After being liberated from the Dzungar invasion, the southern Kazakhs began to recover, but attacks by the khanates of Central Asia intensified. At the end of the 18th century, the southern Kazakh territories maintained close relations with the Bukhara, Khiva, and Kokand Khanates. The early 19th century marked the peak of the Kokand Khanate’s power.
In 1810, Khan Omar launched an attack on Shymkent. The city and its surrounding region were placed under strict control. Soon after capturing Shymkent, Kokand forces advanced towards Sairam. The city was besieged for three days, and the Kazakhs fought fiercely against the invading troops. However, the numerically superior Kokand army destroyed the fortress gates and devastated much of the city. As a result, Tashkent, Shymkent, and Sairam came under the rule of the Kokand Khanate. This marked the beginning of Kokand domination in southern Kazakhstan.
Khan Omar subsequently continued military campaigns towards the Turkistan region, the steppe areas beyond the Karatau Mountains, and Zhetysu.
By the early 1840s, the power of the Kokand Khanate had weakened compared with the period of Omar’s rule. Muhammad Ali, who ruled until 1842, and Sherali, who remained on the throne until 1845, left their successors an economy that had deteriorated considerably. Within days of the khan’s assassination and Murat’s accession to the throne, Murat was overthrown. Following a series of power struggles, Sherali’s thirteen-year-old son Khudayar was installed as khan.
In the second half of the 19th century, the Russian Empire began its conquest of the Kokand Khanate. It viewed the Bukhara and Kokand Khanates as strategically important military bases. Internally weakened, the Kokand Khanate was unable to offer substantial resistance to the well-armed Russian army. In 1865, Russian forces captured Tashkent and Khujand.
Having lost a considerable part of his territory, Khudayar Khan increased taxes and levies. This provoked public discontent and led to popular uprisings between 1873 and 1876. On 18 February 1876, the Kokand Khanate was abolished, and the Fergana Region was established in its place under the administration of the Turkestan Governor-Generalship.
Khan Kenesary Kasymuly
Kenesary Kasymuly (1802, the Kokshetau region – 1847, the Kekilik-Sengir valley in present-day Kyrgyzstan) was a statesman, military commander, leader of the Kazakh national liberation movement of 1837–1847, and the last khan of the Kazakh Khanate (1841–1847). Kenesary was a twenty-seventh-generation descendant of Genghis Khan and a grandson of Abylai Khan.
The national liberation movement led by Kenesary Kasymuly from 1837 to 1847 was one of the largest and longest-lasting Kazakh uprisings against tsarist rule.
The Causes, Aims, and Driving Forces of the Uprising
In 1837, a major uprising began under the leadership of Kenesary Kasymuly. It became one of the most significant uprisings in Kazakhstan, attracting participants from all three Kazakh zhuzes. Kenesary emerged as a successor to the legacy of his great ancestor, Abylai Khan, striving to preserve the independence of the Kazakh people.
During the 1820s and 1830s, relations between the Russian colonial administration and the Kazakh people became increasingly strained.
First, the abolition of khan authority in the Junior and Middle Zhuzes caused dissatisfaction among a considerable number of sultans, biys, and batyrs.
Second, the tsarist government began confiscating traditional Kazakh lands on a large scale to build military fortifications.
Third, the Kazakhs, who had not previously paid such taxes to Russia, were subjected to increasing levies and duties, including yasak, household taxes, and road tolls. As a result, Kazakhs increasingly found themselves having to pay to use their own ancestral lands.
Fourth, military detachments of the tsarist government attacked Kazakh villages, making everyday life increasingly difficult. These policies placed the indigenous nomadic population under severe pressure and undermined its traditional way of life.
The main objectives of the uprising were to reclaim ancestral Kazakh lands seized by the tsarist government, abolish the administrative districts imposed by the colonial authorities, and eliminate the taxes introduced by them.
The uprising was driven primarily by ordinary nomads, as well as community elders, biys, batyrs, and sultans. Renowned batyrs from all three zhuzes led the large forces of insurgents.
Kenesary was born in 1802. He was the son of Sultan Kasym and the grandson of Abylai Khan. From childhood, he was an accomplished horseman and an exceptionally skilled marksman. He became known for his outstanding hunting abilities, sense of justice, strong will, tireless determination, extraordinary courage, and unwavering resistance.
