0The article examines the methods for studying historical maps as research sources depicting the territory of the Kazakh land during the Modern age (18th-mid-19th centuries). The relevance of the study lies in the need to analyze historical maps not merely as illustrations but as texts that convey political, social, economic, and cultural information and provide complex insights. The work employs J.B. Harley`s deconstructive theory, G.N. Ksenzhik`s historical-geographical studies on methodology, A.Seidimbek`s concept of «oral history» and the concept of «mental map», the Kazakh`s spatial perception synthesized by G.B. Izbassarova.
The methods of the study is based on the principles of historicism and objectivity. The study describes the depiction of Kazakh land on maps of the Russian Empire and considers the content of those maps as historical sources in the timeframe of new history of Kazakhstan.
As a result, a specific methods for studying maps was proposed. A historiographical analysis was conducted on 13 important maps from the Modern period, revealing their historical informational potential. These maps include: a map from S. Remezov's “Pictorial Book of Siberia”; F. Strahlenberg`s “Map of Great Tatary” (1730); I. Kirillov's “General Map of the Russian Empire...” map (1755); Y. Bouvier's “Map of the Junior and Middle Kirghiz-Kaisak Hordes” (1787-1794); A. I. Levshin's “Map of the Kirghiz-Kazakh or Kirghiz-Kaisak Hordes and Steppes” (1831); General Map of Asiatic Russia (1825); “Map of the Kirghiz Steppes” (1850); made by the Military Topographical Depot of the Russian Empire (1851); the “Independent Tartary” map printed by John Tallis; map of the border territories of the Orenburg and Siberian provinces (1758) and a map of the administrative division of the Irgiz district of the Torgay Oblast.
The cartographic representation of the 1824 reform's division of the Junior Horde's territory into three administrative parts was also analyzed. The administrative borders of the Junior Horde set during the 1824 reform were discussed, together with the locations of the staves and the dynamics of changes in the historical maps. GIS technologies were leveraged as a tool for discovering “hidden” information on electronic maps and for modeling the process of changes in the borders.
The purpose of the study is to establish a methods for researching historical maps depicting the territory of Kazakhstan during the XVIIIth–XIXth centuries, as well as exploring the potential of historical maps as a source in research studies. The article is intended for historians and specialists in the study of cartographic data.