THE GENESIS OF THE GOLDEN HORDE’S CITIES: PROBLEMS OF HISTORIOGRAPHY

This study provides historiographical research of the genesisof the Golden Horde’s cities of the Lower Volga region and West Kazakhstan. The author analyzes well-known theories of the formation of cities, the process of the construction of the cities of the domain part of the Golden Horde. The phenomenon of the cities of the Golden Horde have been attractive for many reasons, the cities did not undergo a natural process of evolution, but adopted all the most advanced ideas of medieval cities. According to one of the points, the cities of the domain part that arose "by the individual iron will" of the kaan became the administrative, economic and cultural center of the Jochi ulus. But to this day, the genesis of cities that have already appeared in their heyday and have fallen into decline in less than a century remains not always obvious. In particular, small settlements that are located near large cities, while having their own developed urban culture. Studied in archaeological terms, the cities of Western Kazakhstan, which developed in the Golden Horde period, still represent white spots in the national historical science. The very process of the genesis of cities, their daily life, the established material and spiritual culture -all this should be the object of research. Aktobe-Laeti settlement is particularly convenient for scientific study, since its convenient location, comparative study and good preservation of the monument allow for a better understanding of medieval urban life.