The Soviet project in the Nogai Steppe in the 1930s–1940s: from collectivization to land reclamation.

Abstract

The publication examines the history of the development of irrigation systems on the territory of the Nogai steppe, as well as the role of land reclamation on the administrative and socio-economic situation of nomadic and semi-nomadic Nogai people during the collectivization of agriculture. Despite the rich historiography on the history of relations between the socialist govern-ment and nomadic peoples, the specifics of the implementation of the Soviet project in the Nogai environment did not become the subject of separate studies, which determines the novelty of our study. Of no small importance in solving the research work is the study of the influence of natural and climatic factors on the transformation of the economic activity of the Nogais in the 1930s and 1940s. The main source base was materials extracted from the State Archive of the Russian Federation and the State Archive of the Modern History of the Stavropol Territory. The inclusion of previously unpublished sources in the scholarly realm has enabled us to ascertain the progressive nature of the integration of reclamation technologies into the economic fabric of Nogai life. The intensive development of surface waters facilitated the advancement and modernization of animal husbandry in the steppe region, through the creation of a substantial fodder reserve and the extensive mechanization of labor-intensive tasks in Nogai collective and state farms