Historical science of Kazakhstan has been experiencing a difficult period as well as that of the post-Soviet countries. Unity of views of historians in Soviet past interlinked by the communist ideology has disappeared alongside with the liquidation of the

Abstract

Historical science of Kazakhstan has been experiencing a difficult period as well as that of the post-Soviet countries. Unity of views of historians in Soviet past interlinked by the communist ideology has disappeared alongside with the liquidation of the Soviet Union. The problem of the inclusion of Kazakhstan into the composition of the Russian Empire and its consequences were interpreted in the Soviet history unilaterally and in most cases positively. Everything that had the anti-labor, anti-bolshevistic, antinational, anti-extranational sense was criticized.
Today assessments of the situation of national border regions in the Russian Empire differ depending on the category which a researcher belongs to. Scientists from Russia justify the policy of tsarism and demonstrate its civilizing role for Kazakhstan much more often than those from national regions. The second ones either maintain the Soviet positions and approaches, or try to mollify modern sharply-worded colleagues in some degree. And there is a third category which covers the scientists from abroad. In comparison with the above researchers, they evaluate the events more objectively, although make some mistakes.
Key words: colonial policy, tsarism, national margin, relationships, Kazakhs, Russians.