Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan,[d] officially the Republic of Kazakhstan,[e] is a transcontinental country located mainly

in Central Asia, and partly in Eastern Europe.[f] It borders Russia in the north and west, China in the east,
and Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan in the south. The capital is Nur-Sultan, formerly known as
Astana. Almaty, Kazakhstan's largest city, was the country's previous 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. It has a population of 19 million, and one of
the lowest population densities in the world, at fewer than 6 people per square kilometre (15 people per
sq mi).

Kazakhstan is the dominant nation of Central Asia economically and politically, generating 60% of the
region's GDP, primarily through its oil and gas industry. It also has vast mineral resources.[12] It is
officially a democratic, secular, unitary, constitutional republic with a diverse cultural heritage.
[13] Kazakhstan is a member of the United Nations (UN), WTO, CIS, the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization (SCO), the Eurasian Economic Union, CSTO, OSCE, OIC, OTS, and TURKSOY.

The territory of Kazakhstan has historically been inhabited by nomadic groups and empires. In antiquity,
the nomadic Scythians inhabited the land, and the Persian Achaemenid Empire expanded towards the
southern territory of the modern country. Turkic nomads, who trace their ancestry to many Turkic
states such as the First and Second Turkic Khaganates, have inhabited the country starting from 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 territories of modern
Kazakhstan.

By the 16th century, the Kazakhs emerged as a distinct group, divided into three jüz. The Kazakhs raided
the territory of Russia throughout the 18th century, causing the Russians to advance into the Kazakh
steppes, and by the mid-19th century they nominally ruled all of Kazakhstan as part of the Russian
Empire and liberated all the slaves Kazakhs had raided and captured in 1859.[14] Following the
1917 Russian Revolution and subsequent civil war, the territory of Kazakhstan was reorganised several
times. In 1936, it was made the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, part of the Soviet Union. Kazakhstan
was the last of the Soviet republics to declare independence during the dissolution of the Soviet
Union in 1991. Human rights organisations 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.[15] The term "Cossack" is of the same origin.[15] 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 non-Kazakhs.

Kazakhstan has been inhabited since the Paleolithic era.[17] 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,[18] later early Indo-Iranian cultures such as Andronovo,
[19] and later Indo-Iranians such as the Saka and Massagetae.[20][21] 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

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 dissolution of Golden Horde. Established by Janibek

Khan and Kerei Khan, it continued to be ruled by to Turco-Mongol clan of Tore (Jochid dynasty).
Throughout this period, traditional nomadic life and a livestock-based economy continued to dominate
the steppe. In the 15th century, a distinct Kazakh identity began to emerge among the Turkic tribes. This
was followed by the Kazakh War of Independence where the khanate gained its sovereignty from
the Shaybanids. The process was consolidated by the mid-16th century with the appearance of
the Kazakh language, culture, and economy.