I highly recommend this book if you’re interested in the history of the Eurasian steppe. It’s specifically about Kazakh ethnogenesis but touches on many related subjects such as state formation and the ethnogenesis of other groups like the Uzbeks and Ukrainians.
Qazaqs were political vagabonds or ambitious brigands, and their way of life was known as qazaqlïq. When Babur lost his kingdom to the Uzbeks and was wandering in the political and geographical wasteland, he described this phase of his life as his qazaqlïq.
The terms “qazaq” and “qazaqlïq” became widespread in the Qipchaq steppe and Transoxiana in the 15th century.
Why? The Mongol successor states were past their prime and instability produced more vagabonds and brigands. There was a need for a term to describe this phenomenon.
The ethnonym “Uzbek” was first applied to the nomadic population of the Golden Horde after Uzbek Khan (r. 1313–41) made Islam the religion of state. The Jochid Ulus became the Uzbek Ulus.
Later, “Uzbek” became fixed as a designation for nomads of the eastern Qipchaq steppe and fell out of use for those of the western Qipchaq steppe. The eastern Qipchaq steppe included what is now modern Kazakhstan and neighboring regions of Russia.
Due to a political conflict that lasted generations between two Chinggisid clans, the Abu al-Khayrids (Shibanids) and the Urusids, the Uzbeks were split into the Qazaq Uzbeks (Uzbak-i qazāq) and the Shibanid Uzbeks (Uzbak-i Shībān).
The Qazaq Uzbeks eventually gave rise to the Kazakhs and the Shibanid Uzbeks contributed to the (modern) Uzbeks.
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