Abstract:
This article examines the specifics of the urban space formation in Northern Kazakhstan, which at the
turn of the 19th and 20th centuries was part of the Steppe Governorate General. The authors explored the
processes of the establishment of urban culture and the participation of the Siberian Cossacks in it using the
example of the cities of Akmolinsk and Petropavlovsk.
The active development of the urban area of Northern Kazakhstan is determined by the administrative
and economic activities of the Cossacks. It is obvious that the pre-revolutionary city had specific functions
and character, due to geographical and civilizational factors, whereas the Cossacks on the cusp of the
XIX−XX centuries experienced a complex transformation caused by the introduction of new forms of life and
adaptation to urban life.
This article is aimed to identify the specifics of interaction of the Cossack class and the city in the
context of colonial events, where the Cossack and the city act as equal dialectically interrelated subjects.
The transformation and formation of new social categories and professional orientations became
relevant due to the energy of the city making them enjoy application of their labour abilities in the objective
socio-economic conditions of the mentioned period. Thus, new professions and new social categories were
developed in the Cossack environment. According to the authors, the cities were formed exclusively on the
territory of the Border Lines. On the one hand, this fact was supposed to contribute to the development of the
city and the formation of an urban lifestyle among the Cossacks, and on the other hand, the Border Line,
performing the protecting function, grew to an area where the interests of the local Kazakh population and
the Cossacks collided. Socio-economic communications of the Kazakh and Cossack societies led to a complex
format of interaction between two differently oriented communities, speakers of different languages, bearers
of different traditions and cultures
