The making of a Russian Settler Colony: Semirechie between Empires, 1854 - 1929

In 1854 Russian forces founded Fort ‘Vernoe’ (Faithful) at the foot of the Ala-Tau mountains. From 1867 this became the capital of a new province, ‘Semirechie’ (Seven Rivers), a translation of its Turkic name, ‘Jeti-su’. Today it is divided between Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, and is remarkable for its mixed, cosmopolitan population. Semirechie is a fascinating example of a European settler colony at the intersection of three major cultural zones – Slavic, Turkic and Chinese. This project will examine the transformation of this region from one populated by Turkic nomads in the mid-19th century, to a plural society in the early 20th.