Kazakh Khanate
The Kazakh Khanate (Kazakh: Қазақ Хандығы, Qazaq Handyğy), in eastern sources known as Ulus of the Kazakhs, Ulus of Jochi, Yurt of Urus, was a Kazakh state in Central Asia, successor of the Golden Horde existing from the 15th to the 19th century, centered on the eastern parts of the Desht-i Qipchaq.
Kazakh Khanate Қазақ Хандығы Qazaq Handyğy | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1465–1847 | |||||||||||
Territory of the Kazakh Khanate | |||||||||||
| Capital |
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| Common languages | Kipchak languages (Kazakh) | ||||||||||
| Religion | Sunni Islam | ||||||||||
| Demonym(s) | Kazakh | ||||||||||
| Government | Semi-elective monarchy | ||||||||||
| Khan | |||||||||||
• 1465–1480 | Kerei Khan (first) Janibek Khan | ||||||||||
• 1841–1847 | Kenesary Khan (last) | ||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||
• Kerei and Janibek founded the Kazakh Khanate | 1465 | ||||||||||
| 1643–1755 | |||||||||||
| 1643 | |||||||||||
• The invasion of Galdan Boshogtu Khan to Kazakhs | 1680–1684 | ||||||||||
• War against Cossacks | 1709–1724 | ||||||||||
| 1723–1727 | |||||||||||
| 1729/1730 | |||||||||||
• Abulkhair Khan of the Junior Zhuz took Russian citizenship | 1731 | ||||||||||
• Kazakh-Qing Wars | 1756–1757 | ||||||||||
• Abylai became the khan of all three zhuzes | 1771–1781 | ||||||||||
• Dissolution of the Khan's rule in the Middle Zhuz and Junior Zhuz | 1822–1824 | ||||||||||
• Russian conquest | 1847 | ||||||||||
| Area | |||||||||||
• Total | 2,500,000 km2 (970,000 sq mi) | ||||||||||
| Population | |||||||||||
• 1900 | 5,000,000 | ||||||||||
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The khanate was established by Janibek Khan and Kerei Khan in 1465. Both khans came from the Turco-Mongol clan of Tore which traces its lineage to Genghis Khan through dynasty of Jochids. The Tore clan continued to rule the khanate until its fall to the Russian Empire.
From the 16th to the 17th centuries, the Kazakh Khanate ruled and expanded its territories to eastern Cumania (modern-day West Kazakhstan), most of Uzbekistan, Karakalpakstan and the Syr Darya river with military confrontation as far as Astrakhan and Khorasan, which are now in Russia and Iran, respectively. The Khanate was later weakened by a series of Oirat and Dzungar invasions in the 17th and 18th centuries. These resulted in a decline and further disintegration into three jüz, which gradually lost their sovereignty and were incorporated to the expanding Russian Empire in the 19th century.
The establishment of the Kazakh Khanate marked the beginning of Kazakh statehood whose 550th anniversary was celebrated in 2015.