Understanding Kazakhstan foremost requires knowledge of numerous unique and interrelated characteristics. They range from the geography of the steppe, the relative youth of the Kazakh people, the nomadic past, to the fragile nature of the resulting culture.

Geographical Influence

 

  •  Located in Central Asia, the territory of Kazakhstan had been inhabited largely by nomadic peoples for 2,500 years. The explanation was, in large part, geographic. Containing vast open  spaces, Kazakhstan consisted mostly of steppe and desert/semi- desert, with mountains dominating the south. The result was an  open, sparsely populated territory highly receptive to cultures  which ranged over large areas, primarily in search of grazing land.

 

  • Kazakhs dominated the open and sparsely populated steppes in Central Asia. Unlike the more settled "oasis" people, Kazakhs relied on animal husbandry rather than crop cultivation and annual migration as their primary economic activity. As nomadic tribe, Kazakhs were "organized by uninterrupted movement." A culture not based on stone and mortar, Kazakhs built no great cities and left behind no massive monuments.  Nor was Kazakh culture particularly materialistic. Aside from herds, personal property was largely limited to what could be carried.

 

  • Kazakhs traveled in 'auls', which were usually clusters of two to four households.

 

A Nation by Definition, But No Overarching Political Structure

 

  • Emerging only in the fifteenth  century, the Kazakh nation was initially more of a political rather 
    than an ethnic classification.  With the disintegration of the Golden Horde, Mongolian conquerors, who had their roots in the armies of Genghis Khan, reasserted their authority. In particular, the Uzbek Khanate came to dominate portions of Central Asia.  Two sons of a former Uzbek Khan broke away and laid claim to territory in what is now southern Kazakhstan. The rulers of the territory and the tribes pledging allegiance were labeled Kazakhs.

 

  • By the early sixteenth century, however, a distinct Kazakh people had emerged. Despite the relative youth of their nation, Kazakhs had a much greater sense of collective identity than most other people in Central Asia. Kazakhs spoke a Turkic language and adhered to a common religion, Islam. They consisted of three major subgroups called 'Zhus'*, which roughly translates to 'horde' in English. This included the Great, Middle and Small. Each nominally headed by a khan, the groups were concentrated in particular geographic regions: the Small was in the west near the Caspian Sea, the Middle was in the central and northern Kazakhstan, and the Great was in the south.

 

*Zhus in the Kazakh language meant 100 or a large number.

 

 

Green : Small Zhus

Orange : Middle Zhus

Red: Great Zhus

Western Russian Expansion

  • Russian Expansion into the Kazakh steppe began in the eighteenth century and was completed by the nineteenth century. The Kazakhs themselves provided the excuse for to align with Russia, not that one was really needed. The Kalmyks, the last significant group of Mongol invaders from the previous century, had spread into Kazakh territory and held sway over central Kazakhstan by the 1720s. Viewing the Russians as lesser evils, the Small and Middle Zhus declared allegiance to the Russian Empress around 1732 in an effort to obtain protection against the Mongolians. 80 years would pass before the Great Zhus also joined Russia.

 

 

  • Their invasion of Central Asia had a profound effect on Kazakh culture and life style. In particular, the decentralized and unbound nature of the Kazakh society came under assault, as did the growing emphasis on land ownership and agriculture. Some aspects of nomadic culture survived; many did not. Policies emanating from St. Petersburg tried to restrict migration and encourage a sedentary existence. This approach, however, required the introduction of concepts antithetical to the Kazakh attitude toward property and wealth. Although each Zhus had traditional grazing territories, the concept of private ownership of land did not exist. Wealth arose not from real property but from herd size. The transition to a sedentary existence was ultimately inevitable, but nevertheless put strains on Kazakh culture. Institutions, approaches and customs that developed in a nomadic environment were not necessarily suited for such a radically different lifestyle.

 

     Nomadic lifestyle in Kazakhstan had an ecological explanation. Much of Kazakhstan was not suited for an agricultural economy. With marginal rainfall, only a developed system of irrigation would allow for successful cultivation. Without the necessary capital improvements, the forced change in lifestyle simply resulted in a decline in living standards.

 

     The trauma of Russian rule was greater on Kazakhs than on  the other absorbed nationalities in Central Asia.  From their initial arrival in the 18th Century until the start of the 20th Century, more and more land was apportioned to Russian farmers, and nomadic grazing suffered. Kazakhs found it increasingly difficult to find adequate land to feed their herds. In 1917, estimates placed 1.5 million Russian settlers in Kazakhstan, compared to only 400,000 Russians present in the rest of Central Asia.

 

     In the face of all of this,  Kazakhs did the best they could to maintain their cultural lifestyle. However, after the Russian Revolution, absorption into the Soviet Union inevitable.

Soviet Rule & the Near Annihilation of the Kazakhs

  • Initially, Soviet policies seemed more predisposed toward the different peoples in Central Asia than the Tsarist policies had been.  But In the 1920s and 1930s, Stalin was determined to impose a new economic order that included collectivization of farms and herds. Policy defined a distinction between nomadic and sedentary people, with an emphasis on the inferiority of a nomadic lifestyle. The annexation of Kazakhstan was followed by unreasonably aggressive efforts to restructure Kazakh life.

 

  • In 1928, Stalin instituted a five-year plan designed to accomplish the task. Implementation was quick and brutal. Herds were seized, particularly those belonging to rich peasants (bays), and Kazakh farms were organized unto the basis of land ownership. Rather than relinquish their flocks, and in turn their lifestyle, to the state, many Kazakhs simply killed their animals. With close emotional and religious ties to their animals, death was preferable to perversion of holy symbols. Mass starvation followed. An estimated 35 - 45% of all Kazakhs died, while others left the country. The size of herds and meat production would not again reach pre-collectivization levels for a generation. 
  • Many Kazakh leaders who resisted the policies would be executed in Stalin's purges. catastrophe of collectivization resulted in Kazakhs becoming a minority in their own country. Between 1926 and 1939, the number of Kazakhs fell from 3.7 million to 2.3 million. At the same time, the Russian population increased to 2.5 million, representing 40% of the total population compared with Kazakhs representing 38% of the population. It would be fifty years before Kazakhs would again constitute a plurality.

     Soviet assault took other forms. Their native alphabet of Arabic script was replaced numerous times. Schools in the urban centers were only conducted in Russian, with many Kazakhs in the largest cities losing the ability to speak their native language.  There were no classes in Kazakh history or culture. With no affirmative support for their culture and institutions, Kazakhs' cultural heritage slowly dwindled. The Soviet period also saw an assault on Islam, with mosques and madrassas (religious schools) forcefully closed. 

 

     From 1949 to 1989, the Soviet government tested weapons of mass destruction in Semipalatinsk, a town in the middle zhus of Kazakhstan. Overall, almost 500 tests occurred in Kazakh territory, including 26 above ground.  In addition to turning the land used in the testing into an unhospitable wasteland, Kazakhstan would suffer from an increased mortality rate and illnesses related to radiation. 

 

     Moreover, the role of Kazakhstan and Central Asia in the Soviet system would become more clearly defined, with exploitation being the centerpiece. The region was gutted of raw materials for the remainder of the Soviet Union. Due to the undesirable farming conditions across most of the country, Kazakhstan escaped the cotton mono-culture imposed on many of its southern neighbors, but was nonetheless viewed as a source of food supplies and natural resources.

Long - Awaited Independence

Following the end of the Soviet union, Kazakhstan declared independence on December 16, 1991, making it the last republic in the former Soviet Union to do so. Independence brought a number of disruptions, including a massive wave of emigration. Significant numbers of non-Kazakhs, particularly Russians and Germans, left the country. The aftermath left Kazakhstan a poverty-ridden country, with little remembrance of their own cultural identity.  The road ahead of the Nation was a difficult one, but the news was not entirely bleak. In many respects, Kazakhstan emerged in an economically advantageous position. The country had a number of obvious strengths. Despite a disastrous harvest in 1995 and inadequate resources devoted to mechanization and fertilizers, Kazakhstan had an abundance of wealth in natural resources. Kazakhstan ranked fourth in gold reserves, It had as much copper as Chile, and some of the world's largest deposits of lead and zinc. Most significantly, however, Kazakhstan contained prodigious amounts of untapped oil and gas. With systematic exploration just beginning, the quantity of the total reserves was uncertain. Nonetheless, it was clear that they had an opportunity to recover.

A Rebuilding Nation

The most important lesson from Kazakhstan's history? The resilience and determination of a rebuilding nation. Click here to return to the home page.