History UsefulNotes / Kazakhstan

In the 17th century the Kazakh lands were invaded repeatedly by Dzungars from the east. Kazakhs took heavy losses, so the ruler of the Lesser Horde, Abul Khair Khan (no relation to the aforementioned Uzbek Khan), proposed a defense deal with UsefulNotes/TsaristRussia. The Russians, falsely believing that Abul Khair represents all Kazakhs and Kyrgyz, construed his request as a plea to join the Empire. They almost immediately set about taking control of the Lesser Horde and by the 1820s all three Hordes were under their control. In the documents of the time Kazakhs are referred to by Russians as the "Kirghiz-Kaisaks", or just "Kirghiz" for short, while the actual Kyrgyz were dubbed "Kara-Kirghiz", or "the Black Kyrgyz". The imperial days for Kazakhstan were characterized by intensive construction of forts and towns, settlement by Russian and Ukrainian peasants and UsefulNotes/{{Cossacks}}, as well as occasional [[LaResistance native rebellions]], caused by land disputes, taxation and (during UsefulNotes/WorldWarI) {{conscription}}.

* '''Area:''' 2,724,900 sq km (1,052,100 sq mi) (9th)

During most of its history the land that is now Kazakhstan has been inhabited by [[BarbarianTribe nomadic tribes]]. Many tribes that invaded Europe, namely Scythians, Huns and [[UsefulNotes/{{Mongolia}} Mongols]], passed through its steppes first, leaving their mark on the genetic and cultural portrait of the local populace. By the [[TheLateMiddleAges 15th century]], the majority of modern Kazakhstan was inhabited by nomadic tribes who spoke a Turkic language with some Persian and Mongolian influences. To this day Kazakhs, like most Turks, are [[UsefulNotes/{{Islam}} Sunni Muslims]] of the Hanafi school of Jurisprudence. Kazakhstan was once ruled by an [[BlueBlood aristocracy]] that consisted almost entirely of UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan's patrilinear descendants. There were very few cities and they were mostly concentrated in the south, where there were fewer nomads. Some of these cities (e.g. Turkestan, Taraz and Shymkent) still exist.

** Chairman of the Mazhilis: Nurlan Nigmatulin

** Chairman of the Majlis: Nurlan Nigmatulin

Kazakhstan ('''Kazakh:''' ''Қазақстан, Qazaqstan''; '''Russian:''' ''Казахстан, Kazakhstan''), officially known as the Republic of Kazakhstan ('''Kazakh:''' ''Қазақстан Республикасы, Qazaqstan Respýblıkasy''; '''Russian:''' ''Республика Казахстан, Respublika Kazakhstan''), is a huge Eastern European and Central Asian country -- bigger than all of Western Europe put together, and the ninth largest country in the world overall. It is pretty sparsely populated, though, with an average density of less than 15 people per square mile. This is because the country is mostly located in the Great Eurasian Steppe, a region excellent for pastoralism but poor for farming.

The official languages of the country are Kazakh and Russian, the latter being used more during Soviet times due to the Virgin Lands campaign, though awareness of the former language is slowly being made in recent years. Kazakh is a member of the Kipchak subgroup of the Turkic languages and is closely related to the other "northerly" Turkic languages like Kyrgyz, Volga Tatar, and Bashkir. If there is one thing that ''Borat'' got right, it is the fact that Kazakh is currently written in the UsefulNotes/CyrillicAlphabet (but not of the [[FauxCyrillic faux]] type); it was additionally written in the Arabic script during pre-Russian times (and still is in China), and Latin during the Russian Civil War-era. Kazakhstan is officially planning to return the language to Latin letters in the 2020s. [[note]]Current Kazakh Cyrillc may suit the language well, but has too much keys for a computer keyboard, especially one of a notebook with no numpad, while the new script will presumably use basic Latin with some acute accent marks and two digraphs.[[/note]] By the way, if you are curious how real-life Kazakhs look like, [[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/Kazakh_woman_at_the_Caspian_Sea.JPG they]] [[https://ryanphotodotcom.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/kazakhs-2-587-copy1.jpg are]] [[https://kazakhnomad.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/pc040086.jpg mostly]] [[http://s019.radikal.ru/i619/1207/4a/795d3da3a18b.jpg Mongoloid]]/[[https://kazakhnomad.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/p3180099.jpg East Asian]]-looking, which might be a surprise to people unaware of the East Asian origins of the Turkic peoples.

* While the location of the story is [[WhereTheHellIsSpringfield rather vague]], the main protagonist of the manga ''Manga/ABridesStory'', Amira Halgal, comes from a Kazakh nomadic community.

The official languages of the country are Kazakh and Russian, the latter being used more during Soviet times due to the Virgin Lands campaign, though awareness of the former language is slowly being made in recent years. Kazakh is a member of the Kipchak subgroup of the Turkic languages and is closely related to the other "northerly" Turkic languages like Kyrgyz, Volga Tatar, and Bashkir. If there is one thing that ''Borat'' got right, it is the fact that Kazakh is currently written in the UsefulNotes/CyrillicAlphabet (but not of the [[FauxCyrillic faux]] type); it was additionally written in the Arabic script during pre-Russian times (and still is in China), and Latin during the Russian Civil War-era. Kazakhstan is officially planning to return the language to Latin letters in the 2020s. [[note]]Current Kazakh Cyrillc may suit the language well, but has too much keys for a computer keyboard, especially one of a notebook with no numpad, while the new script will presumably use basic Latin with some acute accent marks and two digraphs.[[/note]] By the way, if you are curious how real-life Kazakhs look like, [[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/Kazakh_woman_at_the_Caspian_Sea.JPG they]] [[https://ryanphotodotcom.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/kazakhs-2-587-copy1.jpg are]] [[https://kazakhnomad.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/pc040086.jpg mostly]] [[http://s019.radikal.ru/i619/1207/4a/795d3da3a18b.jpg Mongoloid]]/[[https://kazakhnomad.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/p3180099.jpg East Asian]]-looking, which might be a surprise to people unaware of the East Asian origin of the Turkic peoples.

The official languages of the country are Kazakh and Russian, the latter being used more during Soviet times due to the Virgin Lands campaign, though awareness of the former language is slowly being made in recent years. Kazakh is a member of the Kipchak subgroup of the Turkic languages and is closely related to the other "northerly" Turkic languages like Kyrgyz, Volga Tatar, and Bashkir. If there is one thing that ''Borat'' got right, it is the fact that Kazakh is currently written in the UsefulNotes/CyrillicAlphabet (but not of the [[FauxCyrillic faux]] type); it was additionally written in the Arabic script during pre-Russian times (and still is in China), and Latin during the Russian Civil War-era. Kazakhstan is officially planning to return the language to Latin letters in the 2020s. [[note]]Current Kazakh Cyrillc may suit the language well, but has too much keys for a computer keyboard, especially one of a notebook with no numpad, while the new script will presumably use basic Latin with some acute accent marks and two digraphs.[[/note]] By the way, if you are curious how real-life Kazakhs look like, [[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/Kazakh_woman_at_the_Caspian_Sea.JPG they]] [[https://ryanphotodotcom.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/kazakhs-2-587-copy1.jpg are]] [[https://kazakhnomad.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/pc040086.jpg mostly]] [[http://s019.radikal.ru/i619/1207/4a/795d3da3a18b.jpg Mongoloid]]/[[https://kazakhnomad.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/p3180099.jpg East Asian]]-looking (Kazakhs, like most other modern Turkic peoples, are a mixed race of both Caucasian and East Asian descent), which might be a surprise to some people.

The official languages of the country are Kazakh and Russian, the latter being used more during Soviet times due to the Virgin Lands campaign, though awareness of the former language is slowly being made in recent years. Kazakh is a member of the Kipchak subgroup of the Turkic languages and is closely related to the other "northerly" Turkic languages like Kyrgyz, Volga Tatar, and Bashkir. If there is one thing that ''Borat'' got right, it is the fact that Kazakh is currently written in the UsefulNotes/CyrillicAlphabet (but not of the [[FauxCyrillic faux]] type); it was additionally written in the Arabic script during pre-Russian times (and still is in China), and Latin during the Russian Civil War-era. Kazakhstan is officially planning to return the language to Latin letters in the 2020s. [[note]]Current Kazakh Cyrillc may suit the language well, but has too much keys for a computer keyboard, especially one of a notebook with no numpad, while the new script will presumably use basic Latin with some acute accent marks and two digraphs.[[/note]] By the way, if you are curious how real-life Kazakhs look like, [[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/Kazakh_woman_at_the_Caspian_Sea.JPG they]] [[https://ryanphotodotcom.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/kazakhs-2-587-copy1.jpg are]] [[https://kazakhnomad.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/pc040086.jpg mostly]] [[http://s019.radikal.ru/i619/1207/4a/795d3da3a18b.jpg Mongoloid]]/[[https://kazakhnomad.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/p3180099.jpg East Asian]]-looking (Kazakhs, like most other modern Turkic peoples, are a mixed race of both European and East Asian descent), which might be a surprise to some people.

The official languages of the country are Kazakh and Russian, the latter being used more during Soviet times due to the Virgin Lands campaign, though awareness of the former language is slowly being made in recent years. Kazakh is a member of the Kipchak subgroup of the Turkic languages and is closely related to the other "northerly" Turkic languages like Kyrgyz, Volga Tatar, and Bashkir. If there is one thing that ''Borat'' got right, it is the fact that Kazakh is currently written in the UsefulNotes/CyrillicAlphabet (but not of the [[FauxCyrillic faux]] type); it was additionally written in the Arabic script during pre-Russian times (and still is in China), and Latin during the Russian Civil War-era. Kazakhstan is officially planning to return the language to Latin letters in the 2020s. [[note]]Current Kazakh Cyrillc may suit the language well, but has too much keys for a computer keyboard, especially one of a notebook with no numpad, while the new script will presumably use basic Latin with some acute accent marks and two digraphs.[[/note]] By the way, if you are curious how real-life Kazakhs look like, [[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/Kazakh_woman_at_the_Caspian_Sea.JPG they]] [[https://ryanphotodotcom.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/kazakhs-2-587-copy1.jpg are]] [[https://kazakhnomad.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/pc040086.jpg mostly]] [[http://s019.radikal.ru/i619/1207/4a/795d3da3a18b.jpg Mongoloid]]/[[https://kazakhnomad.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/p3180099.jpg East Asian]]-looking (Kazakhs, like most other Turkic peoples, are a mixed race of both European and East Asian descent), which might be a surprise to some people.

The official languages of the country are Kazakh and Russian, the latter being used more during Soviet times due to the Virgin Lands campaign, though awareness of the former language is slowly being made in recent years. Kazakh is a member of the Kipchak subgroup of the Turkic languages and is closely related to the other "northerly" Turkic languages like Kyrgyz, Volga Tatar, and Bashkir. If there is one thing that ''Borat'' got right, it is the fact that Kazakh is currently written in the UsefulNotes/CyrillicAlphabet (but not of the [[FauxCyrillic faux]] type); it was additionally written in the Arabic script during pre-Russian times (and still is in China), and Latin during the Russian Civil War-era. Kazakhstan is officially planning to return the language to Latin letters in the 2020s. [[note]]Current Kazakh Cyrillc may suit the language well, but has too much keys for a computer keyboard, especially one of a notebook with no numpad, while the new script will presumably use basic Latin with some acute accent marks and two digraphs.[[/note]] By the way, if you are curious how real-life Kazakhs look like, [[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/Kazakh_woman_at_the_Caspian_Sea.JPG they]] [[https://ryanphotodotcom.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/kazakhs-2-587-copy1.jpg are]] [[https://kazakhnomad.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/pc040086.jpg mostly]] [[http://s019.radikal.ru/i619/1207/4a/795d3da3a18b.jpg Mongoloid]]/[[https://kazakhnomad.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/p3180099.jpg East Asian]]-looking (Kazakhs, like most other Central Asian peoples, are a mixed race of both European and East Asian descent), which might be a surprise to some people.

On a more positive note, Kazakhstan has one of the biggest cycling teams in the world, Team Astana. Astana was established by local cycling star Alexandre Vinokourov, who has won grand tours, major classics and the Olympics. If you watch a big cycling event, expect to see this team. Kazakhstan is also believed to be where horses were first domesticated by humans, in around 3500 BC, and where apples originated from, with it's largest city, Almaty, originally being called Almatau, meaning Apple Mountain, and nicknamed the "Apple City" and "Big Apple" (no relation to New York City).

On a more positive note, Kazakhstan has one of the biggest cycling teams in the world, Team Astana. Astana was established by local cycling star Alexandre Vinokourov, who has won grand tours, major classics and the Olympics. If you watch a big cycling event, expect to see this team. Kazakhstan is also believed to be where horses were first domesticated by humans, in around 3500 BC.

On a more positive note, Kazakhstan has one of the biggest cycling teams in the world, Team Astana. Astana was established by local cycling star Alexandre Vinokourov, who has won grand tours, major classics and the Olympics. If you watch a big cycling event, expect to see this team.

* Creator/TimurBekmambetov, director of ''Film/{{Wanted}}'' and ''Literature/NightWatch'' films and co-producer of ''{{WesternAnimation/Nine}}'' is Kazakh.

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* In ''VideoGame/IndianaJonesAndTheInfernalMachine'', Shambala is located in the Tian Shan mountains on the Kazakh-Chinese border, where one of the parts of the titular Infernal Machine is hidden.

* The first stage of ''VideoGame/{{Strider}}'' is set in a futuristic ([[TheGreatPoliticsMessUp but still communist]]) Kazakhstan, complete with Soviet robots doing ThatRussianSquatDance.

* In ''VideoGame/IndianaJonesAndTheInfernalMachine'', Shambala is located in Kazakhstan in the Tian Shan mountains, where one of the parts of the titular Infernal Machine is hidden.

* When England recently played the country in a football match, fans were told that wearing a mankini would get them arrested. (And we're all very grateful that we hadn't to break out the BrainBleach.)
* A lot of missions in ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerGenerals'' take place in Kazakhstan, as it is a major power base for the Global Liberation Army.
* The final part of ''The Zahir'', one of the "pilgrimage novels" by the Brazilian author Paolo Coelho, is set in Kazakhstan. Coelho spent some time in Kazakhstan doing the research, so the depiction of the country in this 2005 novel is more accurate than it is in the above movie.
* The TabletopGame/{{GURPS}} worldbook ''TabletopGame/TranshumanSpace'' portrays 22nd century Kazakhstan as a nightmarish PoliceState similar to UsefulNotes/NorthKorea.
* H/Allelujah Haptism, one of the four [[spoiler:([[BackupTwin technically five]])]] major characters of ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundam00 Gundam 00]]'', is Kazakh.
* Music/RozaRymbaeva is a pop singer from Kazakhstan who sings in both Russian and Kazakh.
* Creator/TimurBekmambetov, director of ''Film/{{Wanted}}'' and ''Literature/NightWatch'' films and co-producer of ''{{WesternAnimation/Nine}}''.
* The first stage of ''VideoGame/{{Strider}}'' is set in a futuristic ([[TheGreatPoliticsMessUp but still communist]]) Kazakhstan, complete with Soviet robots doing ThatRussianSquatDance.
* ''[[VideoGame/GhostRecon Ghost Recon 2: Summit Strike]]'' takes place in Kazakhstan where the Ghosts must stop terrorists from taking control of the country.
** ''Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars'' is also set there, as is the first mission of the Raven Strike DLC of ''Ghost Recon: Future Soldier'', "Secure Dawn".

* Kazakhstan has one of the biggest cycling teams in the world, team Astana. Astana was established by local cycling star Alexandre Vinokourov, who has won grand tours, major classics and the Olympics. If you watch a big cycling event, expect to see this team.

* One subplot in season 7 of ''Series/TheWestWing'' involved President Bartlett managing international tensions over Kazahkstan's oil resources.

* In the anime ''Anime/YuriOnIce'', figure skater Otabek Altin, a GPF finalist and Yurio's friend, is from Kazakhstan. He's nicknamed the "Hero of Kazakhstan" for putting his country on the skating map, and is based on real-life Kazakhstani skater Denis Ten.
* While the location of the story is [[WhereTheHellIsSpringfield rather vague]], the main protagonist of the manga ''Manga/ABridesStory'', Amira Halgal, comes from a Kazakh nomadic community.

* The Dead Coast DLC mission of ''VideoGame/SplinterCell: Blacklist'' takes place in Kyzylorda.

* In ''VideoGame/IndianaJonesAndTheInfernalMachine'', Shambala is located in Kazakhstan in the Tian Shan mountains.

* ''VideoGame/IndianaJonesAndTheInfernalMachine'' has it's third level set in a river on the Kazakh part of the Tian Shan, on the border with China.

* ''VideoGame/IndianaJonesAndTheInfernalMachine'' has it's third level set in a river on the Kazakh part of the Tian Shan.