When it comes to countries that indiscriminately recognize their ancestors, the easiest thing to think of is Turkey, which claims to be a descendant of the Huns. But in fact, Kazakhstan, a large country in Central Asia, also has the phenomenon of indiscriminate recognition of ancestors.
The blood of contemporary Kazakhs is complex and diverse, and its ethnic origin can be traced back to the ancient Scythia, Wusun, Kangju, Xiongnu and other ancient tribes, and culturally influenced by Persia and Turks, which can barely be regarded as the "cultural descendants" of the Turkic people.
▲Kazakhstan
Unexpectedly, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, there was a "Genghis Khan wind" in Kazakhstan, and many Kazakhs took an authentic Mongolian - Genghis Khan as their ancestor.
And government forces quickly followed: in 2007, Kazakhstan invested in the Genghis Khan-themed film "Mongol King" together with Russia, Mongolia and Germany, followed by the release of Genghis Khan commemorative silver coins in 2008.
▲Genghis Khan commemorative silver coin issued by Kazakhstan in 2008
Especially after the new President Tokayev came to power in 2019, Kazakhstan spent a lot of money to commemorate the 750th anniversary of the founding of the Golden Horde, a branch of the Mongol Empire, and rebuilt the mausoleum for Genghis Khan's eldest son, Shuchi, and even Kazakh experts verified that Genghis Khan's mausoleum was in Kazakhstan.
▲The Shuchi Mausoleum in Kazakhstan
So why did Kazakhstan, which is not homologous to Mongolia, choose Genghis Khan, a Mongolian, as its own historical tradition and national symbol?
1. The Mongols conquered Central Asia
Central Asia, where Kazakhstan is located, has been a hub for connecting Eastern and Western civilizations since ancient times. The ancient tribes such as the Otsuki clan, Wusun, Kangju, and Sogdian all lived here; After that, it was successively ruled by nomadic empires such as Kushan, Yada, and Rouran.
▲Overland Silk Road Roadmap
In the 6th century AD, the Turkic Khaganate controlled Central Asia, and the tribes of Central Asia were gradually assimilated by the Turks.
▲The Turkic Khaganate in the early Tang Dynasty
In 659, the Tang Dynasty conquered the Western Turkic Khanate and established the Kun Ling Du Fu and the Puchi Du Fu to administer Central Asia. After the Anshi Rebellion, the forces of the Tang Dynasty withdrew from Central Asia, the Arab Empire took advantage of the void, and the tribes of Central Asia were gradually Islamized.
▲The Tang Dynasty during the High Tang Dynasty controlled parts of Central Asia
In the 10th century AD, the Arab Empire fell apart, and the Samanid dynasty, which originated in Persia, ruled Central Asia for a hundred years, which in turn branded the peoples of Central Asia as "Persian culture". The word "stan" in the names of the countries of Central Asia today comes from the Old Persian word for "region".
This situation continues to this day, and the peoples of Central Asia are now basically a combination of Turkic, Persian and Islamic cultures.
▲ Samanid dynasty
In the mid-12th century, the Khwarezm dynasty, dominated by the Persian-Turkic people, arose. At the beginning of the 13th century, under the rule of the famous "Mahamad" sultan, Khorezm expanded its territory to most of Central Asia and Persia, and its national power reached its peak.
▲Khorezm
At the same time, the Mongolian plateau in eastern Central Asia and the emerging Mongolian Ministry also completed the integration of forces.
The history of the Mongol tribe can be traced back to the Donghu people in the eastern steppe during the pre-Qin period. During the Tang Dynasty, a branch of the Eastern Hu Murwei tribe, "Mengmu Murwei", began to appear in historical books, which is the ancestor of the Mongol people.
In the middle of the 9th century, the Uighur Khanate, entrenched in northern Mobei, collapsed, and the Mongmu Murwei and other tribes moved west into the Mongolian plateau.
In the 12th century, the steppe gradually formed tribes such as the Mongols, the Kree, the Tartars, and the Naiman tribes. Due to the dispersion of power, the ministries were often oppressed by the Jin dynasty.
In 1162 AD, Temujin, son of the Mongol Gyan chieftain, was born. Because he was quickly poisoned to death by the Mongol rival Tatars, Temujin, who lost his father at a young age, endured hardships, which also allowed him to hone his strong will and lay the foundation for the unification of the ministries.
▲ Illustration of Genghis Khan's accession to the throne in Rasht's "Historical Collection"
In 1189, Temujin became the head of the Mongol Qiyan tribe. He conquered the steppe over 17 years and unified the Mongolian plateau.
In 1206, Temujin ascended the throne at the source of the Zhenan River, called "Genghis Khan", and established the Great Mongolian State. After the unification of Mongolia, it was bordered by the Jin Dynasty and Western Xia in the east; The western part borders the Western Liao State, established by descendants of the Liao Dynasty who moved west.
▲The territory of the Khorezm Kingdom in its heyday
In 1211, Genghis Khan sent troops to conquer the Western Liao state and occupy the Xinjiang region, and Mongolia and the emerging Khorezm in Central Asia became neighboring countries.
▲The situation before the rise of Mongolia
In 1219, due to the killing of the Mongol caravan, Genghis Khan sent troops to conquer the kingdom of Khorezm, beginning the first western expedition of the Mongols.
Under the fierce offensive of the Mongols, Genghis Khan destroyed the kingdom of Khorezm in only 2 years and conquered vast areas of Central Asia and West Asia.
▲The territory of the Mongol Empire in its heyday
In order to rule the conquered new lands, Genghis Khan, in accordance with the custom of nomadic tribes, divided the conquered areas to his sons as "Horus" (i.e., fiefs).
Most of Central Asia became the fiefdom of the eldest son, Shuchi, while the Hano-Hezhong region in the southeast belonged to the Khanate of the second son, Chagatai. At this point, the whole of Central Asia was included in the territory of the Great Mongolia.
2. The descendants of the Shuchi and the Kazakh Khanate
Shuchi was more generous and benevolent than his father, but unfortunately died of eternity, and in February 1227 Shuchi died six months before his father at the age of 50. His second son, Badu, inherited Shuchi's fief.
▲Map of the Second Mongol Western Expedition from 1236 to 1242
In 1235, the newly ascended Wokotai Khan ordered the army led by Badu to start the Second Western Expedition. Batu went west, conquering the Bulgars in the Kipchak steppe, Kievan Rus in Eastern Europe, Poland and Hungary in central Europe, and Bulgaria in southeastern Europe.
In 1243, Batu led his army back to the division, and the capital was located in the city of Sarai on the lower Volga River, establishing the Golden Horde.
▲Mongol Empire
In order to administer the vast territory, Batu followed the tradition of Genghis Khan's division of fiefdoms. He divided the Kipchak steppe in the eastern part of the khanate to his eldest brother Zhao'er and established the White Horde.
▲White Horde
The east and southeast of the Ural Mountains and the north of the Aral Sea were divided among the five brothers Siban, and the Blue Horde was established. The territories of the White Horde included present-day Kazakhstan. Therefore, the White Horde has also been traced by historians to the earliest prototype of the regime in the history of modern Kazakhstan.
▲Badu established the Golden Horde
The Golden Horde was vast, and its subjects were complex: both the Turkic-speaking Kipchaks and Bulgars, as well as the original Turkic peoples of Central Asia; In general, Turkic culture and Islamic beliefs occupy a dominant position among the subjects.
The Mongols, as conquerors, were not only small in number, but also far from the Mongol homeland, and it was difficult to immigrate. In fact, these Mongols became "islands" in the newly conquered regions, and the primitive culture and shamanic beliefs of the Mongols were more backward than those of Turkic culture and Islam, which led to the gradual assimilation of the Mongols as conquerors by the national culture of the conquered areas.
▲The Golden Horde in this picture is called the Blue Horde, and the White Horde is in its eastern region, and between the two is the fiefdom of the former ban (later known as the Blue Horde)
In 1312, Yue Jibei succeeded the Great Khan of the Golden Horde, and during his reign, the Golden Horde completed the Islamization, and the Mongols as the upper rulers merged with the native Turkic people to form the Turkized Mongols, becoming the cultural ancestors of today's Russian Tatars and Central Asian Turkic peoples.
At the beginning of the 15th century, the Golden Horde collapsed, and the descendants of the Horde fell into a scuffle. The eastern part of the White Horde split off the Uzbek Khanate.
▲Uzbek Khanate (green)
The Uzbek Khanate occupies the main commercial routes of Central Asia, and there are various economic forms such as commerce, cultivation, and nomadism. There is also a contradiction between the settled tribes living in towns and cities, engaged in commerce and plantation, called "Uzbeks", and the nomadic tribes of the steppe called "Kazakhs".
▲ A Kazakh rider immediately stands a golden eagle
In 1456, the two sons of Barak, the last Great Khan of the White Horde, the descendants of Shuchi, Krekhan and Janibek Khan, led the Kazakhs away from the Uzbek Khanate.
They led their troops to move west to the valleys of the Chu and Talas rivers and established the Kazakh Khanate. This was the first independent regime established by the Kazakh nation.
▲Commemorative stamps for the 550th anniversary of the establishment of the Kazakh Khanate issued by Kazakhstan in 2015
At this time, although the newborn Kazakhs have been highly Turkic in culture, the upper aristocracy still has a bloodline, coupled with the inheritance relationship between the Kazakh Khanate and the Golden Horde and the White Horde, Mongolian political culture is still inherited in the khanate.
The Kazakhs still follow Mongolian traditions and still see themselves as descendants of Genghis Khan and Shuchi. Genghis Khan as a cultural symbol is deeply imprinted in the historical memory of the Kazakh nation.
▲The largest territory of the Kazakh Khanate
Around 1510, Hasmu, the son of Janibek Khan, succeeded to the Kazakh Khan. Hasmu concentrated Khan's power internally and unified the ministries; Foreign conquests of the Nogai Khanate and the Uzbek Khanate expanded their territory. The Kazakh Khanate is a powerful country, with a population of one million and a military strength of 300,000 people, becoming the most powerful force in Central Asia.
III. The division of the Khanate and the Russian invasion
Hasmu Khan concentrated Khan's power with shrewd political skills, but did not establish a centralized system for the khanate. So much so that after his death, a fierce struggle took place within the khanate for the throne. The Kazakh Khanate began to disintegrate.
In the early 17th century, Kazakh society gradually divided into three parts according to tribal and geocultural differences: Great Yuzi, Middle Yuzi, and Small Yuzi. The original meaning of "Yuz" is "part" and "region", specifically referring to the Kazakh tribe and the territory in which they live.
Central Asia before Russia's arrival
It is mainly distributed in the southern and southeastern Kazakhstan, the northwest of Xinjiang region of the mainland and parts of Uzbekistan, the middle Yuz is mainly distributed in the hilly areas of present-day central and eastern Kazakhstan, and the small Yuz is mainly distributed in western Kazakhstan and parts of Orenburg Oblast of Russia.
▲Kazakh Sanyuz distribution map
Sanyuz is the product of internal divisions among the Kazakhs, which seriously hinders the unity of the Kazakh Khanate and national unity, and also provides an opportunity for the intervention of external forces.
In the mid-16th century, tsarist Russia arose. With the help of advanced firearms in Western Europe, Tsarist Russia destroyed the remaining states of the Golden Horde one after another, expanding eastward across the Ural Mountains.
At the beginning of the 17th century, the Russian forces entered Central Asia, and the tsar sent a large number of expeditions to build fortresses and spy on the western border of the Kazakh Khanate, but because the distance was too far away, they had not yet carried out invasion.
In the late 17th century, to the east of the Kazakhs, the Dzungar tribe belonging to the Oirat Mongols arose, and the Dzungar chief Gardan unified western Mongolia and merged the western Khalkha Mongols and the Xinjiang Hui region into the territory to form the powerful Dzungar Khanate.
▲ Dzungar Khanate
The Dzungar Khanate successively conquered the Kazakh Great Yuz and some Yuzi, and forced the Little Yuz to move west to the Ural River.
In 1731, in order to survive, Xiaoyuzi voluntarily submitted to Tsarist Russia. In mid-1740, Ablbambit Khan of Yuz also submitted to Russia.
▲Map of the Dzungar Khanate drawn by Swede John Gustav Renat
The strength of the Dzungar Khanate threatened the northwestern frontier of the Qing Dynasty, and for this reason, the Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong dynasties sent troops to conquest many times.
In 1757, the Qianlong Emperor finally sent troops to destroy the Dzungar Khanate, occupying a vast area in northern Xinjiang, and the following year sent troops to occupy the Huibu region in southern Xinjiang, so that since the Tang Dynasty, it has separated from China's Xinjiang region and returned to Chinese territory again.
The Qing Dynasty, which recovered Xinjiang, naturally inherited Dzungar's suzerainty over the Kazakh Dayuz. However, due to the long distance, the Qing Dynasty did not control much of the internal affairs of the Kazakhs, but only maintained loose clan relations.
▲Kazakh envoys who appeared in the "Map of All Kingdoms to the Dynasty" during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty
In the late 18th century, the Qing dynasty's national power gradually declined, and its influence in Central Asia declined. Russia took the opportunity to intensify its infiltration and aggression against the Kazakhs.
However, Tsarist Russia at that time misidentified the peoples of Central Asia and mistakenly took Kazakhs for Kyrgyz. The Kyrgyz originated from the ancient tribes such as Huankun, Jiankun, and Gangjisi in the Han and Tang Dynasties, and were less influenced by Mongolia and were not homologous to the Kazakhs.
▲Schematic map of Tsarist Russia's invasion of Central Asia
In 1824, the Russian conquest abolished the khan system of Xiaoyuzi. The Little Yuz Kazakhs were placed under the jurisdiction of the Asian Committee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Tsarist Russia. In 1844, the Russian government transferred the small Yuz to the specific management of the Orenburg Border Protection Committee and colonized it militarily.
In 1822, the Russian conquest abolished the throne of Zhongyuzi Khan, and the Russian government sent administrators, military police, and judges to rule. In 1838, Russia established the Siberian Kyrgyz Border Management General Administration, stationed Cossack cavalry, and divided Zhongyuz into eastern, central and western parts, divided and ruled.
▲In 1824, the Russian army announced the decree of the tsar to the Kazakh people
In the late 18th century, the Kokand Khanate, founded by the Uzbeks in southern Central Asia, arose. In 1808, the Kokand Khanate went north to invade the Kazakh Great Yuzi and occupied the important city of Tashkent, and part of the Great Yuzi people entered the territory of Xinjiang to annex the Qing Dynasty, and the rest entered the territory of Tsarist Russia or defected to Zhongyuzi.
In 1848, Tsarist Russia sent a police force subordinate to the Governor of Western Siberia to Veliky Yuz to strengthen its rule. In 1854, Russia carved out the southeastern part of the Kazakh steppe and established the Semipalatinsk Province, which was directly administered by officials.
Map of the Russian Kyrgyz (Kazakh) region in 1903
In the second half of the 19th century, Tsarist Russia controlled the entire territory of present-day Kazakhstan, and the Kazakh Khanate system and the Sanyuz system, which had lasted for more than 300 years, ceased to exist.
IV. The formation of modern Kazakhstan
In 1917, the February Revolution and the October Revolution broke out in Russia, and the tsarist regime collapsed. The White Russian Army took control of Central Asia and established the Arash Autonomous State. It was the first modern republic established in the history of the Kazakhs, but it existed for a short time.
In 1918, after stabilizing the situation in Europe and Russia, the Red Army of Soviet Russia quickly transferred troops to Central Asia and formed the Eastern Front. In July 1920, the Russian Red Army conquered the Arash Autonomous State and liberated Central Asia.
▲Map of the borders of the Arash Autonomous State
However, because the Soviet Russian government at that time did not understand the ethnic composition of Central Asia, it continued the mistakes of Tsarist Russia and still recognized the Kazakhs as Kyrgyz.
In the second half of 1920, the central government of Soviet Russia established the "Kyrgyz Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic" in the Kazakh region as an integral part of the Soviet Russian state.
Map of the territory of the Kyrgyz (Kazakh) Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic
In 1925, the Soviet government re-identified the peoples of Central Asia, corrected the confusion between Kazakhs and Kyrgyzstans, and changed the name of the Kazakh regime to "Kazakh Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic". and redrawing the borders of the various ethnic regimes in Central Asia.
The newly established Kazakh Autonomous Republic covers an area of more than 2.7 million square kilometers and has a population of 5.23 million, of which 61.3% are ethnic Kazakhs, laying the foundation for the territory and demographic structure of modern Kazakhstan.
▲Commemorative stamps for the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic issued by the Soviet Union in 1960
In February 1935, the Central Committee of the CPSU decided to "upgrade" Kazakhstan from an autonomous republic in the Russian Federation to a union republic within the framework of the entire Soviet Union. In December 1936, the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic (hereinafter referred to as the "Kazakh Republic") was established and joined the Soviet Union.
▲ Soviet Union
The economic construction of the Soviet period completely changed the social outlook of the Kazakh Republic. The migration of a large number of ethnic Russians and other non-ethnic Kazakhs into the Republic of Kazakhstan has also led to changes in the ethnic structure of Kazakhstan, which once exceeded that of ethnic Russians in Kazakhstan before the 1980s.
▲The population of various ethnic groups in Kazakhstan over the years
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Kazakhstan declared its independence from the Soviet Union and established the Republic of Kazakhstan. In order to unite the large number of non-Kazakh ethnic groups in the country, especially the dual influence of Russians at home and abroad, Kazakhstan continued the national historical concept of the Soviet period in the early days of independence, deliberately weakening the traceability of its own national historical traditions and national concepts.
▲The Almaty Conference held in Kazakhstan on December 21, 1991 announced the collapse of the Soviet Union
After entering the 21st century, Kazakhstan has gradually completed the integration of ethnic groups in the country by moving the capital to Astana, attracting foreign Kazakhs to return, and strengthening the official status of the Kazakh language.
▲Kazakhstan moved its capital to Astana
Therefore, establishing the status of the Kazakh ethnic group as a subject, tracing the history of the people and national identity has become a top priority for Kazakhstan. Kazakh historians have examined the history of their country and basically determined the two main historical lines of "Turkic" and "Mongolian".
▲Russians are mainly distributed in the northern region (2021)
The main line of "Turkic" is mainly based on the long-term influence of Turkic language and culture of the Kazakh ethnic group, and even today Kazakh language belongs to the Turkic language family of the Altaic language family in the modern linguistic classification.
In addition, considering that the countries of Central Asia are deeply influenced by Turkic culture; Highlighting the "Turkic" source in the country is also conducive to good-neighborliness and friendship. To this end, Kazakhstan joined the Organization of Turkic-speaking Countries and participated in regional affairs as a "Turkic descendant".
▲Turkic-speaking countries
The main line of "Mongolia" is mainly based on the inheritance relationship of historical regimes that ruled or were established by its own nation, trying to find the prototype of the early Kazakh state from the political genealogy of "Great Mongolia - Golden Horde - White Horde - Kazakh Khanate". Therefore, Genghis Khan, Shuchi and other Mongolian historical figures who have intersected with the history of their own people will be commemorated.
Bibliography:
1. [fr] René Grousset, translated by Lan Qi: Grassland Empire, Beijing: Commercial Press, 1998;
2. [fr] Rainer Grousset, translated by Gong Yu: History of the Mongol Empire, Beijing: Commercial Press, 1989;
3. [Su] Boris Grekov, [Su] Alexander Yakubowsky, Yu Dajun, trans.: History of the Rise and Fall of the Golden Horde, Beijing: Commercial Press, 2021 edition;
4. [Russian] M.A. Terendiev, translated by the Department of Foreign Languages of Wuhan University: History of the Conquest of Central Asia, Volume I, Beijing: Commercial Press, 1980 edition;
5. Gavin Hambri, eds., Wu Yugui, Outline of Central Asian History, Beijing: Commercial Press, 1994;
6. Wang Zhilai, Modern Volume of the General History of Central Asia, Urumqi: Xinjiang People's Publishing House, 2004 edition;
7. Ma Dazheng and Feng Xishi, eds., Outline of the History of the Five Central Asian Kingdoms, Urumqi: Xinjiang People's Publishing House, 2005 edition;
8. Subeihai: "The White Horde in the Kazakh Steppe in the Mongolian Yuan Era", Journal of Xinjiang University, No. 4, 1984;
9. Jahef Mirza Khan, "The Establishment and Consolidation of the Kazakh Khanate," Western Regions Studies, No. 1, 1999;
10. Lan Qi, "The Relationship between the Kazakh Khanate and Imperial Russia in the 18th and Mid-19th Centuries," Siberian Studies, No. 3, 2007.
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