KAZAKHS

The 'Kazakhs' (also spelled 'Kazaks', 'Qazaqs'; Kazakh: Қазақтар []; Russian: Казахи; the English name is transliterated from Russian) are a Turkic people of the northern parts of Central Asia (largely Kazakhstan, but also found in parts of Uzbekistan, China, Russia, and Mongolia). They are famous for the fierce love of freedom, skillful horse riding and hunting with semi-domesticated eagles.

Contents

Etymology of ''Kazakh''

Culture

Language

Kazakh tribalism

Kazakh Population in Kazakhstan

Ethnic Kazakh minorities

In China

In Russia

In Mongolia

In Uzbekistan

See also

Notes and references

External links

Etymology of ''Kazakh''

There are many theories on the origin of the word "Kazakh". "Qazaq" was included in a 13th century Turk-Arabian dictionary, where its meaning was given as "independent" or "free".. Both Kazakhs and later Cossacks adopted Turkic social term "qazaq" as their name.
The Kazakhs have a legend about a white goose (''Qaz'' means 'goose', ''Aq'' means 'white'). In this Creation Myth, a white goose flying over the great steppes was impregnated by the rays of the Sun, giving birth to the first Kazakh.^[1] This version was rejected by linguists, because in Turkic languages, an adjective is put before a noun, therefore, '"white goose"' would be ''Aqqaz'', not ''Qazaq''.
One of the theories on the origin of the word "Kazakh" (originally "Qazaq") is that it comes from the ancient Turkic word ''"qazğaq"'', first mentioned on the 8th century Turkic monument of Uyuk-Turan. According to the notable Turkic linguist Vasily Radlov and the orientalist Veniamin Yudin, the noun ''"qazğaq"'' derives from the same root as the verb ''"qazğan"'' ("to obtain", "to gain"). Therefore, ''"qazğaq"'' defines a type of person that seeks profit and gain.^[2]

Culture

Main articles: Culture of Kazakhstan

Indo-Iranian tribes, Turkic tribes from Siberia and Altai, and Mongolic tribes took part in the formation of Kazakhs and other Central Asian Turkic peoples. Modern Kazakhs are descendants of Turkic tribes (Kipchaks or Cumans), Mongol groups (Kereis, Naimans, etc.) and Indo-Iranian tribes (Wusun, Sarmatians, Scythians, etc.) which populated the territory between Siberia and the Black Sea and remained in Central Asia when the Turkic and Mongol groups started to invade and conquer the area between the fifth and thirteenth centuries AD [4].
As shown on PBS' "Secrets of the Dead" in the episode entitled "Amazon Warrior Women," there is strong evidence that some of the Kazakh population are descendants of the culture which spawned the Amazon Warrior myth within Ancient Greek literature.
Due to their complex history, Kazakhs display phenotypical diversity. Kazakhs exhibit predominantly Mongoloid features. Fair to light-brown skin tends to be the norm. Among physical traits are aquiline noses, epicanthic folds and high cheekbones. Hair colour among Kazakhs varies from prevalent jet black to red and sandy brown. Hazel, green and blue eyes are not uncommon.
Many are also skilled in the performance of Kazakh traditional songs. One of the most commonly used traditional musical instruments of the Kazakhs is the ''dombra'', a plucked lute with two strings. It is often used to accompany solo or group singing. Another popular instrument is Kobyz, a bow instrument played on the knees. Along with other instruments, these two instruments play a key role in the traditional Kazakh orchestra. A famous composer is Kurmangaz, who lived in the 19th century. A famous singer of the Soviet epoch is Roza Rimbayeva, she was a star of the trans-Soviet-Union scale. Among the modern performers is singer Toqtar. A famous Kazakh rock band is Ulker, performing in the genre of ethno-rock, which synthesises rock music with the traditional Kazakh music.

Language

Main articles: Kazakh language

The Kazakh language is a member of the Turkic language family, as are Uzbek, Kyrgyz, Tatar, Uyghur, Turkish, Azeri, Turkmen, and many other living and historical languages spoken in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Xinjiang, and Siberia.
Kazakh belongs to the Kipchak (Northwestern) group of the Turkic language family. Kazakh is characterized, in distinction to other Turkic languages, by the presence of in place of reconstructed proto-Turkic
★ and in place of
★ ; furthermore, Kazakh has (alveodental affricate) where other Turkic languages have (glide).
Kazakh, like most of the Turkic language family lacks phonemic vowel length, and as such there is no distinction between long and short vowels.
Kazakh was written with the Arabic script during the 19th century, when a number of poets, educated in Islamic schools, incited revolt against Russia. Russia's response was to set up secular schools and devise a way of writing Kazakh with the Cyrillic alphabet, which was not widely accepted. By 1917, the Arabic script was reintroduced, even in schools and local government.
In 1927, a Kazakh nationalist movement sprang up but was soon suppressed. At the same time the Arabic script was banned and the Latin alphabet was imposed for writing Kazakh. The Latin alphabet was in turn replaced by the Cyrillic alphabet in 1940.
Kazakh is one of the principal languages spoken in Kazakhstan, along with Russian. It is also spoken in the Ili region of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China, where the Arabic script is used, and in parts of Mongolia.

Kazakh tribalism

Due to their nomadic pastoral lifestyle, Kazakhs kept an epic tradition of oral history. They had to develop phenomenal memories in order to keep an account of their history. The nation, which amalgamated nomadic tribes of various Kazakh origins, managed to preserve the distant memory of the original founding clans. It was important for a Kazakh to know his or her genealogical tree for no less than seven generations back (known as ''şejire'', from the Arabic word shajara - "tree").
The Kazakh marriage system was exogamous, with marriage between individuals with a common ancestor within seven generations considered taboo. In intertribal marriage, paternal descent is decisive.
In modern Kazakhstan, tribalism is officially prohibited, practically almost negligible, and definitely fading away in business and government life. Still it is common for Kazakhs to ask which tribe they belong to when they meet each other. Nowadays, it is more of a tradition than necessity. There is no hostility between tribes. Kazakhs, regardless of their tribal origin, consider themselves one nation.
The majority of Kazakhs belongs to one of the three ''jüzes'' (jüz, roughly translatable as "horde"): the "Great jüz" (''Ulı jüz''), "Middle jüz" (''Orta jüz''), and "Junior jüz" (''Kişi jüz''). Every jüz consists of tribes (''taypa'') and clans (''ruw''). Also Kazakhs, but outside of the jüz system are: ''töre'' (direct descendants of Genghis Khan), ''qoja'' (descendants of Arabian missionaries and warriors), and ''töleñgit'' (descendants of Oirat captives).

Kazakh Population in Kazakhstan

'Table: Percentage of Kazakhs in Kazakhstan (census data)'^{[3] [4] [5]}

1897 %	1911 %	1926 %	1939 %	1959 %	1970 %	1979 %	1989 %	1999 %	2006 %
73.9	60.8	59.5	38.0	30.0	32.6	36.0	39.7	53.4	59.2

Ethnic Kazakh minorities

In China

Kazakhs, called Hāsàkè Zú in Chinese (; literally "Kazakh people" or "Kazakh nationality") are among 56 minority groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China (PRC). In the PRC there are two Kazakh autonomous prefectures, the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and Haixi Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai, three Kazakh autonomous counties, Aksai Kazakh Autonomous County in Gansu, Barkol Kazakh Autonomous County and Mori Kazakh Autonomous County in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
Many Kazakhs in China are not fluent in Standard Mandarin, China's official language, instead speaking the Kazakh language.
Since the early 21st century, Mamuer Rayeskan, a young Kazakh musician from Qitai, Xinjiang now living in Beijing, has achieved some renown for his reworking of Kazakh folk songs with his group IZ, with which he sings and plays acoustic guitar, dombra, and Jew's harp.

In Russia

In Russia, the Kazakh population lives in the regions bordering Kazakhstan. The 2002 Russian census recorded 655,000 Kazakhs living in the Astrakhan, Volgograd, Samara, Orenburg, Chelyabinsk, Kurgan, Tyumen, Omsk, Novosibirsk and Altai Krai regions. Since they, their ancestors, and other Turkic peoples populated these areas long before Russian colonisation, Russian Kazakhs are irredenta. During the 1920s, however, significant numbers of Kazakh families were left outside the designated Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic; after the end of the Soviet Union in 1991, they acquired Russian citizenship.

In Mongolia

Many Kazakhs live in Bayan-Ölgiy Province. The Kazakh folk music is widely admired and loved in Mongolia.

In Uzbekistan

Significant Kazakh population in Karakalpakstan and Tashkent oblast.

See also

★ List of Kazakh historical figures

★ Demographics of Kazakhstan

Notes and references

1. Humphreys, An. ''Central Asia (Lonely Planet Guide)'' Sydney:Lonely Planet Publications, 2004, ISBN 978-0864426734
2. Yudin, Veniamin P. ''Tsentralnaya Aziya v 14-18 vekah glazami vostokoveda.'' Almaty: Dajk-Press, 2001, ISBN 9965-441-39-1
3. Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights/
http://www.ohchr.org/english/issues/minorities/docs/WP5.doc
4. Alexandrov, Mikhail. ''Uneasy Alliance: Relations Between Russia and Kazakhstan in the Post-Soviet Era, 1992-1997.'' Greenwood Press, 1999, ISBN 978-0313309656
5. Agency on Statistics of the Republic of Kazakhstan - "Demographic situation in the Republic of Kazakhstan in 2006"/
http://www.stat.kz/index.php?lang=rus&uin=1176791556&chapter=1176791809 ''(in Russian)''

External links

★ Ethnographic map of Kazakhstan

★ Kazakhs in France - AKFT

★ World Association of the Kazakhs

★ http://sana.gov.kz/showarticle.php?lang=eng&id=342

★ Massagan.com (The largest web site in kazakh language)

★ Suhbat (Atameken Toby)

★ Secrets of the Dead: Amazon Warrior Women (PBS)

★ Turk monument of Uyuk-Turan mentioning the word ''"qazğaq"''