Kazakhs

Kazakhs
Қазақтар

(left to right) A. Qunanbayuli • Ablai Khan • S. Kurmangazy • A. Baitursynov T. Aubakirov • Assan Bazayev Shamshi Kaldayakov • Mukhtar Shakhanov • Radik Zhaparov • Aliya Yussupova
Total population
approx. 13,800,000
Regions with significant populations
Kazakhstan 10,098,600 [1]  Uzbekistan 800,000 - 1,100,000 [2]  China 1,400,000 - 1,500,000 [3]  Russia 654,000 [4]  Turkmenistan 40,000 - 90,000 [5]  Mongolia 140,152 [6]  Kyrgyzstan 38,900 [7]  Afghanistan 21,000 [8]  Turkey 19,000-25,000 [8]  Germany 890 [8]  Tajikistan 900 [9]  Iran 10,000-15,000 [8]  Ukraine 5,526 [10]  Belarus 1,239 [11]
Languages
Kazakh, Russian (and/or languages in country of residence)
Religion
Predominately Sunni Muslim
Related ethnic groups
other Turkic peoples

The Kazakhs (also spelled Kazaks, Qazaqs; Kazakh: Қазақтар [qɑzɑqtɑ́r]; the English name is transliterated from Russian) are a Turkic people of the northern parts of Central Asia (largely Kazakhstan, but also found in parts of Uzbekistan, China, Russia, and Mongolia).

Kazakhs are descendants of Turkic tribes (Argyns, Dughlat, Khazars, Kipchaks and Qarluqs),^[12] Turko-Mongol groups (Naimans, Nogais, Kiyat, Kerait, Onggirat, ,Manghud, Jalayir) and Turkic tribes of Iranian origin (Kankalis, Wusun, Sarmatians, Saka, Scythians) and ancient Huns which populated the territory between Siberia and the Black Sea and remained in Central Asia when the Turkic and Turko-Mongolic groups started to invade and conquer the area between the 5th and 13th centuries AD [7]. [8]

Etymology of Qazaq

The Kazakhs began using this name during either the 15th or 16th centuries.^[13] There are many theories on the origin of the word Kazakh or Qazaq. Qazaq was included in a 13th century Turkic-Arabic dictionary, where its meaning was given as "independent" or "freeman".. Some speculate that it comes from the Turkish verb qaz (to wander), because the Kazakhs were wandering steppemen; or that it derives from the Mongol word khasaq (a wheeled cart used by the Kazakhs to transport their yurts and belongings).^[14]

In the 19th century, one etymological explanation was that the name came from the popular Kazakh legend of the white goose (qaz means "goose", aq means "white").^[14][15] In this creation myth, a white steppe goose turned into a princess, who in turn gave birth to the first Kazakh. This etymological derivation is regarded as flawed because, in Turkic languages, the adjective is put before the noun, and therefore "white goose" would be Aqqaz, not Qazaq.

Another theory on the origin of the word Kazakh (originally Qazaq) is that it comes from the ancient Turkic word qazğaq, first mentioned on the 8th century Turkic monument of Uyuk-Turan. According to the notable Turkic linguist Vasily Radlov and the orientalist Veniamin Yudin, the noun qazğaq derives from the same root as the verb qazğan ("to obtain", "to gain"). Therefore, qazğaq defines a type of person who seeks profit and gain.^[16]

Culture

Kazakh stamps featuring a traditional bride's dress, groom's clothing and the interior of a kiyiz uy, a traditional Kazakh yurt.

Due to their complex history, Kazakhs display phenotypical diversity, though they tend to exhibit mixed but predominantly Mongoloid features. Fair to light-brown skin tends to be the norm. Among physical traits are aquiline noses, epicanthic fold and high cheekbones. Hair colour among Kazakhs varies from prevalent jet black to blonde, red and many shades of brown. Hazel, green and blue eyes are not uncommon. Kazakh nomads have roamed the Altai Mountains (and thus are known as Altaic peoples) for over 400 years in the area's of northern Mongolia and the steppes of Central Asia.

Music

Many are also skilled in the performance of Kazakh traditional songs. One of the most commonly used traditional musical instruments of the Kazakhs is the dombra, a plucked lute with two strings. It is often used to accompany solo or group singing. Another popular instrument is kobyz, a bow instrument played on the knees. Along with other instruments, these two instruments play a key role in the traditional Kazakh orchestra. A notable composer is Kurmangazy, who lived in the 19th century. A notable singer of the Soviet epoch is Roza Rymbaeva, she was a star of the trans-Soviet-Union scale. A notable Kazakh rock band is Urker, performing in the genre of ethno-rock, which synthesises rock music with the traditional Kazakh music.

Approximate areas occupied by the three Kazakh jüz in the early 20th century.

Junior juz

Middle juz

Great juz

Oral history

Due to their nomadic pastoral lifestyle, Kazakhs kept an epic tradition of oral history. The nation, which amalgamated nomadic tribes of various Kazakh origins, managed to preserve the distant memory of the original founding clans. It was important for a Kazakh to know his or her genealogical tree for no less than seven generations back (known as şejire, from the Arabic word shajara - "tree").

Marriage

The Kazakh marriage system was exogamous, with marriage between individuals with a common ancestor within seven generations considered taboo. In intertribal marriage, paternal descent is decisive.

In modern Kazakhstan, tribalism is fading away in business and government life. Still it is common for Kazakhs to ask which tribe they belong to when they meet each other. Nowadays, it is more of a tradition than necessity. There is no hostility between tribes. Kazakhs, regardless of their tribal origin, consider themselves one nation.

The majority of Kazakhs belongs to one of the three juzes (juz, roughly translatable as "horde"): the "Great juz" (Ulı Juz), "Middle juz" (Orta juz), and "Junior juz" (Kişi juz). Every juz consists of tribes confederation (taypa), tribes (ruw) and clans. Also Kazakhs, but outside of the juz system are: tore (direct descendants of Genghis Khan), Qozha/Khoja (descendants of Arabian missionaries and soldiers), Tolengit (descendants of Oirat captives), "Sunak" (like "Qozha" Khoja - descendants of Arabian missionaries and soldiers) and "Kolegen" (descendants of Ancient Sairam inhabitants).

Language

The Kazakh language is a member of the Turkic language family, as are Uzbek, Kyrgyz, Tatar, Uyghur, Turkish, Azeri, Turkmen, and many other living and historical languages spoken in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Xinjiang, and Siberia.

Kazakh belongs to the Kipchak (Northwestern) group of the Turkic language family. Kazakh is characterized, in distinction to other Turkic languages, by the presence of /s/ in place of reconstructed proto-Turkic */ʃ/ and /ʃ/ in place of */tʃ/; furthermore, Kazakh has /dʒ/ (alveodental affricate) where other Turkic languages have /j/ (glide).

Kazakh, like most of the Turkic language family lacks phonemic vowel length, and as such there is no distinction between long and short vowels.

Kazakh was written with the Arabic script during the 19th century, when a number of poets, educated in Islamic schools, incited revolt against Russia. Russia's response was to set up secular schools and devise a way of writing Kazakh with the Cyrillic alphabet, which was not widely accepted. By 1917, the Arabic script was reintroduced, even in schools and local government.

In 1927, a Kazakh nationalist movement sprang up but was soon suppressed. At the same time the Arabic script was banned and the Latin alphabet was imposed for writing Kazakh. The Latin alphabet was in turn replaced by the Cyrillic alphabet in 1940.

Kazakh is one of the principal languages spoken in Kazakhstan, along with Russian. It is also spoken in the Ili region of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China, where the Arabic script is used, and in parts of Mongolia.

Religion

Nur-Astana Mosque in Astana

Islam was brought to ancestors of modern Kazakhs during the 8th century when the Arabs entered Central Asia. Islam initially took hold in the southern portions of Turkestan and thereafter gradually spread northward.^[17] Islam also took root due to the zealous missionary work of Samanid rulers, notably in areas surrounding Taraz^[18] where a significant number of Turks accepted Islam. Additionally, in the late 14th century, the Golden Horde propagated Islam amongst the Kazakhs and other Central Asian tribes. During the 18th century, Russian influence toward the region rapidly increased throughout Central Asia. Led by Catherine, the Russians initially demonstrated a willingness in allowing Islam to flourish as Muslim clerics were invited into the region to preach to the Kazakhs whom the Russians viewed as "savages" and "ignorant" of morals and ethics.^[19][20] However, Russian policy gradually changed toward weakening Islam by introducing pre-Islamic elements of collective consciousness.^[21] Such attempts included methods of eulogizing pre-Islamic historical figures and imposing a sense of inferiority by sending Kazakhs to highly elite Russian military institutions.^[21] In response, Kazakh religious leaders attempted to bring religious fervor by espousing pan-Turkism, though many were persecuted as a result.^[22] During the Soviet era, Muslim institutions survived only in areas where Kazakhs significantly outnumbered non-Muslims due to everyday Muslim practices.^[23] In an attempt to conform Kazakhs into Communist ideologies, gender relations and other aspects of the Kazakh culture were key targets of social change.^[20]

In more recent times however, Kazakhs have gradually employed determined effort in revitalizing Islamic religious institutions after the fall of the Soviet Union. Some Kazakhs continue to identify with their Islamic faith,^[24] and even more devotedly in the countryside. Those who claim descent from the original Muslim soldiers and missionaries of the 8th century command substantial respect in their communities.^[25] Kazakh political figures have also stressed the need to sponsor Islamic awareness. For example, the Kazakh Foreign Affairs Minister, Marat Tazhin, recently emphasized that Kazakhstan attaches importance to the use of "positive potential Islam, learning of its history, culture and heritage."^[26]

Population

Kazakh minorities

Russia

In Russia, the Kazakh population lives primarily in the regions bordering Kazakhstan. According to latest census (2002) there are 654,000 Kazakhs in Russia, most of whom are in the Astrakhan, Volgograd, Saratov, Samara, Orenburg, Chelyabinsk, Kurgan, Tyumen, Omsk, Novosibirsk, Altai Krai and Altai Republic regions. Though ethnically Kazakh, after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, these people acquired Russian citizenship.

China

Kazakh family in Xinjiang, China

Kazakhs, called Hāsàkè Zú in Chinese (哈萨克族; literally "Kazakh people" or "Kazakh tribe") are among 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China. In China there is one Kazakh autonomous prefecture, the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, three Kazakh autonomous counties, Aksai Kazakh Autonomous County in Gansu, Barkol Kazakh Autonomous County and Mori Kazakh Autonomous County in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Many Kazakhs in China are not fluent in Standard Mandarin, instead speaking the Kazakh language. Since the early 21st century, Mamuer Rayeskan, a young Kazakh musician from Qitai, Xinjiang now living in Beijing, has achieved some renown for his reworking of Kazakh folk songs with his group IZ, with which he sings and plays acoustic guitar, dombra, and jaw harp.

Mongolia

Ethnic Kazakhs live predominantly in Western Mongolia in Bayan-Ölgii Province (88.7% of total province population) and Khovd Province (11.5% of total province population, living primarily in the Khovd city, Khovd sum and Buyant sum). In addition, a number of Kazakh communities can be found in various cities and towns spread throughout the country. Some of the major population centers with a significant Kazakh presence include Ulan Bator (90% in khoroo #4 of Nalaikh düüreg^[28]), Töv and Selenge provinces, Erdenet, Darkhan, Bulgan, Sharyngol (17.1% of population total^[29]) and Berkh cities.

The Kazakh folk music is well known and loved in Mongolia. Most of Mongolian Kazakhs belong to "Middle juz" (Orta juz), the largest among three juzes.

Uzbekistan

400,000 Kazakhs live in Karakalpakstan and 100,000 in the Tashkent province. Since the fall of Soviet Union, vast majority of Kazakh people are returning to Kazakhstan, mainly to Manghistau Oblast'. Most Kazakhs in Karakalpakstan are descendants of one of the branches of "Junior juz" (Kişi juz)-Adai tribe.

Iran

Iranian Kazakhs live mainly in the Golestan province in northern Iran.^[32] According to ethnologue.org, in 1982 there were 3000 Kazakhs living in the city of Gorgan.^[33][34] Since fall of the Soviet Union number of Kazakhs in Iran decreased due to emigration to their historical Motherland."^[35]

Gallery

Talgat Musabayev

Ibrahim Altynsarin

See also

• Demographics of Kazakhstan
• List of Kazakhs

Notable Kazakhs

References

• Khazars in Kazakhstan, Khazar Khaganate

External links

• Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan
• Kazakh Language Courseware from University of Arizona Critical Languages Series
• Ethnographic map of Kazakhstan
• Kazakhs in France - AKFT
• World Association of the Kazakhs
• http://sana.gov.kz/showarticle.php?lang=eng&id=342
• Massagan.com (The largest web site in kazakh language)
• Suhbat (Atameken Toby)
• Secrets of the Dead: Amazon Warrior Women (PBS)
• Turk monument of Uyuk-Turan mentioning the word "qazğaq"
• Kazakh tribes

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