Kazakhstan in the Middle Ages

Later on the political situation on the Kazakhstan was becoming very comlex. States and peoples got mixed up. Some of them are remembered by their descendants, other disappeared forever.

Agter the Sacks came the tribes of Usuni who moved the Central Asia. In the first half of the I millennium a great and powerful union Kangui appeared in the south of Kazakhstan. To the west of their territory numerous tribes of Alans roamed (migrated). The tribes of Khunnu also passed through Kazakhstan. One of the Khunnu chiefs commanded the troops of the Kangui State. Khunnu, as some historians think, were the ancestors of Turks.

In the middle of the first millennium the changes of the ethnic sphere began in Kazakhstan. Turkic-speaking tribes prevailed. The centre of Turkic culture became Altai. There appeared the term “turk” in the written sources.

In the VI century Turkic kaganate turned up on the political arena of the Central Asia. In the period of its highest development it occupied a vast area – from the Crimea to Mongolia and from the Yeniseito the Amudarya River. But in the VIII century kaganate fell under the attacks of the Karluks tribes. Karluks were changed by the representatives of Turkic dynasty – Karakhanids. The formed a powerful empire in the south. And approximately at the same time the Oguzes tribes appeared in Kazakhstan, who became a leading force in the Aral steppes and Western Kazakhstan in the IX century. The Oguz State was absorbed by the Turkic tribe of Kypchaks coming from the east. The Russian princes called them Polovtsians. In the XI-XIII centuries Kypchaks played a very important role in different regions of Middle Asia. Their dynasties were even ruling in Khorezm. During centuries some of their tribes appeared in Asia and left a trace in the culture and history of the region. They are Kidani, Naimans and Kireits. But at the beginning of the XII century a new powerful force came – Mongols under the leadership of Chingis Khan. He took vast territories in the short period of time. One of their purposes was a march to Kazakhstan and Middle Asia. The reason for it was so-called “Otrar catastrophe”.

After the attack and fall of Otrar the Mongol army moved on and in 5 years Kazakhstan and Middle Asia became a part of Chingis Khan’s Empire.