クルグズ遊牧社会におけるロシア統治の展開 統治の仲介者としてのマナプの位置づけを中心に
A Study on the Evolution of Russian Imperial Rule over the Kyrgyz Nomads: Clues from Transformations in the Position of Manaps as Collaborators

Summary/Abstract: In this paper, I discuss the position of the local elite under the rule of the Russian Empire over the Kyrgyz nomads by investigating how the Russian colonial military rulers and administrators positioned the tribal chieftains of the Kyrgyz nomads, the manaps. The premise on which the modern history of the Kyrgyz has been perceived is the fixed idea that the manaps represented the stratum of “dominant figures of traditional society.” To the present day, the focus of studies on the manaps has been on positioning the manaps as a traditional social system that existed from ancient times. On the other hand, as for Russian rule that lasted for as long as half a century from 1867 to 1917, no comprehensive or diachronic studies based on careful examination of historical records written in those days have been carried out. Accordingly, in this paper, I try to clarify different aspects of the institution of the manaps and how it changed over time under Russian rule, by analyzing documents of the Russian colonial administration kept in the national archives of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia. From the eighteenth century, the Russian Empire had recognized the Kyrgyz nomads on the basis of an understanding of the Kazakh nomads. In the process of expansion into the Kazakh Steppe after the collapse of the Jungarian Empire, the Russian Empire recognized the Kyrgyz nomads as an ethnic group living on the periphery of the Kazakh Steppe, which was reflected not only in its name (Dikokamennyi Kirgiz), but also in the representation of its social structure. Focusing on the fact that the Kyrgyz nomads lacked the aristocratic (aq suek “white bone”) element of the Kazakh nomads as descendants of Chinghiz Khan including sultans, the Russian military rulers and scholars regarded the manaps as nonaristocrats distinct from sultans. However, after the establishment of Russian direct rule in 1867, the Russian military rulers and colonial administrators gradually began to recognize the manaps as aristocracy peculiar to the Kyrgyzs nomads and comparable to the Kazakh sultans. Still, in contrast to the latter with more solid recognition as aristocracy within the Russian Empire, the Kyrgyz manaps remained indistinct throughout the Russian administration until the beginning of the twentieth century. Indeed, there were no manaps officially raised to the peerage.

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