Kazakhstan,[8][d] officially the Republic of Kazakhstan,[e] is a transcontinental landlocked

country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe.[f] It borders Russia to
the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbekistan to the south,
and Turkmenistan to the southwest. Its capital is Nur-Sultan, formerly known as Astana until
2019. Almaty, Kazakhstan's largest city, was the country's capital until 1997. Kazakhstan is
the world's largest landlocked country, the world's largest Muslim-majority country by land
area (and the northernmost), and the ninth-largest country in the world overall. It has a
population of 19 million people, and one of the lowest population densities in the world, at
fewer than 6 people per square kilometre (15 people per square mile).

The country dominates Central Asia economically and politically, generating 60 percent of
the region's GDP, primarily through its oil and gas industry; it also has vast mineral
resources.[11] Officially, it is a democratic, secular, unitary, constitutional republic with a
diverse cultural heritage.[12] Kazakhstan is a member state of the United Nations, the World
Trade Organization, the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Shanghai Cooperation
Organisation, the Eurasian Economic Union, the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Organization of Islamic
Cooperation, the Organization of Turkic States, and the International Organization of Turkic
Culture.

The territory of Kazakhstan has historically been inhabited by nomadic groups and empires.
In antiquity, the ancient Iranian nomadic Scythians inhabited the land, and the Achaemenid
Persian Empire expanded towards the southern territory of the modern country. Turkic
nomads, who trace their ancestry to many Turkic states such as the First Turkic Khaganate
and the Second Turkic Khaganate, have inhabited the country from as early as the 6th
century. In the 13th century, the territory was subjugated by the Mongol Empire under
Genghis Khan. In the 15th century, the Kazakh Khanate conquered much land that would
later form the territory of modern Kazakhstan.

By the 16th century, the Kazakhs emerged as a distinct Turkic group, divided into three jüz.
They raided the territory of Russia throughout the 18th century, causing the Russians to
advance into the Kazakh Steppe; by the mid-19th century, the Russians nominally ruled all
of Kazakhstan as part of the Russian Empire and liberated all of the slaves that the Kazakhs
had captured in 1859.[13] Following the 1917 Russian Revolution and subsequent outbreak
of the Russian Civil War, the territory of Kazakhstan was reorganized several times. In 1936,
it was established as the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic within the Soviet Union.
Kazakhstan was the last of the Soviet republics to declare independence during the
dissolution of the Soviet Union from 1988 to 1991. Human rights organizations have
described the Kazakh government as authoritarian, and regularly describe Kazakhstan's
human rights situation as poor.

The name "Kazakh" comes from the ancient Turkic word qaz, "to wander", reflecting the
Kazakhs' nomadic culture.[14] The term "Cossack" is of the same origin.[14] The Persian
suffix -stan means "land" or "place of", so Kazakhstan can be literally translated as "land of
the wanderers".
Though the term traditionally referred only to ethnic Kazakhs, including those living in China,
Russia, Turkey, Uzbekistan and other neighbouring countries, the term Kazakh is
increasingly being used to refer to any inhabitant of Kazakhstan, including residents of other
ethnicities.[15]

Kazakhstan has been inhabited since the Paleolithic era.[16] Pastoralism developed during
the Neolithic, as the region's climate and terrain are best suited to a nomadic lifestyle.

The Kazakh territory was a key constituent of the Eurasian trading Steppe Route, the
ancestor of the terrestrial Silk Roads. Archaeologists believe that humans first domesticated
the horse (i.e., ponies) in the region's vast steppes. During recent prehistoric times, Central
Asia was inhabited by groups such as the possibly Indo-European Afanasievo culture,[17]
later early Indo-Iranian cultures such as Andronovo,[18] and later Indo-Iranians such as the
Saka and Massagetae.[19][20] Other groups included the nomadic Scythians and the
Persian Achaemenid Empire in the southern territory of the modern country. In 329 BC,
Alexander the Great and his Macedonian army fought in the Battle of Jaxartes against the
Scythians along the Jaxartes River, now known as the Syr Darya along the southern border
of modern Kazakhstan.

Cuman-Kipchak and Golden Horde

Main articles: Cumania, Golden Horde, and Turco-Mongol tradition

Cuman–Kipchak confederation in Eurasia circa 1200. The Kazakhs are descendants of

Kipchaks, Nogais and other Turkic and medieval Mongol tribes
The main migration of Turkic peoples occurred between the 5th and 11th centuries, when
they spread across most of Central Asia. The Turkic peoples slowly replaced and
assimilated the previous Iranian-speaking locals, turning the population of Central Asia from
largely Iranian, into primarily of East Asian descent.[21]

The first Turkic Khaganate was founded by Bumin in 552 on the Mongolian Plateau and
quickly spread west toward the Caspian Sea. The Göktürks drove before them various
peoples: Xionites, Uar, Oghurs and others. These seem to have merged into the Avars and
Bulgars. Within 35 years the eastern half and the Western Turkic Khaganate were
independent. The Western Khaganate reached its peak in the early 7th century.

The Cumans entered the steppes of modern-day Kazakhstan around the early 11th century,
where they later joined with the Kipchak and established the vast Cuman-Kipchak
confederation. While ancient cities Taraz (Aulie-Ata) and Hazrat-e Turkestan had long served
as important way-stations along the Silk Road connecting Asia and Europe, true political
consolidation began only with the Mongol rule of the early 13th century. Under the Mongol
Empire, the first strictly structured administrative districts (Ulus) were established. After the
Division of the Mongol Empire in 1259, the land that would become modern-day Kazakhstan
was ruled by the Golden Horde, also known as the Ulus of Jochi. During the Golden Horde
period, a Turco-Mongol tradition emerged among the ruling elite wherein Turkicised
descendants of Genghis Khan followed Islam and continued to reign over the lands.

Kazakh Khanate
Main article: Kazakh Khanate
In 1465, the Kazakh Khanate emerged as a result of the dissolution of the Golden Horde.
Established by Janibek Khan and Kerei Khan, it continued to be ruled by the Turco-Mongol
clan of Tore (Jochid dynasty).
Throughout this period, traditional nomadic