Abstract

The article substantiates that the emergence of a bipolar demographic structure of the population of Kazakhstan does not date back to the Soviet period, as is commonly believed, but to the colonial period of its history. The emergence of a bipolar society in Kazakhstan occurred in the period from the 1860s to 1917 during the transformation of Kazakhstan from a protectorate into a colony-settlement of Russia. The resettlement policy of the tsarist authorities had a decisive influence on this transformation, as a result of which about three million peasants moved from the European part of Russia to Kazakhstan, to whom the authorities transferred pasture lands taken from the Kazakh nomads. In the emerged bipolar society, interethnic tension increased sharply, which ultimately led to the uprising of 1916. At the same time, interethnic tension and uprising contributed to the emergence and growth of national self-awareness of the Kazakhs.

Key words: Kazakhstan, bipolar society, colony, settlement