KAZAKH 'SPACE' TOPONYMY: STUDY OF THE CULTURAL LANDSCAPE IN THE REGION ADJACENT TO THE BAIKONUR COSMODROMЕ

The epistemological profile of most of the Soviet texts about the Baikonur cosmodrome presents the local landscape before the construction of the cosmodrome as a desert – the barren steppe6 in which there was nothing and nobody lived. This justifies massive technological investments in the region and literal displacement of local history, as disproportionate to the emerging objects of space infrastructure. The study of traditional toponyms of the region makes it possible to show that this is not only a natural, but also a cultural landscape, formed under the influence of an anthropogenic factor. The article attempts to consider Kazakh toponyms of this region as significators of the Syrdarya cultural landscape. To a certain extent, the cosmic realities of the XX-XXI centuries have greatly distorted the idea of the Syrdarya cultural landscape, the territory where the world's largest cosmodrome Baikonur is located. The historically formed toponyms of the regions accurately reflect the substance of natural objects, the cultural impact on the natural landscape for millennia, as well as mythological ideas rooted in ancient history. The article focuses on toponyms, reflecting cosmogonic (myths about the origin of the world) representations of Kazakhs and their distant ancestors. It is also shown how these "cosmic toponyms" intersect, complement, enter into a relationship with modern, partly ideologically prolonged ideas about space, "cosmic start".