The History of Kazakhstan from the Earliest Period to the Present time. Volume I. Zhanat Kundakbayeva
part is mountainous regions with snowy peaks. The relief features and atmospheric precipitation in combination with other geographical factors determined the hydrographic regime in Kazakhstan. The main part of the water resources is in a field of internal drainage and only the northern part – a wastewater basin (basins of the Irtysh, Ishim, Tobol rivers). Most plain rivers dry up in summer, forming small lakes, saline surfaces, wetlands, or go into the ground, got lost in the sands. This is due to the fact that in Kazakhstan there is a significant predominance of the evaporation quaintly from the water surface over the amount of annual precipitation. In the vast spaces of Kazakhstan dispersed several thousand lakes. Uneven water balance leads to drying up a significant part of the lakes in the summer and autumn, as well as in long-term low-water periods. The geographical position of Kazakhstan – in the central part of Eurasia in the zone of temperate latitudes – defined features and character of natural) – (climatic conditions being the results of the interaction of the underlying surface, solar radiation and atmospheric circulation. The duration of sunshine on the territory of Kazakhstan is quite high, averaging between 2,000 and 3,000 hours per year. Since the quantity of solar radiation influx changes in the direction from north to south, as well as on the seasons of the year, the result is an intense overheating of the earth in the summer, when the value of the total radiation in the south in four times surpass the amount of radiation in the winter months. The consequence of the inland position of Kazakhstan is a sharply continental climate regime, which is characterized by sharp daily, seasonal and annual variations in temperature. Another feature of the climate in Kazakhstan, due to the remoteness from the oceanic moisture source is sharply pronounced aridity. The relative moistening in northern Kazakhstan is 50-30 %, and in the desert zone – 5 %. The climate of Kazakhstan is also characterized by uneven seasonal distribution of atmospheric precipitation. In winter, on the flat part falls very little precipitation – 50-100 mm (20-30 % annual rate), to the foothills and mountains, their quantity increases to 500 mm. The greater part of the precipitation falls during the summer period. Owing to the irregular fall of precipitation already in the spring there is moderately arid weather, and in May – even hot-dry winds. When there is the precipitation particularly little, there is a strong soil desiccation. The soil cover because of uneven distribution of precipitation, soil freezing, action of water melt from snow, strong desiccation, dust storms, hot dry winds and heavy summer rainfall is subjected to erosion. On the territory of Kazakhstan there is often atmospheric drought. The geographical and climatic conditions determine the variety of landscapes. Four natural-landscape zones can be distinguished on the territory of Kazakhstan. The forest-steppe zone is located in the northern part. It is characterized by severe and sharply continental climate, the average maximum snow cover of 30-50 cm and with a length of its bedding in 130-160 days. Active growing period of vegetation is 120-130 days. The steppe zone occupies a significant part of the territory of Kazakhstan. It stretches from the northern part of the Caspian depression to the Altai and has 2,200 km. The steppe zone is characterized by a predominance of plains and dry, sharply continental climate. Most of the atmospheric precipitation (50 % annual rate) falls in summer. The steppe zone distinguishes with the development of wind erosion, especially in the spring period. The steppe zone is characterized by a more aridity and continental climate. Its soils are chernozem with a humus layer thickness of 25-70 cm and brown with a humus layer of 15-30 cm. The semi-desert zone differs with sharply continental, dry climate, hot summers and severe winters. Its main soils are light brown, there is saline land. The thickness of the fertile layer is small, widespread steppe cereals and desert plants. The most part of the plains in Kazakhstan occupies the desert zone, with hot, long summers, very cold winters, low quantity of precipitation, aridity, seasonal, daily and annual air temperature fluctuations, large sandy tracts. On the whole territory of Kazakhstan is observed ice-covered ground phenomena. The consequence of aridity, uneven seasonal distribution of atmospheric precipitation, the poverty of soil resources, poor water content, atmospheric drought, and also freezing of the soil in winter, strong winds, solar radiation, presence of huge sand masses is very low forage productivity of the vegetation cover. Thus, the geographical conditions of Kazakhstan are characterized by high solar radiation quantity, drought, and sharply pronounced aridity, continental, seasonal climate differentiation, its long-term variability, poverty of water and soil resources, shortage of atmospheric precipitation, what in its turn leads to extremely sparse vegetation cover, sharp fluctuations in its productivity, seasonally-zonal features of vegetation, scarcity and low forage productivity of pasture grasses. As a result, the Kazakhstan areas are a very fragile ecosystem, having heightened sensibility to external factors and human economic activities. As a result, in the arid zone of Eurasia has been developed a special form of socio-cultural adaptation and nature use – nomadic cattle-breeding economy. Another group of factors stipulating transition to a nomadic way of production were socio-cultural factors. In the socio-cultural aspect the emergence of nomadism was predestined to a great extent the previous process of animal domestication and evolution of livestock farming, accumulating knowledge about keeping, using and grazing livestock, organizing a social production system. Many secrets of pastoral-nomadic techniques handed down from father to son, from son to grandson and so on for many generations. It was the knowledge of all the nuances and peculiarities of natural cycles, geographical location of seasonal pastures, the shorControl and various routes of migrating, watering-places, hydrochemical composition of water sources, productive cycles of the vegetation cover, degree of eating and assimilating it by the cattle, fattening process and quality of the physical condition of the animals, atmospheric precipitation and spring floods, the time of setting in and melting the snow cover. The cognition process of the habitat natural resources was spontaneous and was accompanied by developing appropriate socio-cultural mechanisms of adaptation, that is, primarily techniques of grazing, migrating and organization of social production in the optimal range, as well as various elements of the material culture and lifestyle itself. This process was based on the gradual increase of cattle-breeding in the structure of cattle farms (the Bronze Age), refusal of agriculture, gradual transition to seasonal movements and periodic driving cattle off and from one place to another. Researchers in the genesis process of nomadism nark out various transitional stages of development: the house cattle breeding when the animals grow close to home, pastoralism – as a form of moving cattle from one grazing area to another, yaylazhnoe cattle –breeding as a distant type of economy, when the herds for the whole summer were driven to the seasonal pastures in the low mountainous and foothill areas or in the steppe. In the cognition process natural of the ecosystem resources were formed a herd structure, developed organizational principles of the ways of production and multipurpose productivity of livestock farming (meat, milk, wool, and transportation), the establishment of the appropriate lifestyle and traditional everyday culture, improvement of techniques and technologies, horsemanship. The importance for studying the nomadism genesis is the analysis of technological aspects, such as horsemanship, appearance of wells, iron tools, improvement of horse equipment, changes in the herd structure, and principles of organizing social production. A complex of processing methods and skills, socio-cultural mechanisms in combination with the experience of ecological developing the arid Eurasian space made an information and material basis for transition of pastoral-agricultural type of economy to a new qualitative state and provided the possibility of spontaneous and immanent genesis of nomadism. Thus, a significant role in the development of the formation of the nomadic pastoral economy played a variety of technological improvements and technical innovations of the Bronze Age and early Iron Age. They certainly were one of the main factors of the genesis of nomadism, as promoted optimization of material production system, its greater adaptability and adaptability to changing climatic conditions.
Control questions:
1. Describe the existing concepts about genesis of nomadism in the Eurasian steppes
2. What group of factors was in your opinion the main in the process of transition to a nomadic way of life as a dominant economy? Give proof of your opinion.
3. Describe the four main natural landscape zones on the territory of Kazakhstan
4. How do you understand the thesis: the climate of the steppe zone of Eurasian steppes has a pronounced arid character? Provide with some examples.
5. Enumerate and give the characteristic of the Eurasian steppes climatogenic factors that caused the transition to a nomadic life.
Tasks for independent study: