The Kazakh people are full of amazing features. Having formed a unique culture in which there are borrowings from other peoples, the Kazakhs have become one of the most interesting descendants of the Turkic-speaking population. Now they are actively developing the national idea of identity, which is based on culture and traditions.
Story
The history of the Kazakh people covers several periods, including:
- Early;
- Middle Ages;
- Kazakh Khanate;
- History in the composition Russian Empire and the USSR;
- History of modern independent Kazakhstan.
The formation of the Kazakh people is associated with the Huns, after the collapse of their empire, the Turks entered the arena, mainly living in the Altai Territory. It is this version that is voiced by Chinese scientists, researchers involved in Turkology.
After the defeat of the Golden Horde at the beginning of the 15th century, the formation of the Kazakh Khanate began. The Turkic tribes finally consolidated into the Kazakh nation around the middle of the 15th century. The unification of the tribes took place under the auspices of Khan Kasym, whose conquests affected the Nogai Horde.
The rapprochement between Kazakhstan and Russia was due to a policy that encouraged peasants working in the border areas. Many fortresses were built on the borders. The power of the Russian Empire was very great, so the Kazakh khans decided to swear allegiance to it.
With the advent Soviet power there have been a number of changes, some of which were carried out by force. In particular, the Bolsheviks eliminated the Alash autonomy and dealt with its leaders. In the 20s of the last century, mass collectivization and dispossession took place, which led to several years of famine. Many Kazakhs were forced to flee to China. Later, the Bolsheviks began to carry out mass repressions, during which the most of intelligentsia. During the Second World War, about 500 thousand people were called to the front.
Now Kazakhstan is an independent country. Its geographical location obliges to pursue a special policy that takes into account the interests Russian Federation and China. All this has a significant impact on people's lives.
The Republic of Kazakhstan is located in the center of Eurasia, mostly territorially located in Asia and less in Europe. The lands of Kazakhstan are washed by the Caspian Sea, and border on China, the Urals, Siberia, Central Asia and the Lower Volga region.
Multinational Kazakhstan began to form in the 15th century, when the Kazakh Khanate flourished. It was formed thanks to the creation of a nation, which included the Turkic Mongol tribes.
Peoples inhabiting Kazakhstan
About 17,950,000 people live in the Republic of Kazakhstan. Today, Kazakhs are the main population of these territories, the number of which is 63.1% of the total population.
And yet Kazakhstan is a multinational republic. Representatives of other nations live here, who preserve the culture of their people and at the same time honor historical culture indigenous people. The number of Russian residents is 23.7%, Ukrainians - 2.1%, Uzbeks - 2.9%, Tatars - 1.3%, Uighurs - 1.4%, Germans - 1.1%. In addition to all the listed peoples, about 4.5% of people of other nationalities live here.
Most of the population of Kazakhstan are urban dwellers - about 60%. At the same time, the most densely populated cities are Almaty (Kazakh language), also called Alma-Ata ( 1 806 833 people for 2018), in second place is the capital Astana ( 1,035,537 people for 2018), and the third place in terms of the number of inhabitants is occupied by the city of Shymkent ( 1,005,996 people for 2018).
Culture and life of the peoples of Kazakhstan
(traditional yurt)
Speaking of Kazakhstan, first of all, it is worth thanking these people for the fact that they have preserved yurts to this day. Yurts appeared quite a long time ago, Turkic tribes lived in them. Thanks to the Kazakh people, we can see them today.
If we talk about the daily life of the Kazakh people, we can say that the basis of their economy, of course, is cattle breeding. For a long time, cattle was everything for the Kazakhs: food, transport, savings, clothing. With the help of cattle breeding, the Kazakhs obtained milk, from which they prepared dairy products, and then they could sell them. From camel milk, which was also available for the Kazakhs, they made various products useful for health. Ordinary cow's milk was a source of cheese, ayran, cottage cheese, kurt and other products.
Camels were habitual and ordinary livestock for the population, while people preferred the two-humped ones. In order for them to be hardy, the owners made the camel thirsty by adding salt to its food. If the camel is full and drunk, and he can drink 50 liters of water, he can carry heavy luggage on it for 6 or even 10 days. Therefore, camels were very much in demand by the Kazakh people.
The national clothes of the Kazakhs are nomadic clothes made from animal hair - camel, sheep and goat. This clothing is not particularly colorful, but it is comfortable and symbolic for the Kazakh people.
Traditions and customs of the Kazakh people
(ancient dance)
The traditions and customs of Kazakhstan are rooted in deep pagan antiquity. Every holiday in Kazakhstan is very bright, colorful, cheerful and charming. Even the wedding ceremony in Kazakhstan takes place with an unusual twist. Matchmaking and the wedding itself must take place on certain days. Before the groom sees the bride, the groom's messengers will go on reconnaissance to the future father-in-law. Then the groom will be able to see the betrothed, but for a fee - dowry. As soon as a man enters the house of his future wife, he will have to pass a few more tests, and only then can he begin the official preparations for the wedding.
The brightest holiday among the Kazakhs is the Nauryz holiday - the birthday of spring. According to ancient calendars, this day is celebrated in New Year. Spring was met in clean, tidied houses, in beautiful clothes and tables full of food. Kazakhs believe that if spring enters a clean and comfortable house, they will bring good luck and happiness to its inhabitants. Today this holiday is celebrated on March 22.
Dastarkhan holiday is a holiday of politeness and friendliness. On this day, the Kazakhs are open and hospitable as never before. People are ready to let any guest, traveler and stranger into their homes, feed him, drink and give shelter. On this day, people get to know each other, invite neighbors and ordinary passers-by to tea. If the guest leaves hungry and not quite cheerful, then the hosts could not keep the atmosphere of the holiday within their walls.
"Golden Man", a monumental-impressive anthem, the modernist capital Astana and other symbols of independent Kazakhstan in the proposed site review
Sometimes the symbols of modern Kazakhstan can have a controversial historical origin - have almost nothing to do with the origin of the Kazakh ethnos, but usually they look quite stylish.
We will also talk a little about the origin of the Kazakhs.
And in the audio file - one of the most impressive, in our opinion, official versions anthem of Kazakhstan (also see the anthem of Kazakhstan in this review).
The handprint of the President of Kazakhstan in the Baiterek tower in Astana.
Read more about Astana and Baiterek in our review.
Let's start in this part with a description of the flag and coat of arms of Kazakhstan, and then move on to the anthem, the construction of the capital and the origin of the Kazakhs.
Symbols of Kazakhstan: Flag, coat of arms and anthem
Flag of Kazakhstan
The official description of the flag of Kazakhstan is as follows (quote from the website of the Kazakh Embassy in Russia):
"The national flag of the Republic of Kazakhstan is a rectangular panel blue color with an image in the center of its sun with 32 rays, under which is a soaring steppe eagle. At the pole there is a vertical stripe with a national ornament. Images of the sun, rays, an eagle and an ornament are the color of gold. The ratio of the flag's width to its length is 1:2.
And here is the interpretation of the symbols of the flag of Kazakhstan .. Tourist guide ”- the publication was issued by order of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports of the Republic of Kazakhstan in 2008 by the Delovoy Mir publishing house in Astana:
“The main element of the national flag is its light blue color. The silhouette of the sun is a symbol of life, and according to the law of heraldry - a symbol of wealth and abundance. The silhouette of an eagle arose from the idea of aspiration of young sovereign Kazakhstan to the heights of world civilization. Another element that gives novelty and originality to the flag is a strip parallel to its flagpole, consisting of national ornament"ram's horns".
Coat of arms of Kazakhstan
Official description (quote from the website of the Kazakh Embassy in Russia):
“The State Emblem of the Republic of Kazakhstan is an image of a shanyrak (upper vaulted part of a yurt) on a blue background, from which uyks (supports) radiate in all directions in the form of sun rays, framed by the wings of mythical horses.
At the bottom of the coat of arms - the inscription "Kazakhstan". The State Emblem of the Republic of Kazakhstan - two colors: gold and blue-blue.
And again, the interpretation of symbols from the semi-official brochure “Kazakhstan. Tourist guide" - the publication was issued by order of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports of the Republic of Kazakhstan in 2008 by the publishing house "Business World" in Astana:
“The state emblem of Kazakhstan has the shape of a circle. The central element that incorporates the main idea of the coat of arms is shanyrak - the circular top of the dome of the yurt, symbolizing family well-being, peace, tranquility.
Domed poles - uyk, evenly spreading from the center along the blue space of the coat of arms, resemble the rays of the sun - a source of life and heat.
next integral part The compositional structure of the coat of arms are golden-winged tulpars.
The colors of the coat of arms are golden and blue, these colors represent a bright future and the desire for peace, harmony, friendship and unity with all the peoples of the planet.
In the center of the coat of arms is a five-pointed star, symbolizing that the heart and arms are open to representatives of all five continents.”
Symbols of Kazakhstan: Anthem
Among all the countries of the former USSR, Kazakhstan has one of the most memorable national anthem in terms of its solemnly impressive melody.
The president of the country N. Nazarbayev took an active part in the selection of the future national anthem and even in the reformulation of the words.
Since January 7, 2006, the anthem of the Republic of Kazakhstan has become popular song, written back in 1956 - "My Kazakhstan" ("Menin Kazakstanym") with the changes made.
Since the amendments to the text were made by Nursultan Nazarbayev, he began to be indicated as a co-author of the text.
Music by the composer Shamshi Kaldayakov to the words of Zhumeken Nazhimedenov (1956), Nursultan Nazarbayev (2005).
The following is the text of the anthem of Kazakhstan in the Kazakh language with an official translation into Russian. You can also listen and download the anthem of Kazakhstan in audio file below (in the audio we present one of the official versions of the anthem of Kazakhstan, adopted in the country, and this version is one of the most solemn and impressive, in our opinion):
- audio file #1
Altyn kun aspany,
Altyn dan dalas,
Yerliktin dastans,
Elime Karashi!
Ezhelden er degen,
Dankymyz shykty goy.
Namysyn Bermegen,
Kazagym mykty goy!
Golden sun in the sky
In the steppe a golden grain.
A tale of courage is my country.
In hoary antiquity
Our glory is born
My proud and strong Kazakh people.
Kaiyrmasy:
Eat menin, eat menin,
Gulin big egilemin,
Zhyryn bolyp togilemin, eat!
Chorus:
Oh my people! Oh my country!
My homeland is my Kazakhstan.
Ұrpaққa zhol ashkan,
Ken baitak zherim bar.
Birligi zharaskan,
Tauelsiz elim bar.
Karsy algan uakytty,
Mangilik dosynday.
Bizdin ate baqytty,
Bizdin ate osyndai!
I have unlimited space
And the road is open to the future.
I have an independent
United, united people.
Like an eternal friend
Meet the new time
Our happy country, our people.
Kaiyrmasy:
Eat menin, eat menin,
Gulin big egilemin,
Zhyryn bolyp togilemin, eat!
Tugan zherim menin - Kazakhstanym!
Chorus:
Oh my people! Oh my country!
I am your flower, raised by you.
I am the song that rings on your lips
My homeland is my Kazakhstan.
The text of the anthem in Kazakh and translation in this review The site is given on the official website of the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan in Russia.
The capital of Kazakhstan Astana is a symbol of independent Kazakhstan
Due to the fact that Kazakhstan changed its main city after gaining independence in a short time, the growth of this new capital from the dusty provincial Soviet center - Tselinograd to the metropolis of Astana, is usually associated with the formation of a new state and is often identified with it.
The reasons for the transfer of the capital from Alma-Ata to Astana are usually called increased seismic hazard and the outlying position of the first.
Here is what various media reported in the first months after the transfer of the new capital to Akmola about the atmosphere in the city:
“A strange feeling of unreality grips the few streets of Akmola, a cramped city with a population of three hundred thousand, where islands of “khrushchev” are surrounded by huts and barracks of the “private sector”. Literally at every step you come across strict signs: “Ministry of Foreign Affairs”, “Supreme Court”, “Prosecutor General's Office”.
I saw the same signs just a couple of hours ago 1200 kilometers to the south, in presentable Alma-Ata. For a moment, it seems that Kazakhstan is now living some kind of double life. One - real, such as it is. And at the same time the other one is from the future.
There is no need to talk about the scope and unprecedented scale of Akmola construction projects. All construction sites can be easily bypassed in an hour.<...>
The main principle, according to which Akmola is being rebuilt now, is compaction. Ministries and departments occupy the buildings of regional institutions and are groaning in cramped quarters. And yet the city, thanks to the round-the-clock "work in a hurry" is changing before our eyes. The main square of Akmola has changed beyond recognition, previously surrounded by the seven-story building of the regional party committee, the fourteen-story "candle" of the agricultural research institute, two boring-looking hotels ("Ishim" and "Moscow"), as well as the bunker-like building of the Palace of Virgin Lands.
The former regional committee turned into the House of Government sparkling with mirrored walls, "from the rear" it was attached presidential palace with an impressive dome, subtly similar to the famous blue mosque in Istanbul. The buildings stand almost close together, connected by a short gallery.
The walls and fourteen-story buildings are lit with the same mirror light - now it is the House of Parliament, in the backyard of which a huge dome of the meeting room has also grown. Nearby, the absolutely unrecognizable building of the former Moskva Hotel shines with the same bottle shine - now it is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (Newspaper "Izvestia", published in Moscow, dated 10.12.97);
“After the resettlement of the workers of the apparatus, they will finally begin to equip the deputies (of parliament), “who experience all the charms of life in a hotel.” About the best hotel in Akmola so far... the head of one of the chambers of parliament - mazhalis.... responded as follows: "If it were a suite in a five-star hotel, and this is a run-down provincial hotel." (“Panorama”, Kazakh weekly newspaper published in Almaty, dated 30.01.98);
“Over Akmola, like big birds, underground cranes spread their wings. And the ultra-modern parallelepiped of the Kazakhoil office (noiseless elevators, offices stuffed with faxes and computers, a swimming pool on the seventh floor) still looks lonely against the background of wooden houses grown into the ground, still remembering the Cossacks-stanishniks who founded the Akmola fortress in 1830...
Having plucked hundreds, thousands of officials from their homes, the authorities of Kazakhstan - where it is better, where it is worse - tried to make a kind of selection. Get into the first echelon young guys with knowledge of computers, economics, in English... "(" The Ark "dated 03/19/98);
“Moving to the new capital was discussed at the meeting of Foreign Minister Kassymzhomart Tokayev with representatives of international organizations accredited in Kazakhstan, which took place on February 4 at the Reception House of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan.<...>Having soberly assessed the situation (after about 50 seconded World Bank travelers could not find a place to sleep in the new capital), the representative of the World Bank proposed to create a video studio at his own expense to facilitate communication between Almaty and Akmola, where all international organizations located in in the old capital. (Panorama, a Kazakhstani weekly newspaper published in Almaty, in the note "Representatives of international organizations do not have a strong desire to move north" dated 02/06/98);
“The capital is literally buried in mud. In Akmola, as, indeed, in other cities of the republic, there is no storm sewer, and the slightest rain turns it into a swamp. It is no coincidence that here in front of each administrative building there is a self-made metal trough filled with water, where each visitor, before entering the building, washes his shoes. ("The Ark" dated 04/09/98);
Akmola greeted the journalists with a piercing wind, a dull station landscape and incredible mud on the platform and streets. A short bus ride around the city made a depressing impression on those who found themselves in Akmola for the first time - shabby buildings, the wretchedness of which is not hidden, but rather emphasized by external plastic coatings of unimaginable colors, construction debris, roads far from perfection and dirty cars "up to their ears". ("Express K", a daily newspaper published in Almaty, dated 04/07/98);
“The relocation has changed the demographics of both the old and the new capital. Almaty is now a city of women abandoned by their husbands. Only a few of them followed the spouses in northern capital where frosts below 30 degrees are not uncommon even during the day. The area is swampy, unsteady, the city, like snakes, is riddled with pipes of heating plants, giving an unusual flavor to the streets. The main square is a surreal landscape of hoisting cranes and high-rise skeletons against the backdrop of a nondescript, Soviet-style 1950s city. Only a few officials transplanted here received apartments, many live in hotels two or three in a room. Evenings now, as a rule, are devoted to drunkenness ...
More fortunate officials received the keys to their own, poorly furnished apartments. Many hope to bring their furnishings here from Almaty in the spring. And not many are thrilled to have left the warm, fertile, and more cosmopolitan former capital.
Top ministerial officials often take advantage of the fact that subordinates are out of their families and force them to stay at work even after 18.00. Only a very few high-ranking people dare to leave their offices before the minister has gone home. And this often happens after midnight, when the minister, having slipped into a warm Mercedes (the favorite vehicle of the Kazakh government), breaks down to his villa in a special ministerial village. The unfortunate subordinate, who missed the opportunity to leave on time by the departmental bus, is forced to catch a random transport in order to get to his hotel.
Bureaucrats are uncomfortable in the new capital. Many senior officials arranging the surroundings, they rush to invite their former secretaries. Indigenous Akmola residents, suffering from high unemployment, would like to take new jobs, but they professional level leaves much to be desired. Even in order to fill non-prestigious vacancies, officials are forced to turn to their Almaty colleagues for help ... Nazarbayev used all his sophistication and perseverance to move the capital. “I will make everyone in this city work,” he said in parliament. (“Greenwich Mean Time”, a newspaper published in Almaty, dated 06.05.98);
As can be seen from these publications, the city was absolutely not ready for its capital status. At one time, the international media avoided the story that the creation of the new capital began with the fact that the crumbling five-story buildings from the time of the Soviet leader Khrushchev were dressed in beautiful panels, but only from the side of the main street. At the same time, the houses remained, like all the previous few years, without gas, and rusty water flowed from the taps. The sharply continental climate of the new capital with its strong winds and harsh winters presented a big surprise to the settlers. None of the Kazakh elite wanted to move to the new capital city. In fact, the only driving force behind the arrangement of the capital in a new place was the desire and will of the Kazakh President Nazarbayev.
So, Astana (from Kazakh. Astana - "capital"). Data on the number of population, even according to official sources, are contradictory. The population of Astana in 2008 is about 700 thousand inhabitants. This is what the semi-official brochure “Kazakhstan. Tourist guide" - the publication was issued by order of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports of the Republic of Kazakhstan in 2008 by the publishing house "Business World" in Astana in Russian. It also indicates that the population has tripled over the past decade, exceeding 700 thousand inhabitants, which was envisaged only by 2020. Another edition of the same publishing house is “Kazakhstan. Tourist's Handbook, also issued in 2008 and again by order of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports of Kazakhstan, indicates a figure of 600,000 inhabitants. The official website of the President of Kazakhstan previously cited a figure of 510.5 thousand people, but as of January 1, 2004. The August 2009 version of this site lists 600,200 people.
Former names of Astana: Akmolinsk from 1832 to 1961, Tselinograd from 1961 to 1992, Akmola from 1992 to 1998.
Since December 10, 1997, Astana has been the capital of the Republic of Kazakhstan. As the website of the President of Kazakhstan notes melancholy, “The first capital of Kazakhstan since 1920 was the city of Orenburg (now in the Russian Federation). In 1925, the capital of Kazakhstan was moved to Kzyl-Orda. The construction of Turksib was the main reason for the transfer of the capital to Alma-Ata. Legally this happened on April 3, 1927, in fact the move took place in 1929.”
The origin of the Kazakhs: About the Kazakhs, the Kyrgyz and the “fugitive Uzbeks”
Note that it was under the Bolsheviks that Kazakhstan first appeared on the world map as a state, although not independent. Before that, there was only one example in history, which can be called the prototype of the Kazakh state itself - the so-called. The "Kazakh Khanate", and, basically, the Kazakhs were part of other states as an integral part.
In connection with the late formation of statehood among the Kazakhs, various hypotheses are still put forward about the origin of the Kazakhs. without challenging them Turkic origin, some call them "fugitive Uzbeks" - since they were Turkic tribes that separated from the same Turkic early Uzbek state.
As the semi-official (published by order of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports of Kazakhstan) and the already mentioned “Kazakhstan. Tourist guide”: “In the 15th-16th centuries, Chingizid Abdulkhair Khan took the throne from the descendants of Tamerlane and formed a state that included tribes and clans of modern Kazakhs. Abdulkhair's cousins, Zhanibek and Kerey, dissatisfied with his policy, began to unite the tribes under the single name Kazakhs. Their work was continued by Kasym, the son of Zhanibek, who, in fact, became the first Kazakh khan.
The Kazakh service of Radio Liberty indicated on 01/06/2010, speaking about the opening of a monument to khans Zhanibek and Kerey in Astana, that from the annals "Tarikh-i-Rashidi" by Muhammad Haidar it follows that it was Kerey and Zhanibek around the second half of the 1450s years, they began a mass migration of their tribes from the Eastern Desht-i-Kipchak from the (Turkic-Uzbek state of the Shaybanids) Abulkhair to the state of Moghulistan in the west of Semirechie.
And she continued: “The fleeing tribes settled in the cozy valleys of the Chu and Kozy-Bashi rivers, and, according to some historians, it was thanks to their migration that the formation of the modern Kazakh people began, and the appearance of the actual term “Kazakh” dates back to the end of the 15th century.”
One of the versions of the origin of the term "Kazakh" from the ancient Turkic - "free", "separated". According to the nomad.su website, referring to the publication of the Russian magazine Rodina:
“hence this Turkic word (Cossack) in Russian. Cossacks in Rus' were called people without specific occupations, as well as civilian laborers. Although the word “Cossack” has been registered in the north of Rus' since the end of the 14th century, historians still recognize the southern outskirts of Rus', adjacent to the Kipchak steppe, as the original homeland of the Russian Cossacks, the conditions of which gave this freemen the character of a military society.
In other words, the original meaning of the term Cossack is social: it is a state, position, status of a certain person, a well-known team at any given moment in relation to the ruler, society, state ...
Any person could become a Cossack, whether he was a Turk or a Persian, an ordinary nomad cattle breeder or a prince of the blood in the tenth generation. For some time, the Cossacks were, for example, the eldest son of Toktamysh Khan Jalal ad-Din, the founder of the state of "nomadic Uzbeks" Shibanid Abu-l-Khair Khan, his grandson Muhammad Sheibani, Chagatayids Weiss and Said ...
Thus, in those distant times, Cossacks became, became. To designate the way of life of a Cossack in Iranian and Turkic sources, the noun kazaklyk is formed - “Cossacks”, “Cossacks”, “wandering”, “freedom”, as well as the verb kazaklamak - “wander”, “freedom”. The concept of "at the time of the Cossacks" is usually conveyed, respectively: kazaklykda, kazaklyklarda (in Turkic-speaking sources) and dar ayyam-i kazak ... ".
Interesting discussions about the origin and use of the name "Kazakh" sometimes take place on the international Kazakh resource kazakh.ru. There, in general, the point of view about the origin of the name "Kazakh" from the Turkic "Cossack" - "free", "separated" also dominates. But visitors to this Kazakh resource usually express indignation that the word "Cossack" in Russian has changed its original meaning: military units of free Ukrainians and Russians began to be called Cossacks. And the original "Cossacks" themselves - the current Kazakhs, in order to avoid Russian confusion, began to be called "Kazakhs".
Here are some opinions from the kazakh.ru forum about the term "Kazakh":
“The most correct designation of the indigenous people of Kazakhstan in Russian is “Kazakh”.
This is exactly how Russian chronicles wrote about the “Kazakh Khanate” - Cossacks, Cossack Horde, Cossack Horde, Kaisaks, Kaisak Horde, etc. Then there was the wrong name "Kirghiz". From 1925 to 1936, the name "Cossack" was again restored in Russian.
The current "Kazakh" is a Soviet distortion (since 1936) of an originally Turkic word, and with a very absurd distortion - the same as writing "KalpaKh", "KipchaKh".
Kirghiz are spelled "Kyrgyz", Bashkirs are spelled "Bashkorts", Yakuts are spelled "Sakha", Little Russians are spelled Ukrainians, so why should the Cossacks use the (Russian) corruption of the Turkic word "Cossack"?
Moreover, this applies not only to Russian, but also to the English language, where the ugly “kazakH”, translated into English from Russian, has recently begun to be approved.
“Cossack (with a hard k) is a Turkic word, it means a person who left the tribe and leads a hermit life, or was expelled for a misdemeanor for a correctional term, so that a person would consider his actions and draw appropriate conclusions. 500 years ago, our people began to be called Kazakhs because of the split. We migrated to the steppe, the Uzbeks remained, so we became Kazakhs.
“The Kalmyk historian Khara-Davan, in a book about Genigis Khan published in Belgrade in 1925, gives an explanation that the word “Cossack” means horseman – in the Golden Horde there was an area that was called “Kazakhstan” and the population called themselves Cossacks.”
“In Turkey, which is related in language, there is an expression “Cossack erkek” - “bully”, “macho”.
The same site kazakh.ru published some time ago a note from, as far as one can understand from the information of the site, the Kazakh state glossy magazine"Astana". The note is called “How the Kazakhs became Kyrgyz. On the history of one terminological confusion. The fact is that the Kazakhs in Tsarist Russia for a long time called the Kirghiz (the Kirghiz themselves in Russia in tsarist times were called Kara-Kyrgyz - black Kirghiz. Kirghiz (Kyrgyz) - the self-name of the people from the Turkic word Kyrgyz - "indestructible", or "Kyrgyn" in the meaning of "destroying", or from the words "kyrk kyz "(" forty tribes "). The Kazakhs were unhappy that they were mixed with the Kirghiz in Russian publications in tsarist times.
Here are some excerpts from the note mentioned above “How Kazakhs became Kyrgyz. To the history of one terminological confusion”:
“In journalism and quite often even in historical literature, there is an inaccurate idea that supposedly it was from the beginning of the 18th century that Kazakhs began to be called Kyrgyz.
But everything was much more complicated. Even in the first decade and a half of the XVIII century. in Russian documents, which are stored mainly in the Russian State Military Historical Archive and Archive foreign policy Russian Empire, the Kazakhs are mentioned under their own name. Even in the journal of the Russian envoy to Ivan Unkovsky, which was compiled in 1722-1724, we also find mention of the Kazakhs under the name "Cossack". This situation continued until 1734.
“I pay special attention to this fact, because the Kazakhs did not immediately and suddenly become Kyrgyz,” says Irina Yerofeeva, a leading employee of the Institute of History and Ethnology of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan. or simply Kyrgyz, and then in Russian official documents, the first term is already being completely replaced by the second. What is it connected with? First of all, the boundary between the use of these two terms was the publication in St. Petersburg Vedomosti in 1734 of a translation of several fragments of the book of the Amsterdam merchant and burgomaster Nikolai Korneliusson Witzen Northern and Eastern Tartaria.
This man, at the invitation of Peter I, was in Russia at the end of the 17th century. and described different regions of the Russian Empire, mainly from the Urals to the Far East, including modern Central Asia. He was not directly on the territory of the latter, he mainly drew information from Russian experienced people - visiting officials, travelers and merchants who had been there, as well as from Bukhara merchants, under whose name, by the way, all Central Asian merchants were known in general.
So what was the mystery of Witzen's book? the fact is that the author had information about the peoples in a certain sequence in the adjacent territories that they occupied. First there was an essay about the Yaik Cossacks, then about the Bashkirs, then about the Yenisei Kirghiz, on the basis of which the modern people- Khakass, while narrating about the peoples of Central Asia, he placed those little information about the Kazakhs that he had extracted from the stories of Russian and Bukhara merchants in the section "Bukharia". The Kazakhs appeared under his own name - "Cossacks", or as "Tatar Cossacks" - subjects of Bukhara. The last one is related to this. Kazakh Khanate at the end of the 17th century. constantly waged a struggle for spheres of influence on the territory of the Middle Syr Darya with the Bukhara Khanate, certain territories of modern Southern Kazakhstan passed from hand to hand. For some time, Bukhara spread its political influence there, so Witzen in the section "Bukharia" placed a small subsection dedicated to the Kazakhs.
The information it contains is truly unique. Here, for the first time, there is information about Kazhi Sultan, the father of Khan Abulkhair, who was known only from the mention of his name in the family tree of the Khan, which Abulkhair dictated to the Russian ambassador A. Tevkelev in 1748, as well as from the inscription on his seal. Khan told Tevkelev that his ancestors owned cities along the Syr Darya. Historians have treated this information in different ways. Since there was no clear evidence, it was believed that the khan could simply inflate his own worth by exaggerating the importance of his ancestors. Witzen, from the words of merchants, names one of the cities near the Syr Darya, which were owned by Kazhy Sultan.
Why, in the presence of such important information about the Kazakhs in 1734, such an incidental situation arose when they were suddenly renamed Kyrgyz?
In early January 1734, a Kazakh delegation headed by Yeraly Sultan, the son of Abulkhair Khan, arrived in St. Petersburg to secure the conditions of citizenship.
On this occasion, an advertising publication was required. Correspondents of Sankt-Peterburgskiye Vedomosti decided to translate a piece from Witzen's Northern and Eastern Tartaria. They were in a hurry, and most importantly, in Russia at that time they had a very vague idea of the location of the Kazakh zhuzes (a zhuz is an alliance of smaller clans. In total, the Kazakhs had three main zhuzes. Note .. For translation, they took the first piece that came across, but not about the southeastern, but about the eastern neighbors.In general, it was understood that we were talking about the Kazakhs, but in fact - mainly about the Yenisei Kirghiz, or future Khakass.The correspondent of the newspaper, who is also a reteller of the work of the Dutch traveler and researcher, a confused version about the origin of the Kazakhs from the Yenisei Kirghiz, although Witzen himself did not have such a hypothesis.
- An extremely anecdotal situation arose, since it appeared, I emphasize, under the conditions of absolutism, in the official newspaper - an organ of the tsarist government, it was perceived as a law for use, - continues I. Erofeeva. - And in fact, from that time on, officials in all official documents began to call Kazakhs Kyrgyz.
One can also observe why such a tradition has become stable. It's one thing - a mistake occurred, and another - in Russia, immediately after that, voices began to be heard: excuse me, gentlemen officials, but the self-name of the people is something else. The fact that it is not necessary to confuse the Kirghiz-Kaisaks with the Kazakhs was first written in 1750 by Academician G.F. Miller. In 1771, in his manuscript of a special historical and ethnographic study about the Kazakhs, the Russian traveler H. Bardanes spoke about the same. He called his work “Kyrgyz or Kazakh chorography”. Questioning, as it were, the legitimacy of the use of the term "Kyrgyz", he paid special attention to the fact that the so-called "Kyrgyz" themselves never call themselves "Kyrgyz-Kaisaks", but say "men Cossack" - "I am Kazakh."
There were a lot of versions about why this confusion existed until the end of the 20s of the XX century? According to the Russian author Levshin, the use of the term "Kirghiz" became convenient for the tsarist administrators, in order to distinguish the Kazakhs from the Siberian and Yaik Cossacks at least by name (although the etymologies are different, but since graphic signs fixing the phonetics of this word have not yet been introduced into the Russian language , then confusion arose between such a social stratum as the Cossacks, and the name of the people - "Kazakh"). Other authors, including Ch.Valikhanov, expressed the opinion that there were many common features between the two peoples - the Kyrgyz and Kazakhs, related in ethnohistorical origin, led the same, nomadic lifestyle, had similarities in anthropology, language, culture, and housekeeping.
The emergence of this terminological error, according to I. Erofeeva, was associated with the emergence in the first quarter of the 18th century. erroneous identification of the Kazakhs with the Yenisei Kirghiz, the reason for which was the forced resettlement of the Dzungars (Dzungars are a Mongol-speaking people, the current Mongolo-Oirats living in Western Mongolia and Xinjiang - the Uyghur Autonomous Region of China. Note .. several thousand families in the Chu-Talas interfluve area Since the geography of the location of the southern Kazakh nomad camps was almost unknown to Russian officials at that time, in Russia they began to believe that the Kazakhs mixed with the Kyrgyz settlers from Khakassia.
This confusion was aggravated by the publication in 1726 of a translation of the manuscript by the Khiva historian of the 17th century. Abdulgazi-Bahadur Khan "Genealogy of the Turks" on French with notes by captured Swedish officers who were then in Siberia. The latter, under the strong impression of the sudden disappearance of the warlike and rebellious Kirghiz from the Yenisei and their resettlement in Dzungaria, interpreted some of the provisions of Abulgazi's book about Oguz Khan and other mythical progenitors Turkic peoples as evidence of the origin of the Kazakhs from the Yenisei Kirghiz.
By the end of the XVIII century. the hypothesis of former prisoners of war about the Yenisei Kirghiz as the ancestors of the Kazakhs became dominant in Russian and European scientific literature about the Kazakh people.
Hence the terms "Kyrgyz", "Kyrgyz-Cossack" or "Kyrgyz-Kaisak" entered the ethnographic lexicon of Russian and European officials and researchers of Kazakhstan for a long time.
In the works of such major researchers of the peoples who inhabited Central Asia as Witzen and the Frenchman de Guignes, they call the Kazakhs "Kyrgyz", while there they are also mentioned under their own name, however, not just in their naked form - "Cossack", but, for example, the Bukhara Cossack ... ".
26514 1-05-2015, 00:00
The mystery of the origin of the ethnonym "Cossack / Kazakh"
ENG ENG KZ
If the qualified majority of scientists agree with the date of the emergence of the Kazakh Khanate (1465/1466), then there is no such unanimity regarding the origin of the name of the people itself "Kazakh". This ethnonym is unique and mysterious in the sense that even what language gave it life is not known for certain, although it is believed that it has ancient Turkic roots. But with the same success one can argue about its ancient Iranian or ancient Mongolian foundations.
Difficult question
This question is a big scientific interest both linguistically and historically. The answer to it is very difficult, in many respects hypothetical and so far unambiguously impossible.
A recognized expert in this extremely confusing issue, Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan B.Kumekov writes that for two centuries scientists have been trying to uncover the semantics of this concept. However, so far no one has been able to make a final judgment. We add from ourselves that in the near future there is no chance of this. Although the best scientific minds at one time worked on unraveling the mystery of the name "Kazakh".
Thus, the historian A. Levshin, whom Ch. Valikhanov called with good reason "Herodotus of the Kazakh people", stated, referring to the opinion of Eastern historians, that "the antiquity of the name" Cossack "goes back further from the birth of Christ", that "the Cossacks constituted an independent and an independent people in the remotest ages of our reckoning." And the "Tatar Cossacks" of his time were only "imitators and their name is not Tatar, but borrowed from another people." And he came to the conclusion that "the very name of them, as the proper name of the people, is not subject to either translations or etymological disputes." That's it, no more, no less.
Chokan Valikhanov himself wrote that in the era of the formation of the Kazakh Khanate and the Kazakh people, "the name kazak ... had a rather respectable meaning and meant loftiness of spirit, soundness - corresponded to European chivalry. A nomadic steppe, to distinguish himself from his urban relatives-neighbors, Uzbeks and Nogais, was proud of the name of the Kazakh - a free steppe, a nomadic man. As we can see, he preferred not to delve into the semantics and morphology of this specific military heroic term.
A great connoisseur of the history and genealogy of the Kazakhs Mukhamedzhan Tynyshpaev also noted that all possible interpretations of the word "Cossack" in addition to "various absurdities only confuse the issue." Therefore, he did not even consider these "interpretations" in view of their "complete failure." And he directly stated that looking for the meaning of the word "Cossack" is just as useless as trying to find the meaning of the words "Russian", "Arab", "French", etc.
The first Kazakh professor of history S. Asfendiarov criticized one-sided, "linguistic sophistications and research", considered them completely fruitless and rightly said that the question of the origin of the word "Kazakh" and the Kazakh people should be resolved "not by abstract linguistic interpretations", but only by concrete historical analysis.
In 1943, the "History of the Kazakh SSR (from ancient times to the present day)" was published - the first systematized scientific history of the Kazakh people. Well-known Soviet and Kazakh scientists participated in its writing. It would seem that in this fundamental academic publication on national history, the origin of the term "Kazakh" will be given paramount attention. However, contrary to expectations, he was given only about one page. Denoting the problem "The question of the origin of the word "Kazakh", the authors only stated that the term itself goes back to a very ancient basis, the origin and meaning of which are still unclear. Eminent authors have not made any attempts to clarify this issue. One can only guess for what reason. Apparently, ideologically: they were afraid of being accused of bourgeois nationalism in the field of linguistics.
The same applies to other editions of the "History of the Kazakh SSR" of the Soviet period, except that in the edition of 1979 this ethnonym is mentioned in more detail. But it is also noted that there was no exact, unambiguous answer to the question of its origin in science, and there is no one to this day.
free people
In the second volume of the "History of Kazakhstan" edition of 1997, Academician B.Kumekov analyzes in detail and critically all the versions that try to explain the meaning of the term "Kazakh". However, he states that there is nothing new in the stated opinions - they, with rare exceptions, are based on the views expressed in the past.
In the early 2000s, Russian scientists S. Klyashtorny and T. Sultanov made another attempt to find out the historical, political and ethnic content of the term "Cossack". They traditionally emphasized that in the historical literature there are still a wide variety of interpretations of its origin. They noted that one of the first mentions of the word "Cossack" in Muslim written sources is found in an anonymous Turko-Arabic dictionary, probably compiled in Egypt, known from a manuscript of 1245 and with the meaning "homeless", "homeless", "wanderer" , "exile". Nevertheless, the authors also admitted that there is still no reliable etymological explanation of the word "Cossack".
But whatever its origin, there is no doubt that initially it had a nominal meaning, in the sense of a lonely, free, homeless, wanderer, exile, earner. That is, many different figurative meanings: from a robber and a robber to a daring young hero.
Thus, initially the word "Cossack" had neither political nor ethnic content, but only social. Any free person who broke away from his state, people and tribe, forced for this reason to lead the life of an adventurer, was called a Cossack. There have always been many people in the steppe who led such a way of life (by necessity or by good will).
That is, any person could become a "Cossack", regardless of origin, clan and tribe, even princes of the blood, for example, Genghisides or Timurids. Like Timur himself, Tokhtamysh, Babur, Sultan Hussein Baykara, Muhammad Shaibani, the Siberian Khan Kuchum and others. Moreover, leading a Cossack lifestyle was not something shameful and reprehensible, on the contrary, it was considered a matter of honor and heroism, when a contender for the throne would “cossack” for some time of his life, thereby confirming his right to power.
Later, this Turkic word appeared in the Russian language, and the original homeland of the Slavic Cossacks is the southern outskirts of Rus', adjacent to the Kypchak steppe (the so-called "Wild Field"). As you know, the Cossacks were not only Turkic, but also Russian (for example, Don), Ukrainian (Zaporozhye), Lithuanian (from the fugitive Crimean Tatars), as well as Mongolian, Mogul, Nogai, Kyzylbash and others. The author of these lines, who once defended his doctoral dissertation on the history of the Russian Cossacks in Kazakhstan, agrees with this point of view.
To denote the way of life of a Cossack, the noun kazaklyk appeared in Eastern sources - "Cossacks", "Cossacks", "wandering", "liberty", as well as the verb "kazaklamak" - "wander", "freedom". Such Cossacks constituted special Cossack societies, or "Jamaat-i Cossacks".
Their references are found in the works of many medieval Muslim authors - both Turkic and Persian.
The well-known Kazakh orientalist V.Yudin in his unpublished during his lifetime article "On the etymology of the ethnonym Kazakh (Cossack)" summarized all previously published materials on the origin of this term. Noting at the same time that the results of scientific research are still insignificant, since to this day it has not even been possible to establish the language that gave life to the word "Kazakh".
Variants of etymologies
To date, scientists have proposed more than twenty very different etymologies: from "kaz ak" and "kyz ak" to "kas sak" and "kai sak" - depending on the scientific or anti-scientific preferences of their authors. Such a large number of unsystematic interpretations of the ethnonym "Cossack/Kazakh" in itself is proof of their inconsistency with historical reality. That is why they are not accepted by serious scientists. Especially often the ethnonym "Cossack" is derived from the syllable "Sak", although between the Kazakhs and the Saks there is a time gap of more than one and a half thousand years, which makes such hypotheses fantastic and completely unacceptable.
A common drawback of all these hypotheses is the external sound similarity with the prototype (i.e. "Cossack" and the modern word "Kazakh"). For this reason, searches are conducted within a predetermined lexical sphere, which a priori dooms such attempts to failure. Against such superficial sound rapprochements of various historical terms and ethnonyms, Academician V. Bartold spoke sharply.
Such unscrupulous methodological techniques, which lie outside the bounds of serious science, allow, with the great desire of the authors, to find any ethnonym in any era and in any geographical region of the world. There are plenty of such vulgar and archaic constructions, caricature examples in modern domestic publications that came out from the pen of home-grown "discoverers of America". Reading such authors, you think whether they are writing seriously or joking.
While the hypothesis about the origin of any ethnonym can acquire a scientific character only in cases of its adequacy to the facts of historical phonetics, semantic correspondence and mandatory registration of the prototype by various written monuments (stone stelae, sacred books, historical writings, chronicles, testimonies of travelers, geographers, ambassadors, missionaries, merchants, etc.).
It should also be emphasized that the necessary array of historical sources is written in many different languages - Arabic, Armenian, Latin, Chinese, Mongolian, Old Persian, Persian, Central Asian Farsi, Polish, Old Turkic, Turkic, Old Slavonic, Old Uighur / Chagatai and others. Therefore, they are fixed by means of completely different lexicographic systems, which sometimes gives rise to insurmountable difficulties for researchers.
From this it is clear that the failures associated with the search for adequate answers to the question of the origin of the ethnonym "Kazakh" are primarily associated with this circumstance.
Thus, the question of the time and place of the origin of the word "Cossack", as well as its semantics, continues to be controversial. In the written sources of the pre-Mongolian period (before the 13th century), it was not recorded. So, Mahmud Kashgari in his famous dictionary of Turkic dialects "Diuani lugat-at Turk" (XI century) does not even name him. Although such a social phenomenon as "Kazaklyk" (Cossacks), it must be assumed that it already existed among the Kimak-Oguz-Kypchak nomads of the Eastern Desht-i Kypchak.
What does history say?
As noted, for the first time the word "Cossack" in the post-Mongolian period was recorded in a written monument in Egypt in the middle of the 13th century. It is also known that quite a considerable time passes from the moment of the birth of a new term to its fixation in written speech.
In the XIV-XV centuries. the entire population of modern Kazakhstan was referred to by the collective name "Uzbeks", only the population of Zhetysu was given the special name "Moguls" (until the 16th century, the region was part of Mogulistan). From the middle of the XV century. nomadic Uzbeks began to be divided into Uzbek-i Shayban proper, Uzbek-i Cossacks and Mangyt-Nogai, whose rulers (descendants of Shaiban, Urus and Edyge) were in constant internecine hostility. The isolation of a group of tribes called "Cossack" or "Kazakh" became an incubation period for the subsequent maturation of a new ethnic group under a new name.
After the departure from Shaybanid Abulkhair of the descendants of Khan "Ak Orda" Urus - the sultans of Kerey and Dzhanybek, who made a lightning march from the Syrdarya region to Zhetysu, they were assigned the pair name "Uzbek-and-Cossack" in their new habitat, i.e. . "Uzbeks-fugitives". As part of the people who broke away from the maternal ethnic group of the Uzbeks, as free residents of the steppe.
At the end of the XV - beginning of the XVI centuries. under the leadership of the grandson of Abulkhair - Muhammad Shaybani, the bulk of the nomadic Uzbeks from the Eastern Desht-i Kypchak, under pressure from the Kazakhs and Mangyts, moved to Maverannahr, the Ferghana Valley and Khorezm. Behind them on new homeland V Central Asia the usual name of the Uzbeks was fixed, the country - the Uzbek Khanate, now - Uzbekistan. Moreover, nomadic Uzbeks under the influence local peoples and the environment gradually switched to settled life, irrigated agriculture, trade and crafts, finally accepted Islam.
And the nomads who originally migrated to Zhetysu and returned back after the death of Abulkhair political reasons a new name was required that would distinguish them from the Uzbeks proper who had gone to Central Asia. Therefore, for the tribes that remained in the steppe under the rule of the descendants of Urus Khan, the name of the free and free nomads of the steppe was finally fixed - the Kazakhs, for the country - the Kazakh Khanate, today - Kazakhstan.
Moreover, the Kazakhs, unlike the Uzbeks, for several centuries were ideal nomads, a classic model of the nomadic world, and the words "Kazakh" and "nomad" were synonymous.
Although Islam was formally considered the dominant religion among the Kazakhs, they largely retained shamanism (Tengrianism), the remnants of which safely exist to this day, which indicates the vitality of traditional folk beliefs and cults.
From "Cossacks" to "Kazakhs"
Thus, the word "Cossack", which originally had social significance, after the migration of Kerey and Dzhanybek, it first acquired a political and then an ethnic meaning, turned into a new ethnonym - Kazakhs, i.e. into the self-name of the new people. Arose in 1465/1466. the independent Kazakh Khanate became the first in time in Central Asia nation state, created by the currently existing people, and not by its predecessors or historical ancestors.
With the passage of time between the nomadic Uzbeks of Central Asia and yesterday's Uzbek-Kazakhs of Kazakhstan, certain differences arose in language, culture, life, customs and customs. Although once it was a single super-ethnos with a common history, name, territory, tribal structure, economy and way of life. This still brings together two fraternal Turkic-speaking peoples - Kazakhs and Uzbeks. It is no coincidence that the Kazakhs remembered for a long time: "My ancestors, my beginning is the Uzbeks."
The Kazakh ethnos has a very complex and branched tribal structure. But it is interesting that among the Kazakhs there was no separate clan or tribe "Kazakh", while the Azerbaijanis, for example, have a clan "Kazakh", now living in the Kazakh region of this republic.
Thus, on the entire vast territory of the former Eastern Desht-i Kypchak: from Altai and Alatau to Zhaiyk, from Southern Siberia to Tashkent, on the basis of numerous local and alien tribes and clans, a numerous Turkic-speaking people, the Kazakh, was formed as part of a single centralized state- Kazakh Khanate.
It seems that the formation of an independent Kazakh Khanate, the formation of a single nationality and the assignment of a new name to it, the completion of the formation common language are links of one historical process - the appearance in Eurasia in the XIV-XVII centuries. new passionate ethnic group - Kazakh.
Although it has been established that the history of a people and the history of an ethnonym may sometimes not coincide. However, the case with the ethnonym "Kazakh" is a happy exception. However, the adventures of the new ethnonym did not end there.
If our ancestors always called themselves Kazakhs, then not all neighbors recognized such a self-name of the people. So, in the XVI-XVIII centuries. Kazakhs were known in Rus' under the name of "Cossacks", "Cossack horde" or "Cossack horde". After joining Tsarist Russia, the Kazakhs, in order not to be confused with the Russian Cossacks (Orenburg, Siberian, Ural and Semirechensk) and the Tien Shan Kyrgyz themselves, began to be called "Kaisaks", "Kyrgyz-Cossacks", "Cossack-Kyrgyz", "Kyrgyz -Kaisaks", but in everyday life simply "Kyrgyz". This continued until the October Revolution of 1917, which returned the Kazakhs their true name. True, not immediately.
In August 1920, the Soviet government issued a decree "On the Formation of the Autonomous Kirghiz Socialist Soviet Republic" within the RSFSR. Those. in the name of the first Soviet republic of the Kazakh people, by inertia, the former name "Kirghiz" was preserved. In April 1925, through the efforts of the national intelligentsia, the historical correct name people - Kazakhs, and the Kirghiz ASSR was renamed the Kazak ASSR, the population began to be called "Cossacks". Since the Russian language then adopted the spelling "Cossack", and not "Kazakh" and, accordingly, Kazakhstan, and not Kazakhstan. On February 9, 1936, the Presidium of the KazCEC plucked up the courage to recognize as more accurate the spelling of the name of the people - "Kazakhs" and, accordingly, the country - Kazakhstan. With which Moscow was forced to agree in order to finally distinguish the Kazakh Turks from the Russian Cossacks.
Such is the winding and confusing fate of the modern ethnonym "Kazakh", which, despite all historical upheavals, showed amazing resilience, preserved in its original form and has come down to our days. But he could disappear, as it happened more than once in history.
The formation of the people is a very complex problem. The following conditions are necessary for the formation of a nation:
1. a certain level of cultural development;
2. territory with marked boundaries;
3. formed social and ethnic consciousness;
4. formed language;
5. certain characteristic appearance, inherent in most ethnic representatives;
6. the name of the state, reflecting the main ethno-political or historical-geographic features of the ethnic group.
When studying the problem of the emergence of the Kazakh people, one should pay attention to the life history of the ancient tribes that inhabited the lands of Kazakhstan. Although it cannot be said unequivocally that the direct ancestors of the Kazakh people are the tribes that roamed the territory of modern Kazakhstan 3-2 millennia ago. Nevertheless, if the emergence of a people is directly related to the development of economic activity, the emergence of an original culture, the formation of a language, then these tribes were directly related to the formation of the Kazakh people.
The study of the life of the tribes that inhabited Kazakhstan in ancient times traditionally begins with bronze age. The tribes that lived on the territory of Kazakhstan and in the border regions between 2-1 millennia BC, according to their culture, are called Andronovites. There is no exact information about the Andronovo tribes. However, scientists believe that the racial and genetic development of the Kazakh ethnic group originates from the Bronze Age. This is confirmed by some similarities between the Kazakh national and ancient Andronovo cultures. On the territory of Kazakhstan, numerous monuments of the Andronovo culture have been preserved in the form of various buildings - burial places. Patterns of Andronovites on pottery are combined with modern patterns of Kazakh carpets, decorations, in the decoration of yurts.
The worship of fire, the spirits of ancestors, the cultivation of a large number of sheep, horses and the use of their product for food testify to the closeness of the life of the Andronovites and Kazakhs.
There is an ethnogenetic connection between the Kazakhs and later tribes: Saks, Huns, Uysuns, Kangyuis, Sarmatians, etc.
According to some scholars, there is a direct connection between the Uysun tribes and the later formed Kazakh ethnic group, as evidenced by common features way of life. This is the decisive role of cattle breeding in combination with a nomadic way of life, the use of a yurt as a dwelling, an integrated economy (cattle-breeding and agricultural), dairy and meat nutrition, baking bread from grain, etc. In addition, there is a similarity in the socio-social structure. According to sources, the Uysun society was divided into three parts: the left wing, the central wing and the right wing, which can be compared with the three Kazakh zhuzes. This confirms the ethnogenetic continuity.
Scientists believe that the direct addition of the Kazakh people refers to the beginning of the Turkic ethnogenesis. The patterns of economic and cultural life of the Turkic period later became common for many Turkic peoples (Kazakhs, Kirghiz, Karakalpaks, Bashkirs, Nogais, Altaians, Tuvans, Turkmens).
Turkic tribes that inhabited the territory of Kazakhstan before Mongol conquest, were ready to form a single people. An example is the union of the Kimak-Kipchak confederation. The territory from Altai to the Volga, occupied by the Kipchaks, Persian poet, traveler and statesman Nasir Khosrow calls Desht-i-Kipchak (Steppe of the Kipchaks). Ethnogenesis of the Kazakhs
However, the invasion of the Mongol troops slowed down this process, actually pushing it back several centuries. The existing economic, cultural and ethnic ties were destroyed. Many Turkic tribes were disunited, were deprived of their former cohesion. Under the influence of the Mongols, there were changes in the system of leadership of the tribes, in economic activities, customs, and traditions.
At the same time, the aggressive actions of the Mongols made significant changes in the ethnic composition of the population of Kazakhstan. With the Mongols, they arrived on the territory of Kazakhstan from the east and settled such tribes as Kiats, Mangits, Barlases, Konyrats, Tatars, etc. Ethnogenesis of the Kazakhs
The territory of Kazakhstan was constantly subjected to migration of various ethnic groups. Intensive ethnic mixing, especially in the era of the great migration of the Huns, then the Turkic tribes and in the era of the Mongol invasion, left its mark on appearance Kazakhs. In addition, during the period of turbulent ethno-migration processes, the ancestors of the Kazakhs mixed with representatives of other ethnic groups, often assimilating them into their ethnic group. This also applies to the Mongols. They gradually adopted the traditions and customs, adopted the language and religion of the Turks. The Arab geographer El-Omari wrote about this in the XIY century: “Earlier this state (Altyn Orda) was the country of the Kypchaks, but when they were conquered by the Tatars, the Kypchaks turned out to be their subjects. After that, the winners mixed with them, became relatives, and the natural and hereditary qualities of the locals turned out to be higher, and the newcomers themselves became like real Kipchaks. Therefore, we must assume that the ancestors of the Kazakhs are from tribes for whom the territory of Kazakhstan was their native land.
In the XIY - XY centuries. on the lands of Kazakhstan and the border area there were several states: the White Horde, Moghulistan, the Khanate of Abulkhair, the Nogai Horde. The inhabitants of these states were called Uzbeks, Uzbek-Kazakhs, Mughals (Moghuls) and Nogays. These names had their own ethnic and political meaning. If the concept of "people" was considered as an ethnic entity, then it is denoted by the term "ethnonym" (Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Kirghiz). The people, who were named according to the name of their state (territory of residence), were defined by the term “politonym” (Moghuls are the peoples of the Moghulistan state, Nogai are the peoples belonging to the Nogai Horde), i.e. it is an ethnopolitical concept. In historical and ethnological literature, the population of a state created in a historical and ethnographic region is called an ethnopolitical community.
In order for a people to become united ethnically and politically, it must first of all have its own independent statehood. The tribes striving for unity were politically fragmented into various states, such as the White Horde, the Khanate of Abulkhair, the Nogai Horde and Moghulistan. However, these states became the basis for the formation of Kazakh statehood, the formation of their own ethnic space. Although, everything Kazakh tribes and the clans went to different states, they spoke the same language.
The formation of the Kazakh people ended between the second half of the 10th century. and the beginning of the XYI century, when an independent independent Kazakh Khanate was created. Thus, another condition for the formation of a nationality was achieved - the name of one's own state.
In the Kazakh Khanate, the tribal consciousness began to gradually weaken, strengthening the ethnic consciousness common to the Kazakhs. So the concepts appeared: “Kazakh land”, “Kazakh state”, “Kazakh country”. There are three types of ethnic historical and chronological formations: tribal, people, nation. Each of these associations has its own ethnic consciousness. Ethnic consciousness is a person's consciousness of himself as a member of a certain ethnic association.
The traditions of division into clans and tribes have been preserved at all times. The Kazakhs, even after they formed into a people, showed all kinds of ethnic consciousness. Especially on initial stage formation of the Kazakhs as a people, in comparison with the national ethnic consciousness, tribal consciousness was overwhelming. For example, to the question: “What kind of family are you from?” the respondent must first speak about his clan, then about the tribe, then about the zhuz. Usually they called themselves Kazakhs only when they left the country.
There are many opinions about the origin of the name (ethnonym) "Kazakh". Until now, researchers are debating on this issue. In science there is no exact statement when in written literature the name "Kazakh" appeared. In the Turkic monument of the 13th century, found on the Yenisei, there is the phrase "kazgak ugly" - "Kazakh son". In the IX - X centuries. three Karluk tribes living on the lands of Semirechye and South Kazakhstan had a common name - "Khasaks". It is known that the Karluks were directly related to the Kazakh ethnogenesis.
In Arabic documents dating back to the 10th - 11th centuries, as well as in Russian chronicles, there are records: about the city of Kasag in the north-east of the Black Sea, about the country of the Kasags. According to some scientists, this refers to a large settlement of Kazakhs, who united and remained in the 11th century on the banks of the Don and Dnieper. The emperor of Byzantium, Constantine Porphyrogenitus, who ruled in the 10th century, reported that there was a “country of Kazakhs” in the north-west of the Caucasus. In the west of Azerbaijan, to this day, there is a large region - Kazakh.
One of the earliest mentions of the word Kazakh in Muslim written sources is found in an anonymous Turko-Arabic dictionary. It was probably created in Mamluk Egypt by the Kipchaks. The dictionary is known from a manuscript of 1245 and published in Leiden in 1894. Here the word Kazakh means “homeless”, homeless”, “wanderer”, “exile”, “free”. According to this dictionary, this term was given a social meaning. So they called groups of people who separated from their kind, tribe and began to live according to their own laws.
Based on this meaning of the word "Kazakh", we can conclude that all the above sources report those free, homeless - wanderers who settled in these regions.
In the second half of the XY century, the term "Kazakh" was assigned to a group of tribes that migrated from the Uzbek Khan Abulkhair in the interfluve of Chu and Talas.
The migration of Zhanibek and Kerey from the Uzbek ulus in Semirechye played a decisive role in the ethnogenesis of the Kazakh people. But, this role was not in the education of the people themselves, but in their modern name. Not just a group of disparate tribes, dissatisfied with the policy of Khan Abulkhair, emerged from the Uzbek Khanate and migrated to Semirechie, but an association of clans and tribes that made up there, in Desht-i Kipchak, the population of the ulus of the descendants of Urus Khan. Therefore, migration did not determine the emergence of the Kazakh nationality, but only accelerated the already ongoing process of its addition. The transitional nature of this process is well confirmed by the term "Uzbek-Kazakh".
The final stage in the formation of the Kazakh people is the process of separating, separating a certain group of tribes from a conglomerate of clans, tribes and emerging peoples that were at various stages of their development, which was the population of Eastern Desht-i Kipchak by the beginning of the second half of the 10th century. This process of separation took place under the influence of a whole complex of factors, especially political ones.
Thus, as can be seen from the above facts, the formation of a nationality is a very long process. Its final formation cannot be characterized by a certain time period. However, historical, ethnographic, anthropological and linguistic sources allow scientists - historians of Kazakhstan to conclude that in the XIV - XV centuries. the process of formation of the Kazakh nationality was completed.
