THE HISTORY OF THE BUKHARA DEPARTMENT OF THE STATE BANK
The article considers the bases of activity and functions of the Bukhara branch of the State Bank. In Soviet historiography, banks were understood as an instrument of "colonialism", both Western and Russian. The author, based on archival data, proves that the financial institutions of the Russian Empire took into account local specifics and encouraged the production of export-oriented products. The author actively uses interbank correspondence, annual reports of the branch director, as well as audit materials of the Bukhara branch. For the first time in historiography, active and passive operations of the bank were investigated, the expenses and profits of the bank were analyzed, and the bank's staff was studied. The author, unlike Soviet and post-Soviet researchers, believes that banks have not become "monopolies" in the economy of Central Asia. The State Bank had an extensive network of branches in the Central Asian region (6 branches). The State Bank tried to take the export of cotton and fruits into its hands. But in the end, the bank failed to become a monopolist in the economic life of Turkestan. The main reason for the "failure", according to the author, is the adaptation of the bank to real economic relations in the Turkestan governor general and khanates. The "modernization" of the Central Asian economy in the understanding of banks was to finance export crops and to mediate between the metropolis and the periphery. "Colonial" periphery at first glance seemed an attractive area for investing and receiving superprofits, but the speculative nature of the Turkestan economy prevented "the normal development of banks. As a result, the economic "modernization" of Central Asia slowed and opened the way for the Soviet experiment.