links, as well as urban and settlement networks, were created.

Information on the population of Kyrgyz in the second half of the 19th century