A Short History of Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan is believed to have been inhabited as early as the Stone Age, a prehistoric period characterized by the use of stone tools. It was only in the beginning of the 15th century when Kazakh identity came into being and was consolidated into the culture and language of the Kazakhs in the 16th century. After becoming stronger as a people, the Kazakhs fought off a federation of armed Western Mongol tribes in the 17th century, and went on to win major victories invading forces in the following century.

During the 19th century, however, the vast Russian empire started to expand in Central Asia, ruling most of the countries in the region, including most parts of Kazakhstan which the Russians finally colonized. Following the colonization, some 400,000 Russians immigrated to the country and were followed by one million Slavs, Germans and Jews to establish their residency in the country. This resulted in direct competition between the Kazakhs and the newcomers and in a series of clashes between the natives and the Russians. Superior in strength, Russians prevailed, driving away 300,000 Kazakhs. The famine which started in 1922 worsened the conditions in the country when one million Kazakhs died from starvation. By 1939 the country’s population had dropped by 22% because of starvation and emigration. At that time, the Russians had also slaughtered a number of renowned local writers, poets, thinkers, and historians in an attempt to suppress Kazakh culture and identity, and had made the territory as the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic. Many years later or in October 1991, Kazakhstan declared its sovereignty as a member of the Union of Socialist Republics, and its independence from Russia on December 16, 1991. The rest is now part of its modern and current history.