Evolution of Religious Policy of the Russian Empire in the Kazakh Steppe: the Nomads between Islam and Christianity

The article explores and analyzes the evolution of religious policy of Tsarist Russia in the Kazakh steppe at the end of the 18 th and beginning of the 20 th centuries.Drawing upon the extensive historical sources and contemporary studies, the study focuses on identifying and discussing the character and peculiarities of each period of religious policy of the Russian Empire in the Kazakh steppe.The study employs the theory of a civilizing mission because Russian political elites and ideologists of Russian colonialism viewed the empire's religious policy as an integral part of a civilizing mission and a cultural project.Russian rulers considered religion as a powerful unifying and civilizing force that would bring various alien populations under the control of Russia and facilitate their rapprochement and merge with the Russian people.The relevance and significance of the topic are linked to the peculiarities of religious policy of tsarist Russia vis--vis the Kazakh nomads.Specifically, Catherine II and her successors through religious tolerance and patronage of Islam sought to pacify and civilize the Kazakhs.The bottom line of Catherine's policy of instrumentalizing Islam was that the unruly and warlike Kazakhs could be tamed and brought under Russian control through Islamization.Yet by the mid-19 th century, Russian elites, intellectuals and clergy came to understand that the state sponsorship of Islam had failed to integrate the nomad Kazakhs into the general imperial space.Therefore, they ardently advocated a drastic policy change from the stateorchestrated Islamization of the nomads to Christianization policy.However, a critical analysis of historical sources and literature illustrates that despite Russian authorities in conjunction with Orthodox missions having placed a tremendous emphasis on reversing the Islamization process in the steppe and converting the Kazakhs to Christianity, the new policy failed to yield desired outcomes.