The Alim-Kyrgyz clan group among the Qazaqs of the Northern Aral Sea region

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.69567/3007-0236.2024.2.96.103

Keywords:

Junior Zhuz, Northern Aral region, the Qazaqs, the Kyrgyz, Alimuly, kirme, the Alim-Kyrgyz

Abstract

The article examines the ethnic history of the Qazaq Alim-Kyrgyz group in the larger Qazaq ethnic association of the Alimuly (kaz. əлімұлы) of Junior Zhuz (Kiшi жүз), who lived in the Shalkar district of the Aktobe region of the Republic of Kazakhstan. There are different views on the time and circumstances of the appearance of the Alim-Kyrgyz in the Northern Aral region, where the local Qazaqs called them кірме ру (‘the incoming clan’). In different periods of the Qazaq ethnic history, there were cases when some Qazaq clans would include new Qazaq, and sometimes also non-Qazaq ethnic groups and call them the incoming clans. The new nomads arrived in groups (auls); sometimes they were descendants of prisoners forcibly moved from their former nomadic territories because of military raids. In the Junior Zhuz the Kyrgyz groups were also present in the Taz clan. During the middle of the 18th century, the Kyrgyz subclan played a significant role in the political affairs of the Junior Zhuz. The Qazaq Kyrgyz are repeatedly mentioned in various documents from the 19th century, for example, among other Qazaq clans that paid various taxes. Written sources and Qazaq shezhire (genealogies) speak of the inclusion and assimilation of the Kyrgyz subclan into the Qazaq ethnic structure. As late as the beginning of the 20th century, the memory of their migration from the Semirechye/Zhetysu Alatau was preserved. In conclusion, certain arguments are presented to suggest that the Kyrgyz arose in the Northern Aral Sea region during the first half of the 18th century, possibly during the reign of Abulkhayr Khan in the Junior Zhuz. Kyrgyz subclan groups are also present among such Qazaq tribes as Zhalaiyr and Naiman.

Author Biography

  • Rakhim A. Beknazarov, Aktobe Kudaibergen Zhubanov Regional University

    Doctor of Historical Sciences, Vice-Rector for Science and Innovation

References

Aristov, N. 2001. Usuni i kyrgyzy ili kara-kyrgyzy: Ocherki istorii i byta naselenija zapadnogo Tjan'-Shanja i issledovanija po ego istoricheskoj geografii [Usuns and Qyrgyz or Qara-Qyrgyz: Essays on the history and life of the population of the western Tien Shan and studies on its historical geography]. Bishkek: Ilim (in Russian).

Asankanov, A. 2009. Istorija Kyrgyzstana (s drevnejshih vremen do nashih dnej) [History of Qyrgyzstan (from ancient times to the present day)]. Bishkek (in Russian).

Bregel, Yu. (comp.). 1967. Dokumenty arhiva Hivinskih hanov po istorii i jetnografii karakalpakov [Documents from the archive of the Khiva khans on the history and ethnography of the Qaraqalpaqs]. Moscow: Nauka; Main Editorial Board of Eastern Literature (in Russian).

Erofeeva, I. 2007. Han Abulhair: polkovodec, pravitel', politik [Khan Abulkhair: commander, ruler, politician]. Almaty: Daik-Press (in Russian).

Erofeeva, I., Zhanayev, B. (comp.). 2007. Istorija Kazahstana v russkih istochnikah XVI–XX vekov [History of Qazaqstan in Russian sources of the 16th – 20th centuries]. Vol. 5: Pervye istoriko-jetnograficheskie opisanija kazahskih zemel'. Pervaja polovina XIX veka [The first historical and ethnographic descriptions of the Kazakh lands. First half of the 19th century]. Almaty: Daik-Press (in Russian).

Kireev, F., et al. (ed.). 1961. Kazahsko-russkie otnoshenija v XVI–XVIII vekah. Sbornik dokumentov i materialov [Qazaq-Russian relations in the 16th–18th centuries. Collection of documents and materials]. Alma-Ata: Nauka (in Russian).

Levshin, A. 1996 (1832). Opisanie kirgiz-kazach’ih, ili, kirgiz-kajsackih ord i stepej [Descripti on of the Kirgiz-Cossack, or Kirgiz-Kaisak hordes and steppes]. Almaty: Sanat (in Russian).

Materialy po kirgizskomu zemlepol'zovaniju, sobrannye i razrabotannye statisticheskoj partiej Turgajsko-Ural'skogo pereselencheskogo rajona, Irgizskij uezd [Materials on Qyrgyz land use, collected and developed by the statistical party of the Turgay-Ural resettlement region, Irgiz district]. 1913. Orenburg: Yakovlev's Printing House (in Russian).

Qozybaev, M. et al. (eds.). 2010. Istorija Kazahstana (s drevnejshih vremen do nashih dnej) [History of Qazaqstan (from ancient times to the present day)]. In five vol. Vol. 3. Almaty: Atamura (in Russian).

Qūlbaiūly, Ybyrai aqūn. 1994. Altyndy Orda qonğan jer (şejıreler, tolğaular, arnau ölender) [The Land Where the Gilded Horde Was (genealogies, songs, dedications)]. Compiled by Sağyzbaiūly. Aktobe: Arys (in Qazaq).

Rychkov, P. 1999. Topografija Orenburgskoj gubernii [Topography of the Orenburg province]. Ufa: Kitap (in Russian).

Vostrov, V., Mukanov, M. 1968. Rodoplemennoj sostav i rasselenie kazahov (konec 19 – nachalo 20 veka) [Tribal composition and settlement of Qazaqs (late 19th – early 20th century)]. Alma-Ata: Science (in Russian).

Zhanayev, B. (comp.). 2006. Istorija Kazahstana v russkih istochnikah XVI–XX vekov [History of Qazaqstan in Russian sources of the 16th – 20th centuries]. Vol. 8, part 2: O pochetnejshih i vlijatel'nejshih ordyncah: alfavitnye, formuljarnye i posluzhnye spiski [About the most honorable and influential members of the Horde: alphabetical, official and service lists]. Almaty: Daik-Press (in Russian).

Zimanov, S., Öserov, N. 1975. «Jetı-Jarğy» turaly bırer söz [A few words about Zhety Zhargy]. In: Bulletin of the Academy of Sciences of the Qazaq SSR. Series of Social Sciences, 4, 65–70 (in Qazaq).

Downloads

Published

2024-06-25

Issue

Section

Статьи

How to Cite

The Alim-Kyrgyz clan group among the Qazaqs of the Northern Aral Sea region. (2024). Qazaq Historical Review, 2(2), 96-103. https://doi.org/10.69567/3007-0236.2024.2.96.103

Similar Articles

1-10 of 25

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.

Most read articles by the same author(s)

<< < 1 2 3 4 5 > >>