Volume 05 Issue 08-2024
17
CURRENT RESEARCH JOURNAL OF HISTORY
(ISSN
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2767-472X)
VOLUME
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08
Pages:
17-20
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ABSTRACT
In the article the issue of contribution of German scientists to scientific research of Turkistan of end XIX-beginning of
XX centuries is considered. They were guided in their activity by scientific investigation of history and social-
economical life of the country. Their scientific works are historical sources in studying of the history of Turkistan of
the period of colonization.
KEYWORDS
Turkistan, education, scientist, history, country, Central Asia.
INTRODUCTION
Turkestan becomes a research site for study by
scientists from Western European countries as a result
of the colonization of the region by the Russian Empire.
As a result of the resettlement policy of the metropolis,
citizens of European countries, in accordance with the
regulations on the management of the Turkestan
region, received the right of unhindered arrival and the
unlimited right to engage in various types of activities.
The beginning of the resettlement of displaced people
is considered to be the 60s of the 19th century. They
were considered to be from the Baltic provinces of the
Russian Empire, including the first Turkestan Governor-
General K.P. von Kaufmann was a representative of
ethnic Germans. [1]
Immigrants from European countries left a noticeable
mark on the history of Turkestan. At first glance, it may
seem that due to their small numbers, they could not
have a serious influence either in the field of science
and education, or in the cultural life of the region as a
whole. But with a more in-depth and comprehensive
Research Article
THE CONTRIBUTION OF GERMAN SCIENTISTS TO THE SCIENTIFIC
STUDY OF RUSSIAN TURKESTAN AT THE END OF THE 19TH AND
BEGINNING OF THE 20TH CENTURIES
Submission Date:
Aug 09, 2024,
Accepted Date:
Aug 14, 2024,
Published Date:
Aug 19, 2024
Crossref doi:
https://doi.org/10.37547/history-crjh-05-08-03
Khasanova Zulkhumor
Doctoral student (PhD) of Samarkand state university named after Sharof Rashidov, Uzbekistan
Journal
Website:
https://masterjournals.
com/index.php/crjh
Copyright:
Original
content from this work
may be used under the
terms of the creative
commons
attributes
4.0 licence.
Volume 05 Issue 08-2024
18
CURRENT RESEARCH JOURNAL OF HISTORY
(ISSN
–
2767-472X)
VOLUME
05
ISSUE
08
Pages:
17-20
SJIF
I
MPACT
FACTOR
(2022:
5.
728
)
(2023:
6.
531
)
(2024:
7.848
)
OCLC
–
1243560778
Publisher:
Master Journals
study, it becomes obvious that this is not a case where
quantity is directly proportional to quality. First of all,
this is due to the presence of a significant number of
intelligentsia among the Europeans arriving in the
region.
At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th
centuries, the Turkestan General Government, in order
to strengthen the colonial system, experienced a
shortage not only of highly qualified engineers,
mechanics, builders, and agricultural workers, but also
of specialists in various fields of science and, especially
in the educational sphere. After the conquest of
Turkestan by the Russian Empire, a network of
European-style educational institutions arose in the
region. It was these educational institutions that began
training specialists who made a great contribution to
the further study of the region and the development of
production areas. Specialists from European countries
were valued for their professional qualities; among
them, representatives of the teaching staff of
educational institutions of the region stood out. They
were a very noticeable stratum among the Turkestan
intelligentsia. Among them, one can note the activities
of the Germans: M. G. Shot - teacher of the Tashkent
Commercial School, M. F. Masing, A. M. Kuhn - teachers
of the Tashkent Real School, N. A. Pfeiffer - teacher of
the Toshkent Women's Gymnasium:
Many of the European scientists, coming to Turkestan
for their research or collecting exhibits, subsequently
remained for permanent residence in order to continue
their scientific activities. Some of them lived in Russia
before arriving in Turkestan, although ethnically they
came from Western European countries. There were
especially many ethnic Germans among them. This is
R.R. Schroeder, E.K. Betger, I.I. Geyer, L.S. Berg, A.F.
Meddendorf, P.I. Lerch, V.V. Bartold, A. Kuhn and many
others. [2]
Evgeny Karlovich Betger was born in Tashkent into the
family of a German emigrant who moved from Prussia
in the 70s of the 19th century. After graduating from
the local gymnasium, he entered the Faculty of History
and Philology of Moscow University. In 1906, classes at
the university were canceled due to the events of the
“first Russian revolution.” In 1
909, he re-entered the
Faculty of History and Philology of Kyiv University,
from which he graduated in 1914. E.K. Betger returned
home and got a job as a teacher of Russian language
and literature at a men's gymnasium. In 1915 he joined
the local branch of the Russian Geographical Society
and, as a representative of this society, became a
member of the Supervisory Committee at the Tashkent
Central Library.
E.K. Boettger paid special attention to the search and
scientific processing of rare books and manuscripts of
local origin, as well as the compilation of detailed
bibliographic indexes for a wide variety of collections
of local sources. Thanks to this, the number of storage
units in the library grew, while work was carried out
with large amounts of information. In 1941, the
“Institute of Trainees” opened in Tashkent, and E.K.
Betger was involved in organizing educational events
and teaching the Arabic language course. Two years
later, at this institute, the scientist defended his
dissertation: “The Diary of
A.I. Butakov as material for
his biography and for the history of the study of the
Aral Basin." Since the mid-30s, the scientist devoted a
lot of effort and attention to the most valuable
property of the Tashkent State Library -
the “Turkestan
Collection”
. E.K. Betger sought to fill the existing gaps
and supplement the Collection based on sources found
later. The list of his scientific works takes several pages.
In total, he published more than 150 works -
monographs, articles and scientific reviews, mainly
devoted to issues of library science and bibliography.
[3]
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Geyer, Ivan Ivanovich (1860-1908) - Russian historian
and ethnographer of Central Asia. Born into a German
family, his mother was German. He received his
education in St. Petersburg. Since 1891, he worked in
Tashkent as secretary of the Syr-Darya regional static
committee. Editor of the 13-volume publication
“Collection of materials for statistics of the Syr
-Darya
region.” He published articles in the newspapers
“Turkestan Vedomosti”, “Okraina”
and in the
magazine “Severny Vestnik”. In the book “Turkestan”
he provided important information on the history,
ethnography, and spiritual culture of the Kazakhs of
the Syr-Darya region. He was engaged in collecting
legends of the Muslim peoples of the Turkestan region,
which were included in the first volume of the
“Collection of materials for statistics of the Syr
-Darya
region” entitled “Materials for the study of the
everyday characteristics of the Muslim population of
the Turkestan region.”
Regarding the scientific heritage of I.I. Geyer, it should
be noted the breadth of the range of his research
interests. This is clearly illustrated by the list of his main
scientific works: “Up the Pyanj”, “Peasant colonization
of the Syr-
Darya region”, “Handicrafts in Tashkent”,
“On the Russian villages of the Syr
-
Darya region”,
“Guide to Turkestan”, “Turkestan” . Also, I.I. Geyer
took an active part in the work of the Biological Station
and Pathological Cabinet established in 1899 at the
Turkestan Society of Agriculture. [4]
A significant contribution to the study of the region
was made by L.S. Berg. He was born in Bendery into a
German family. His father, Simon Grigorievich Berg,
was a notary; mother, Klara Lvovna Bernstein-Kogan, is
a housewife. He had younger sisters Maria (April 18,
1878) and Sophia (December 23, 1879). The family lived
in a house on Moskovskaya Street.
Education and scientific career of L.S. Berg began in
1885. In 1885-1894 he studied at the second Chisinau
gymnasium, from which he graduated with a gold
medal. In 1894 he was baptized into Lutheranism to
obtain the right to higher education within the Russian
Empire.
In 1894-1898 - a student in the natural sciences
department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics
of the Imperial Moscow University.
In 1899-1902 - supervisor of fisheries in the Aral Sea and
Syr Darya.
In 1903 - studied for 10 months at oceanographic
courses in Bergen (Norway).
In 1903-1904 - supervisor of fisheries in the middle
reaches of the Volga. [5]
L.S. Berg worked in 1899-1903. in the Turkestan
department of the Russian Geographical Society. He
explored the largest bodies of water in Central Asia -
the Aral Sea and Lake Balkhash. In 1908, L.S. Berg’s
monograph “The Aral Sea” was published, which
presented and summarized the results of his research.
The work contains rich historiographical data on the
settlement of the Amu Darya and Aral Sea region in
connection with changes in the water regime and
fluctuations in the level of the Aral Sea. In 1909 L.S.
Berg was awarded a doctorate in geography for his
dissertation “The Aral Sea.” [6]
The works of Pyotr Ivanovich Lerch deserve great
attention. He was a Russian orientalist, archaeologist
and numismatist. He graduated from St. Petersburg
University (1850) with a specialization in Oriental
studies, and worked in a minor technical position at the
Academy of Sciences. In 1858, he participated for
research purposes in the military-diplomatic mission of
N.P. Ignatiev in Khiva and Bukhara. His work contains
historical and geographical data about the ancient era
and the Middle Ages on the territory of the Khiva
Khanate.
Volume 05 Issue 08-2024
20
CURRENT RESEARCH JOURNAL OF HISTORY
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2767-472X)
VOLUME
05
ISSUE
08
Pages:
17-20
SJIF
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MPACT
FACTOR
(2022:
5.
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(2023:
6.
531
)
(2024:
7.848
)
OCLC
–
1243560778
Publisher:
Master Journals
V.V. Bartold (1869-1930) - the greatest historian of the
East, the creator of the Russian orientalist historical
school. V.V. Bartold, while still a student, presented his
first essay on the history of Central Asia (1888); before
the publication of his classic work “Turkestan in the
Age of the Mongol Invasion” was completed, he laid
the foundation for the scientific study of the history of
Central Asia in the early Middle Ages. Subsequently,
V.V. Barthold researched the history of Central Asia
during the era of Timur and the Timurids. In world
science it is difficult to find another scientist who
would do so much to study one country.
Until the end of his life, V.V. Bartold, in his own words,
remained “primarily a historian of Central Asia.” An
excellent expert in Arabic, Persian and Turkic
languages, V.V. Bartold used in his works many new
written sources, which he, like no one else, knew how
to find and analyze. Over the 42 years of his scientific
activity, V.V. Bartold published over 400 scientific
works - monographs, articles, reviews and notes; in
addition, he wrote 246 articles, as well as the
“Encyclopedia of Islam,” which together constitute a
kind of encyclopedia of the history and historical
geography of Central Asia. [7]
Thus, the Germans made a significant contribution to
the study of Russian Turkestan and the formation here
of such branches of science as history, ethnography,
archeology, geography, economics, medicine, etc.
Many fundamental scientific works were written,
which even after centuries have not lost their
relevance and scientific value. Many of their works
were published, which was a further impetus for
attracting the attention of new generations of
researchers to the rich history and unique culture of
Turkestan.
REFERENCES
1.
Немцы в Туркестане. Част 1, 2013г. стр1
-3
2.
Авшарова М.П., Виридарский. Евгений Карлович
Бетгер (1887
-
1956гг): Очерк жизни деятельности.
–
Ташкент, 1960.С
-42
3.
Т.В.Катюкова «О вкладе выходцев из стран
западной, центральной северной Европы в
научное изучение русского Туркестана в конце
XIX-
начале XX в». Институт военной истории
Министерства обороны РФ. г. Москва.УДК
94(575)
4.
Мишарев
Д.Ю.
Вклад
выдающихся
представителей немецкой диаспоры в развитие
Туркестанского края во второй половине XIX –
начале XX веков: И.И. Гейер // Узбекистонда
этнодемографик
жараёнлар
(халкаро
конференция материаллари) 1
-
кисм. Ташкент
,2005. С.209.
5.
https:\\ru/Wikipedia.org
6.
История Узбекистана. Т.2. Ташкент ,1968. С.447.
7.
Академик В. В. Бартольд сочинения том I.
Издательство восточной литературы. Москва
-
1963. С 6
-9