When Chokan Valikhanov died of tuberculosis in 1865, aged only 29, the Russian academician
Nikolai Veselovsky described his short life as ‘a meteor flashing across the field of oriental studies’.
Set against his remarkable output of official reports, articles and research into the history, culture
and ethnology of Central Asia, and more important, his Kazakh people, it remains an entirely
appropriate accolade.
Born in 1835 into a wealthy and powerful Kazakh clan, he was one of the first ‘people of the steppe’
to receive a Russian education and military training. Soon after graduating from Siberian Cadet
Corps at Omsk, he was taking part in reconnaissance missions deep into regions of Central Asia
that had seldom been visited by outsiders. His famous mission to Kashgar in Chinese Turkestan,
which began in June 1858 and lasted for more than a year, saw him in disguise as a Tashkent merchant, risking his life to gather vital information not just on current events, but also on the ethnic
make-up, geography, flora and fauna of this unknown region. Journeys to Kuldzha, to Issyk-Kol
and to other remote and unmapped places quickly established his reputation, even though he always remained inorodets – an outsider to the Russian establishment. Nonetheless, he was elected
to membership of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society and spent time in St Petersburg,
where he was given a private audience by the Tsar. Wherever he went he made his mark, striking
up strong and lasting friendships with the likes of the great Russian explorer and geographer Pyotr
Petrovich Semyonov-Tian-Shansky and the writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
Despite his remarkable insights, Valikhanov is not well known in the English-speaking world. This
is the first collection of his writings translated into English since four essays were published in
1865. It includes several of his most important works, including the report on his visit to Kashgar
and a number of essays on the history and genealogy of the Kazakh people. These fill an important gap in the literary history of Central Asia and hopefully will stimulate further interest in this
remarkable man.
Author(s): Arch Tait (tr.), Nick Fielding (ed.)
Publisher: The Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Irela
Year: 2020
Language: English
Pages: 320
City: London
Front Cover
Contents
Foreword
Editor’s introduction
Editor’s acknowledgements
Chapter 1 The Genealogical Tree of the Kazakh Khans and Sultans
Chapter 2 The Genealogy of the Kazakhs
Chapter 3 The Bayanauyl District – A Letter from Omsk, 10 March 1857
Chapter 4 On Kazakh Rule in the Great Zhuz
Chapter 5 The Western Region of the Chinese Empire and the City of Kuldzha: The Diary of an Expedition to Kuldzha in 1856
Chapter 6 Trade in Kuldzha and Chuguchak
Chapter 7 An Expedition to Kashgar: Conditions in Altyshahr, or Six Eastern Cities of the Chinese Province of Nanlu (Little Bukharia) in 1858–59
Chapter 8 A Note on the Kokand Khanate
Chapter 9 On the Western Region of the Chinese Empire
Chapter 10 An Outline of Dzhungaria (Abridged)
Chapter 11 A Geographical Sketch of the Trans-Ili Region
Chapter 12 The Kazakhs’ Nomadic Territory
Chapter 13 The Kazakh Great Horde
Chapter 14 Stories and Legends of the Kazakh Great Horde
Chapter 15 Historical Legends of the Batyrs of the Eighteenth Century
Chapter 16 Shona Batyr – An Eighteenth-Century Adventurist
Chapter 17 Draft Materials on the Kyrgyz
Chapter 18 Articles and Notes – The God Tengri
Chapter 19 A Note on the Judicial Reform (Abridged)
Chapter 20 A Letter to Professor Ilya Nikolaevich Berezin
Glossary
Back Cover
