Kazakhstan History

Chokan Valikhanov

Chokan Valikhanov (Kazakh: Шоқан Уәлиханов, Russian: Чокан Чингисович Валиханов, 1835-1865) was the first Kazakh scholar, ethnographer and historian. He is regarded as the father of Kazakh historiography and ethnography. The Kazakh Academy of Sciences is named after Chokan Valikhanov.

A male-line descendant of Genghis Khan, Valikhanov was born at the house of his grandfather, Wali Khan, whose own grandfather was Ablai Khan, the great khan of Orta Zhuz. He received early education in his village Kushmurune at a private Kazakh maktab, or grade school.

Valikhanov was one of the first Kazakhs who received education in Russian language and worked for Imperial Russia. He lived in St.Petersburg for two years and joined the staff of the Russian Geographical Society, serving as officer of the Russian army for the remaining days of his life.

Valihkanov published books and articles devoted to the history and culture of Central Asia; among them researches "Kirghiz (Kazakhs)," "Traces of shamanism in Kirghiz (Kazakhs)", "About Kirghiz nomads' camp" and others contained ethnographic data that have been used to date. that He also compiled Kazakh epic poem "Kozy-Korpesh and "Bayan-Sulu" as well as Kyrgyz epic "Manas."

Valikhanov report of his trip to Kashgaria in 1858-59 remains a valuable account on the situation in Xinjiang in the aftermath of Wali Khan's invasion of the region and on the eve of the Muslim Rebellion of the 1860s.

Kazakhtan Religion