Sahan Dosova
Encyclopedia
Sahan Dosova was a Kazakhstan
i woman, also known as Sakhan Dosova, believed by many to have been the oldest person to have ever lived.
, a French woman
who died in 1997 with the longest lifespan in history, aged 122 years, 164 days.
in Kazakhstan
. However, there are doubts about the claims made on behalf of Sahan because she did not have a birth certificate and it was common for people at the time to make up their own date of birth.
Another bone of contention is that at the time of her alleged 130th birthday her only living daughter was 76 years old, meaning that Dosova would have been 54 years old when she gave birth.
The twice married Dosova was widowed at the Battle of Stalingrad
during the Second World War
. Only three of her children remain alive. She attributed her long life to her sense of humour. According to her caregiver and eldest granddaughter, Dosova grew up as an orphan during her infant and childhood years.
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...
i woman, also known as Sakhan Dosova, believed by many to have been the oldest person to have ever lived.
Longevity claim
If her claimed date of birth (27 March 1879) is correct, Sahan would have been old at the time of her death on 9 May 2009. This is eight years longer than Jeanne CalmentJeanne Calment
Jeanne Louise Calment was a French supercentenarian who had the longest confirmed human life span in history, living to the age of . She lived in Arles, France, for her entire life, and outlived both her daughter and grandson. She became especially well known from the age of 113, when the...
, a French woman
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
who died in 1997 with the longest lifespan in history, aged 122 years, 164 days.
Doubts
Dosova's case was first uncovered during a censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
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...
. However, there are doubts about the claims made on behalf of Sahan because she did not have a birth certificate and it was common for people at the time to make up their own date of birth.
Another bone of contention is that at the time of her alleged 130th birthday her only living daughter was 76 years old, meaning that Dosova would have been 54 years old when she gave birth.
Death
Dosova died on 9 May 2009, allegedly aged 130 years, about a month after she slipped and fell on the bathroom floor of a flat gifted to her on account of her old age. "She broke her hip in the fall and never recovered", one of Sahan's neighbors said.Personal life
In an interview in March 2009, Sahan had said: "I don't have any special secret. I've never taken pills and if I was ill, I used granny's remedies to cure me. I have never eaten sweets. I don't like them." But she confessed that she loved kurt, a local delicacy made of salty dried cottage cheese, and talkan (ground wheat).The twice married Dosova was widowed at the Battle of Stalingrad
Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad was a major battle of World War II in which Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in southwestern Russia. The battle took place between 23 August 1942 and 2 February 1943...
during the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Only three of her children remain alive. She attributed her long life to her sense of humour. According to her caregiver and eldest granddaughter, Dosova grew up as an orphan during her infant and childhood years.