Abstract
The nomadic culture is deeply ingrained in Central Asia and has been part of the lifestyle of its peoples for millennia. This chapter traces the transformation of the land relations, evolution of the perception of pasturelands, and the various forms of the property rights from the time before colonization by Russia in the nineteenth century to the present day. The effects of socio-ecological transformations such as climate change, the collapse of the Soviet empire, and civil war are examined. In recent years, the transition to sedentarization, the privatization of land, and the conversion of rangeland for cropping has become important.
This chapter considers changes in land relations during the following historic periods: precolonial period (from the beginning of nineteenth century to the end of the nomadic influence), colonial epoch of the Russian empire (the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries), the socialist period (1917–1991), and the post-Soviet period. The current situation in the context of post-Soviet restructuring and the transition to a market economy has been analyzed.
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Notes
- 1.
Chorasmian state abolished by the Achaemenid king Cyrus II the Great in the mid-sixth century BC.
- 2.
Chon manap is a chieftain. Manap is like a Russian duke. Kyrgyz manaps were simply the best people, holding no more honors, among other authorities of the clan.
- 3.
A state in Central Asia that existed from 1709 to 1876 within the territory of modern eastern Uzbekistan.
- 4.
The jurisdiction over land depended on the “Shariat”—the law of Islam, as interpreted by the local clergy. The majority of land in the region being regarded as “useless” belonged to no one man but to society at large.
- 5.
The concept of intergenerational equity.
- 6.
The term underlines the openness of the resource but not in the sense of open unconditional access!
- 7.
A local term, also called distant pastures.
- 8.
Website Gos.Agenstva po okruzhaewej srede i lesnogo hozjajstva KR.
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Acknowledgment
The author is deeply indebted to Dr. Victor Squires, University of Adelaide, Australia, for his assistance with this chapter.
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Rahimon, R.M. (2012). Evolution of Land Use in Pastoral Culture in Central Asia with Special Reference to Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. In: Squires, V. (eds) Rangeland Stewardship in Central Asia. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5367-9_3
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