Abstract
Written sources. Since ancient times, they have been the main tool for transmitting events, facts and names related to the history of the Kazakh people, written in different languages. Such written data occupy an important place in the study of the problems of the history of the city, the region. Written sources on the history of Almaty (manuscripts, early printed books of the East and West, Russian archival materials) are stored in scientific centers, manuscript repositories of France, Italy, Iran, Turkey, Syria, Great Britain, Russia, Uzbekistan, China, India. This article examines the role of the Kazakh intelligentsia, political figures in the history of the city, which stood at the crossroads of civilizations. Historical studies of recent years have revealed little-known pages of the social, political, spiritual, cultural life of the Kazakh population of Almaty at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. The multifaceted thousand-year history of the city included aitys, testifying to the enormous spiritual wealth of the Kazakh people. The article uses new data on the aitys of famous akyns of Zhambyl, Shashubai, Katagan, about the life and activities of prominent figures of the Alash movement who lived in Almaty at the end of the XIX - first quarter of the XX century B. Syrtanov, M. Tynyshbayev, S. Amanzholov, Y.Zhainakov, B. Mametov, etc.