This article is dedicated to the origin of the pecheneg’s ethnic name. The latters are considered to be a turkic tribe, lived in the southern Russian and in the lower Danubian steppes in the X–XI cc. According to some authors, the gagauz people, i.e. the Turkic speaking ethnic group, living in the southern part of Moldova, in Budjak and in Dobruja, are descendants of the pechenegs, but it has no real proofs. There are different but unconvincing versions about the origin of the pecheneg’s ethnic name. This ethnonim has no any traces of Turkic ethymology, so it cannot be of any Turkic origin. Highly likely, the pecheneg’s ethnic name came from the russian word “pochinók” (i.e. a colony). It is confirmed by another name of a part of the pechenegs — the kangars. The latter came from the Turkic word “khongorai”, which has the same meaning as the Russian word “pochinok”. The medieval narratives describe pechenegs as different cossack-like communes, mostly of the Russian origin, partially of the Turkic origin, lived in the southern Russian and Ukrainian steppes in the Middle Ages.

The relevance of the study is dictated by the increased interest in regional history and the growing role of the anthropogenic factor in arid territories. The purpose of this article is to study the problem of the formation of socio-economic infrastructure on the territory of the settled villages of the Stavropol province in the context of the imperial policy of transferring nomadic peoples to settled life. Based on the analysis of documentary materials from the funds of the State Archive of the Stavropol Territory, using the methods of historical anthropology and historical geography, the paperwork documentation of the office of the Stavropol governor and the Department of Nomadic Peoples was examined. The authors pay special attention to the aspect of the expression of the will of the people at public gatherings, recorded in the verdicts passed at them. It was the practice of jointly resolving the main issues of the life of society, transferred from nomadic society, then legalized by the authorities in regulatory legal acts, that allowed nomads to adapt to the conditions of a new way of managing. As a result, the authorities, based on the established practice of nomadic farming, developed measures to organize the socio-economic infrastructure in the settled villages. The study revealed the absence of a clear policy of the imperial authorities on the transfer of nomads to settled life. The very difficult process of introducing nomads to settled life is shown, which led to their ranking into certain groups depending on their material well-being.

The article is devoted to the development of traditional cattle breeding of the Kalmyks at the beginning of the XIX century. Based on the instructions of commanders on the Caucasian line and civil governors to provide information on the state of cattle breeding among nomadic peoples. Information is given on the state of Kalmyk cattle breeding (on the dynamics of prices for cattle and cattle products in the ulus, etc.). It should be noted that the increase in the number of sheep in comparison with other types of livestock indirectly indicates the transition to semi-sedentary cattle breeding due to the fact that small cattle, unlike large ones, are incapable of long transitions. In addition, depending on the natural and climatic conditions, Kalmyk cattle breeding acquired subethnic specificity when the economy of Derbet and Torgut ulus began to differ in the predominance of horses among some and sheep among others. At the same time, judging by the figures, some Aimags maintained a nomadic lifestyle, and some led a semi-nomadic lifestyle, which is clearly seen by the number of camels belonging to those clans that still roamed. A striking indicator of the departure from a nomadic lifestyle to semi-sedentary and sedentary is the increase in the goat population in the personal household of Major Tyumen Jirgalan. The article also discusses the issues of the species composition of Kalmyk cattle on the example of the Torgut ulus in the early 19th century. The Russian government was interested not only in the number of Kalmyk cattle, but also in their loss (death) due to the harsh conditions of the nomads’ natural habitat, despite the fact that local livestock breeds were maximally adapted to the difficult natural and climatic conditions of the arid territory. The Russian government was also interested in this information, so that it would be clear how much the number of Kalmyk cattle could decrease in the event of a particularly unfavorable winter or epizootic.

The publication analyzes the peculiarities of the Russian imperial administrative experience in combating desertification in the Bazhigan and Bakylzan sand massifs of the Achikulak bailiwick of Stavropol province in the late 19th — early 20th centuries. Despite the solid historiography on the history and activities of the Forest Department as a state-legal institute of the Russian Empire, the peculiarities of the fight against sand on the lands of nomadic and transitioning to sedentary Nogai people have not become the subject of separate studies, which determines the novelty of this work. The main source base of the study was the materials extracted from the State Archive of Stavropol Krai (GASK), in particular, the materials on the strengthening of sands and afforestation in Achikulak extension, first introduced into the scientific turnover.

Peculiarities of natural and geographical conditions of the Achikulak steppes and irrational use of arid zones by the Nogai people as pasture lands for large and small livestock were the main factors that caused the rapid growth of sands in the period under consideration. The beginning of the fight against sands in the Nogai steppes was laid by the government at the end of the XIX century, when the intensive spread of sands became disastrous for the local population, the bailiwick of Achikulak was threatened, and the sands began to cover the roads. In 1895–1898 in seven versts from the Achikulak bet Stavropol forestry plantation was established by the state forestry. The foresters’ activity was carried out at the expense of foreign capital of Turkmen nomadic societies living in the neighborhood with Achikulak Nogai people, thus restraining the process of sand encroachment on their nomads. For a long time Nogai people were indifferent to the process of struggle against sands. Intensive spread of sands, threat to economic life and health of nomads and neighboring peasants required state supervision, strengthening and year-round activity of foresters in the steppe. As a result of the activity of the land commission, which included the Stavropol governor, chief bailiff of nomadic peoples, surveyors of different departments, it was decided to withdraw the Bazhigan and Bakylzan sand massifs from the Achikulak bailiff and transfer them to the state supervision and care. The political events of 1917 prevented the highest government authorities from sanctioning the new delimitation of lands. Changes in the state structure, the proclamation of exclusive state socialist ownership of land and forests entailed a change in the forestry management system and the formation of a new policy in the fight against desertification in the Soviet state.

The study of the history of the country’s agriculture and its main branches in the prewar years is of great interest to historians, social and political scientists, which, in turn, is due to a number of socio-political factors. It was in the 1930s that the USSR finally became a country of victorious socialism, where industrialisation was accelerated and the course of collectivisation of agriculture was implemented. The process of transformation of the country’s agriculture was not easy despite its apparent success, it was full of dramatic events and tragic collisions. Yesterday’s Kalmyk nomads had to develop agricultural production in unusually difficult natural and climatic conditions in the desert and semidesert territory of the steppe region — Chernye zemli (the Black Lands). In this article we will examine the situation in the Kalmyk Autonomous Region, which developed during this period in the distant pastures, when people faced such a natural cataclysm as drought, which caused zud, thus complicating the already difficult process of keeping and caring for cattle. For the first time, an analysis is made of the activities of the Centre and local authorities and economic structures in such extreme conditions. Specific steps taken by the Soviet authorities to overcome the critical situation are described and analysed. The results of the study give a broad picture of the methods and style of work of managers at all levels to preserve the public stock in the difficult natural and climatic conditions of the Black Lands in an emergency in the autumn-winter period of 1930–1931.

The study of the nomads of the South of Russia still arouses continued interest among Russian and foreign scholars, who study nomad, local historians, whose works reflect the history of nomads in Central Asia. However, we think that there are not enough works covering this topic and chronological framework, studying the history of the Turkmen nomadic people living within modern borders in the administrative-territorial composition of the Stavropol Territory, is somewhat more modest. Historically, Turkmens roamed the steppes of the Eastern Caspian region. In the middle of the 17th century. Several groups of Turkmen moved to the northwestern Caspian region, where they were included in the uluses of the Kalmyk Khanate. According to archival material, the Turkmens were first mentioned in 1653, when more than 1.5 thousand Turkmen families, under the threat of invasion by the Khiva khans, named the peninsula Mangyshlak and arrived in the Lower Volga region, where they joined the Kalmyks. Also, Turkmens continued to arrive from Mangyshlak throughout the 18th and early 19th centuries.The relevance of the study is explained by modern trends in actively turning to the historical past of both individual and entire nations, returning to the traditions and customs of their ancestors, primarily in the education of the younger generation. Despite all the developments in the historiography of the Turkmen people, economic issues have not been sufficiently studied and require more detailed study. In the framework of this work, the author has attempted to expand the scope of the study of the problem.

After the collapse of the Golden Horde, the Nogai Horde as a new Nogai state formation in the south of Russia arose. A small group of the Nogais, settled on the territory of modern Chechnya, created a national minority, but today they occupy a worthy place in the ethnocultural environment of the region. The study of cultural and everyday processes of the peoples living in the Chechen Republic, including the Nogais, is relevant. Simultaneously living in this territory, all national groups are in contact with each other, which leads to the dynamic development of ethnic processes, the interaction of cultural and economic activities, material culture, and ethnocultural relationships in such a densely populated area as the North Caucasus. The relevance of the study lies not only in the scientific and educational aspect, but also in the description of the interethnic, ethnocultural relationships of the peoples of Russia, both in the past and in the present, since these relationships do not lose their significance at the present time. For a more contrasting illumination of the current situation of cultural and everyday processes of the Nogai people in the presented study, the authors will try to provide a historical excursion into the past of this nomadic people living on the territory of the Chechen Republic (subject of the Russian Federation).

The article is devoted to the specifics of verbalization of traditional meteorological and astronomical knowledge in the meteorological lexicon and weather-climatic discourse of Mongolian-speaking nomads. Nomadic linguistic culture can be represented as a system of mental representations represented by the keywords of the text. Meteorological and astronomical phenomena play an important role in a person’s understanding of the surrounding reality. A special place in the worldview of a nomad is occupied by the climatic and weather conditions of the area, which have a significant impact on his daily life, economic activities, everyday life, behavior, etc. The accumulated knowledge about atmospheric phenomena is consolidated in the meteorological lexicon, a special system of lexical units denoting meteorological phenomena. The object of the study is meteolexicon, which characterizes the climate and state of the atmosphere (weather) in a certain area, as well as astronyms (nominations of point celestial objects) and cosmonyms (proper names of outer space zones). The relevance of their study on Mongolian-language material is due to insufficient knowledge of the issue. The formation of meteorological vocabulary depends on the climatic characteristics of the territory, on the specifics of the economy and life of the population. The names of celestial bodies (stars, constellations, etc.) are closely related to material and spiritual culture. This is a most valuable resource for a comprehensive understanding of the historical experience of the Mongols and Kalmyks in the field of traditional environmental management.