Founding of the Kazakh Khanate
The sultans Kerei and Janibek, who had migrated with their people away from the Uzbek khan Abu’l-Khayr into western Moghulistan, founded the Kazakh Khanate, a state that in time brought the steppes from the Caspian Sea to the upper Irtysh under its rule.
- Date
- between 1465 and 1471exact date unknown: an interval is given
- Place
- Chu River valley (western Moghulistan)approximate locationtoday: Jambyl Region, Kazakhstan · Central and Northern Asia
- Participants
- Kerei Khan, Janibek Khan, Kazakh Khanate
- Threads
- Asia and Africa in the 15th and 16th centuries
- Also known as
- Казахское ханство; Керей и Джанибек
After a heavy defeat by the Oirats in 1457, Abu’l-Khayr tightened his hold over his subjects, and some of the nomadic tribes, led by Kerei and Janibek, descendants of Urus Khan, moved away to the east. Esen Buqa, the ruler of Moghulistan, granted them pastures in the Chu and Talas valleys, expecting the newcomers to shield his western borders. After Abu’l-Khayr’s death his realm fell apart, and power in the eastern Dasht-i Kipchak passed to the descendants of Urus Khan; the word “qazaq”, which had meant a free nomad or outcast, became the name of a people.
The exact date of the khanate’s founding is unknown. Kazakhstani historiography accepts 1465, following the Tarikh-i Rashidi of Muhammad Haidar Dughlat; Russian historiography gives 1470–1471, the year of Abu’l-Khayr’s death as dated by T. I. Sultanov. The event is therefore shown as a range.
Connections
Related events
- Shaybani Khan destroys the Timurid Empire1500 – 27 May 1507 · Central and Northern AsiaShaybani was a grandson of Abu’l-Khayr, from whom the founders of the Kazakh Khanate had broken away; Uzbeks and Kazakhs long fought over the steppe and the towns of the Syr Darya
Adjacent events in the thread
- Tumu Crisis1 September 1449 · East Asia
- Sonni Ali takes Timbuktubetween 1468 and 1469 · Africa
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within a year of this event
Western and Central Europe
- Wars of the Roses22 May 1455 – between 1485 and 1487
Eastern Europe
- Marriage of Ivan III and Sophia Palaiologina12 November 1472
Africa
- Sonni Ali takes Timbuktubetween 1468 and 1469
South Asia
- Afanasy Nikitin’s Journey Beyond the Three Seasbetween 1466 and 1468 – between 1472 and 1474
East Asia
- Ōnin War1467–1477
Southeast Asia and Oceania
- Đại Việt crushes Champa: the fall of VijayaNovember 1470 – March 1471
Latin America
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Kazakh Khanate
- Wikipedia (Russian): Казахское ханство
- Wikipedia (Russian): Керей-хан
- Wikipedia (Russian): Джанибек-хан (Казахское ханство)
- Soucek S. A History of Inner Asia. — Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.