ASTANA – An international expedition to highlight the 550th anniversary of the Kazakh Khanate and the upcoming Astana Day on July 6 has been launched in Uralsk, BNews.kz reported on June 22.
“One of the main issues of national history is the emergence, formation and development of the state,” said head of the expedition and Director of the Regional Centre of History and Archaeology Murat Sdykov. “For the Kazakhs, this process originates from the time of forming the nomadic civilisation and culture that formed the main characteristics of the economic-cultural type, the foundations of language, traditions and customs. The statehood was the result of a long nomadic, tribal, ethno-political evolution in the vast territory in the 15th century that has become the foundation of the formation of the Kazakh ethnic group,” he added.
The expedition will go from Uralsk to Atyrau, Saraishyk, Urda, Orenburg and will return back to Uralsk. All the cities along the itinerary were, at different points in Kazakh history, capitals. Saraishyk was the capital of the Kazakh Khanate in the beginning of the 18th century; Urda was the capital of the Bukeyev Khanate in the middle of the 19th century and Orenburg was an administrative centre of the Kazakh Autonomous Soviet Socialistic Republic from 1922 to 1925.
“Celebrations of the 550th anniversary of the Kazakh Khanate give Russian historians a unique opportunity to pay attention to these important dates based on modern scientific cooperation,” said Denis Maryskin, a scientist at the Western Kazakhstan Public Fund of Science and Education. “A scientific expedition could help scholars hold an active exchange of opinions and relative questions,” he concluded.
The public fund Akzhol with the support of the Uralsk city administration, Atyrau Dosmukhamedov State University and the Western Kazakhstan Centre of History and Archaeology are among the organisers of the exhibition.
Celebrations and events have been held this year to mark the 550th anniversary of the Kazakh Khanate. The Khanate was founded by Kazakh sultans Kerei and Zhanybek. The Kazakh Khanate lasted until the 19th century before it was joined to the Russian Empire.
