The Kazakhs are a Turkic-speaking people, who make up nearly half of the people of the nation of Kazakhstan, a small portion of which—west of the Ural River and to the north of the Caspian Sea—is located in Europe. Kazakhs live in other parts of Asia as well, especially in China, Uzbekistan, and Asian Russia, with smaller communities elsewhere. The language Kazakh (or Qazaq) is of the Northwestern (Kipchak; ogur) family, part of the Aralo-Caspian subgroup.
It is believed that the Kazakh identity came into being in the mid-15th century C. E. after the dissolution of the Mongol Empire. A number of different tribes of Turkics united, including Kipchaks, Nogay, and Uzbeks; some Mongols were presumably among them as well. The Kazakh khanate, extending throughout much of present-day Kazakhstan, was ruled by Kasym Khan in 1511-23. Yet the khanate ultimately consisted of three separate hordes composed of a number of tribes collectively ruled by a khan: the Great or Elder Horde (Ulu Zhuz) in the southeast, the Middle Horde (Orta Zhuz) in the central steppes, and the Little or Lesser Horde (Kishi Zhuz) between the Aral sea and the Ural River in the west. The hordes united from time to time to defend against invaders, in particular the Mongols living to their east.
In the 19th century the hordes were absorbed into the Russian Empire. in the early 20th century after an unsuccessful revolt against the Russian presence and resulting forced labor, some Kazakhs fled to Sinkiang (the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region) in China. Kazakhstan, after being a republic in the soviet Union (USSR), became independent in 1991.
About half of the population consider themselves ethnic Kazakhs. Russians make up about a third; the rest are largely other Turkic and Slavic groups. Many modern Kazakhs (also called Kazakhstanis) still live their traditional rural way of life as nomadic herders of yaks on the steppes of both Kazakhstan and China. Most are Muslims.
Further Reading
Glenn E. Curtis, ed. Kazakhtan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan: Country Studies (Washington, D. C.: Library of Congress, 1997).
Michael Furgus and Janar Jandosova. Kazakhstan: Coming of Age (London: Stacey International, 2004).
Martha Brill Olcott. The Kazakhs: Studies of Nationalities in the USSR (Stanford, Calif.: Hoover institution, 1995).
Kelts See Celts.
World History
