Mouse pays special attention to honesty and respect both for the world around it and for people.

Qazaqstan Tarihy has taken a tour of history to see what this Zodiac sign was like in history and therefore know what bring to notice when planning for 2020. The cycle of historical articles opens the first year of the XX century - 1900.

In pre-revolutionary 1900, the Second Anglo-Boer War was in full spate, the first telephone lines in Europe were built and intercontinental telegraphic communication was conducted. In 1900, Aurora cruiser was floated out, the Davis Cup tennis tournament was founded, and science gave the world its first airships.

For Kazakhstan, 1900 was a year of construction and great hardships. This year in Kazakhstan tried to build a railway and coal mines, cinemas and symphonic orchestras, implemented a resettlement policy, taking land away from the local population, and baptized Kazakhs by force.

In the new century, the construction of the Tashkent railway, which began in 1892, continued in Kazakhstan. By 1900, a number of railway branches had already been built on the territory of modern Uzbekistan. The total length of the railway in 1905 was 1656 km.

Meanwhile, despite the ongoing construction of the Tashkent railway, the search for alternative transport corridors was necessary to address the region's transport and logistical vulnerability. One such corridor is the Irtysh waterway, which was predestined to play a major role in boosting the economy of the north-east. Established in 1900, ‘Society of Tugboat Shipping’ contributed to the development of water transport communications, which, by the way, generated significant income. According to the archives, in 1900 the income of the Pavlodar quays was 538 rubles 38 kopecks, 8.058 rubles for Semipalatinsk quays, 1.266 rubles for Omsk quays 56 kopecks, and about 250 thousand people were transported by Plotnikovs' trading house alone in the period from 1900 to 1911.

Geological surveys conducted on the territory of Kazakhstan throughout the XIX century were found.

In 1900, Russian merchants, French and English businessmen began developing rich coal deposits in Ekibastuz and Karaganda.

In 1900, representatives of the Synod arrived in Kokchetav in order to attract the local population to the Christian faith. In September of the same year, the church hierarch of Trinity openly distributed prepared crosses and tried to force the baptism of the local population. According to the church minister, the population of the Russian Empire should have had the same faith. For this purpose, great importance was attached to the Russian language. Pupils should talk to each other only in Russian. Teachers should be appointed only on the recommendation of the pope. The dead can only be buried by permission and under the supervision of the pop. In the same 1900, the Archbishop of Trinity, gathering the volost and biys of Kokshetau County, read out the charter: "You, Kirgiz, used to live by the law of Muslims - Sharia. This is an outdated charter. Now the preachers of Sharia law, mullahs will be brought to punishment".

In January 1900, the first film show was staged in the People's House named after Nikolay II in the Pushkin Garden in the city of Verny.  The film organizers drew various images on large glass slides by hand to demonstrate the film. Such diapositive plates first appeared in Kazakhstan thanks to the physicist K.O. Krause and created a furor in Verny. The following was published about this magnificent event in the art world: "Physicist Krause arrived here, showing grandiose moving foggy paintings through the prism of a ‘magic lantern’, lively photographs of full height through the real cinematograph of the Lumière brothers. The first performance, "Sensational Illusions of an American Biographer", will take place on Tuesday, January 25".  

  How did the diaphilms appear in the early 20th century  

The history of creation of the symphonic orchestra in Almaty has for today 120 years history. The first attempts to create an orchestra in the city of Verne began in 1900. By forces of "Society of zealots of enlightenment" which was engaged in preparation of musical shots, under new 1900 from a scene of Public meeting choirs from historical-romantic opera of J. Meyerber "Prophet" have been executed. The choir and orchestra were directed by Italian Luca Dominique Langeli, who came to Verny from Milan. He introduced the audience to wonderful operatic works by G. Rossini, G. Verdi, R. Leoncavallo, A. Dargomyzhsky and P. Tchaikovsky.

The year 1912 in the history of Kazakhstan is famous for the output of the first Kazakh alphabet book written by Akhmet Baitursynov. Baitursynov's new textbook presents the Kazakh script based on Arabic script, which excluded all Arabic letters not used in Kazakh language. They had been replaced by new letters that were specific to Kazakh language only. The alphabet, called ‘Zhana Emle’ (Tote Zhazu), is still used by Kazakhs living in Afghanistan, Iran and China.  

Alip-bi. Akhmet Baitursynov. Publication of 1926. (photo: Sputnik / Abzal Kaliyev).  

In the same year, A. Bukeykhanov addressed an open letter to members of the State Duma in which he criticized the colonial policy of the Russian authorities. In particular, he wrote that "the Resettlement Department is concerned about more than one distribution of treasury land in the Kyrgyz steppe to people of "all estates", as well as preparing the Kyrgyz people to the perception of the Orthodox Christian faith. As an example, Bukeykhanov cited the documents that guided the producers of land management works. Their main content was to create mixed Kazakh-Russian settlements. Implementation of these measures is mandatory, because "in the opinion of the Holy Synod, Kyrgyz population of the Steppe regions and Turkestan region may be moved to the perception of the Orthodox Christian faith. Such actions of the Synod caused even more dissatisfaction of A. Bukeykhanov and Kazakh society with the fact that after the Tsar's decree on freedom of religion "the holy synod finds it possible to interfere in the faith of the Orthodox in the form of pressure on the economic life of the 5 million Kyrgyz people.

Also in 1912, the first radio station in Kazakhstan was opened. By the way, it is difficult to call it a radio station - at that time it was a radio telegraph line, which connected Fort Alexandrovsk (now Aktau) with Fort Petrovsky (Makhachkala).

The Kazakh economy often depended on the whims of nature. Jute was repeated cyclically in the steppe. The jute of 1912 caused significant damage to the Kazakhs' cattle-breeding economy. Jute originated and spread to several regions or sometimes almost the entire Kazakh steppe. In the most severe years, the death rate of cattle was up to 70% and higher. Here is how the circumstances of jute are described in literature: "Sometimes the snow is covered with such a thick ice crust that it does not break through under the blows of a horse's hoof and the cattle slides on it like on ice. In such cases, the cattle die numerously...".

In 1912, scientists found many ancient remains on an expedition to Turgai, including the skeleton of a huge rhinoceros that roamed these places about 32 million years ago. Since the discovery of the skeleton of the giant rhinoceros in 1912, Kazakh scientists have made dozens of scientific discoveries, confirming that our country is unique for paleontological research.

At the same time, in 1912, there were many social and political unrest. Thus, on April 28, 1912, in Orenburg the city committee of RSDLP called for celebration of the First of May, demanded establishment of 8-hour working day, political freedoms, dissolution of the army and its replacement by the people's militia. On May 12, 1912, workers at the Spassky smelter were on strike due to low wages and harsh working conditions. In the summer of 1912, the Tashkent section of the Orenburg-Tashkent railway was in turmoil, 300 workers of the contractor Karakhanov were brought to complete despair by six months waiting for the calculation.

The social and political unrest did not mean to stop. The struggle between supporters of the old and new regimes was intensifying everywhere, and each time it was more and more active. The intransigence of the two worldviews led to the revolution of 1917 and the victory of the Bolsheviks. 1912 was the last year of the Mouse under Tsarist rule. 

Dana Tugambekova