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PARTICIPATION OF THE TURKESTAN BRANCH OF THE RUSSIAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY IN GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS ON WATER USE AND LAND MANAGEMENT IN THE TURKESTAN TERRITORY (KRAI) IN THE 19TH-20TH CENTURIES

The article studies the role of the Turkestan Branch of the Russian Geographical Society in organizing the research of the hydrology and geology of the Turkestan Territory in the context of the colonial policy of the Russian Empire in the Central Asian region at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries. The Turkestan Branch of the Russian Geographical Society considered the organization of permanent hydrometric observation of the Aral Sea and the Central Asian rivers – the Amu Darya and Syr Darya as the most important direction of its activity. Organized and systematic study of the water areas in the Turkestan Territory should have contributed to erecting the irrigation and road structures, construction of canals and aryks (ditches), development of agriculture and farming that served the economic interests of the Russian government in the Turkestan Territory. In addition to the study of water and land use in Turkestan Territory, the article also analyses the issue of the development of the Hungry Steppe. A separate direction of scientific activity of the Turkestan Branch of the Russian Geographical Society was a series of expeditions aimed at studying biological properties of soil, locust control and mono-cultivation of cotton crops in Turkestan Territory. The author concludes that the systematic study of water and land resources of the Turkestan Territory was of practical importance in the development of Central Asia. The Russian government implemented long-term projects on erecting irrigation systems and a canal in the Hungry Steppe, and partially solved the issues of land use in the Turkestan Territory.