LAUSR

The main trends in the ethnic transformation of the post-Soviet space were set long before the collapse of the Soviet Union. The most striking example of this is the process of ethnic transformation in the macroregion, including the territory of the young states of Central Asia (Kazakhstan and the republics of Middle Asia). The aim of the study is to identify the main trends in the transformation of the ethnic space of the Central Asian macroregion over a 120-year interval. For this, a set of ethnic indicators (ethnic mosaic, homogeneity, concentration, etc.) were used, calculated according to the results of censuses and population counts, as well as the methods which have been created in Russian cultural geography. As a part of the study period, two stages were distinguished, characterized by directly opposite trends in the transformation of the ethnic space of the macroregion. The first stage lasted until the end of the 1950s. It was characterized by a decrease in the share of the titular nations of the republics as a result of a significant migration influx of the population from outside the macroregion, which led to an increase in the degree of multi-ethnicity of the territory. Since the 1960s an increase in the share of the titular nations of the republics began, which was a consequence of the demographic explosion of the indigenous population and the migration outflow of non-titular peoples of the republics, and the concentration of titular ethnic groups within their republics increased. The most significant ethnic restructuring throughout the period was experienced by Kazakhstan and the North of Kyrgyzstan. In the second stage the ethnic structure of the population has undergone a radical transformation of all large cities in the macroregion underwent.