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

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 18^th 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 19^th 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 20^th 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 18^th 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.