Ablai Khan - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Ablai Khan (1711 – May 23, 1781) was a Kazakh

Kazakhs

The Kazakhs are a Turkic people of the northern parts of Central Asia ....

Khan (title)

Khan is an originally Altaic and subsequently Central Asian title for a sovereign or military ruler, widely used by medieval nomadic Turko-Mongol tribes living to the north of China. 'Khan' is also seen as a title in the Xianbei confederation for their chief between 283 and 289...

of the Middle jüz

Middle Juz

Middle jüz is one of three main traditional divisions of the Kazakh nation. The other two are Great jüz and Little jüz.Middle jüz consists of six tribes. The tribes, in turn, are subdivided into clans, creating a hierarchical pyramid of affiliations. Some historians claim that Middle Juz have...

. Born as Abilmansur, Ablai Khan belonged to the senior branch of descendants of the 15th century founder of the Kazakh state, Janybek Khan

Janybek Khan

----Janybek Khan was a co-leader of a new Kazakh Khanate, following a successful rebellion against the Uzbek Khan Abu'l-Khayr Khan in 1465 and 1466. Janybek's father was Baraq who was poisoned by emirs of the former White Horde...

. In the first half of the 18th century, Ablai Khan proved to be a talented organizer and commander as he headed detachments of the Kazakh militia fighting the Dzungars. He participated in the most significant battles against the Dzungars from the 1720s to the 1750s, for which he was declared a "batyr" ("hero") by the people.

Ablai's activity aimed to create a strong and independent Kazakh state. He headed the unified forces of the Kazakhs and furthered the centralization of state power in Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...

. Until his election as the khan of the three jüzes, Ablai had to compete with Khan Abul Mambet and his descendants of Middle jüz

Middle Juz

for leadership. Initially, Russia recognized Abul Mambet as the Khan of Middle jüz

Middle Juz

, while Ablai was supported by China. Ablai's talent in playing China against Russia gradually made him the unrivalled Khan of the steppe. Unlike Abul Khair Khan

Abul Khair Khan

Abul Khair Khan was leader of the Kazakh Little jüz in present-day western Kazakhstan. During this period, the Little jüz participated in the 1723-1730 war against the Dzungars, following their "Great Disaster" invasion of Kazakh territories...

of Little jüz, Ablai never submitted to Russian rule. In 1771, at the meeting of the representatives of the three jüz

Jüz

A jüz is one of the three main territorial divisions in the Kypchak Plain area that covers much of the contemporary Kazakhstan. Variably, a jüz is believed to be a confederation or alliance of Kazakh nomads...

es, Ablai was elected as the Kazakh khan. Russian Empress

Catherine II of Russia

Catherine II, also known as Catherine the Great , Empress of Russia, was born in Stettin, Pomerania, Prussia on as Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg...

requested that the title of khan should be recognized and officially approved by Russia. To that end, she sent an official letter to Petropavl

Petropavl

Petropavl is a city on the Ishim River in North Kazakhstan Province of Kazakhstan close to the border with Russia, about 261 km west of Omsk along the Trans-Siberian Railway. It is capital of the North Kazakhstan Province...

, where Ablai was expected to receive the title in 1779. He never showed up at the fort, declining Russia's request to appoint him as the khan of Middle jüz

Middle Juz

. In contrast to Ablai, other khans and sultans had been competing for the lavish gifts and stipends of the Emperors of Russia in return for their submission.

During the Qing campaigns against the Dzungars, Ablai Khan chose not to take sides in the Dzungar-Chinese

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

conflict. Once the conflict was settled, Ablai offered his submission to the Qianlong Emperor

Qianlong Emperor

The Qianlong Emperor was the sixth emperor of the Manchu-led Qing Dynasty, and the fourth Qing emperor to rule over China proper. The fourth son of the Yongzheng Emperor, he reigned officially from 11 October 1735 to 8 February 1796...

. Ablai was confirmed as Kazakh khan by both the Chinese and the Russians. He led numerous campaigns against Kokand Khanate

Khanate of Kokand

The Khanate of Kokand was a state in Central Asia that existed from 1709–1883 within the territory of modern eastern Uzbekistan, southern Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan...

and the Kyrgyz

Kyrgyz

The Kyrgyz are a Turkic ethnic group found primarily in Kyrgyzstan.-Etymology:There are several etymological theories on the ethnonym "Kyrgyz."...

. In the last campaign his troops liberated many cities in Southern Kazakhstan and even captured Tashkent. Then he proceeded to present-day Kyrgyzstan and won a furious battle with troops of local warlords.
Upon his death in 1781 he was interred in the Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasavi

Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasavi

The Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi is an unfinished mausoleum in the city of Turkestan, in southern Kazakhstan. The structure was commissioned in 1389 by Timur, who ruled the area as part of the expansive Mongol Empire, to replace a smaller 12th-century mausoleum of the famous Turkic poet and...

in Hazrat-e Turkestan

Hazrat-e Turkestan

-References:*Hill, John E. Through the Jade Gate to Rome: A Study of the Silk Routes during the Later Han Dynasty, 1st to 2nd Centuries CE. BookSurge, Charleston, South Carolina. ISBN 978-1-4392-2134-1.*Hulsewé, A. F. P. and Loewe, M. A. N. 1979...

.

One of his descendants is Shokan Walikhanuli (1835-1865), a Kazakhstani scholar and historian.

The life of Ablai Khan is the subject material for the 2005 Kazakhstani film Nomad.

Sources

Alexei I. Levshin, (St. Petersburg,. 1832).
Famous Kazakhs Website on the Kazakh Diaspora (Internet Archive)
History of Kazakhstan to 1700 Encyclopædia Britannica Online.

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