CERES Country Profile - Kazakhstan

7/30/2019 CERES Country Profile - Kazakhstan

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Country in a Box:

Republic of KazakhstanRespublika Kazakhstan

Palace of Peace and Reconciliation, Kazakhstan

A Teachers Guide

Compiled by the Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European StudiesEdmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown Universityhttp://ceres.georgetown.edu
http://www.ceres.georgetown.edu/http://www.ceres.georgetown.edu/


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Kazakhstan in a Box: Table of Contents

Facts at a Glance 3-6

History of Kazakhstan 7-9

Timeline of Major Events in Kazakh History 10

Kazakh Culture 11-12

Folklore: Aldar Kose Tricks the Bai 13

Additional Resources 14

Interior of a Kazakh Yurt

Kunzhamila Sakhain


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Kazakhstan: Facts at a Glance_______Text taken directly from Central Intelligence Agency. The World Factbook: Kazakhstan.Available at: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/kz.html

Country Name:Kazakhstan

Capital:Astana

Background: EthnicKazakhs, a mix of Turkicand Mongol nomadic tribeswho migrated into the regionin the 13th century, wererarely united as a singlenation. The area wasconquered by Russia in the18th century, andKazakhstan became a SovietRepublic in 1936. Duringthe 1950s and 1960sagricultural "Virgin Lands"program, Soviet citizenswere encouraged to help cultivate Kazakhstan's northern pastures. This influx of immigrants(mostly Russians, but also some other deported nationalities) skewed the ethnic mixture andenabled non-ethnic Kazakhs to outnumber natives. Independence in 1991 drove many of thesenewcomers to emigrate. Kazakhstan's economy is larger than those of all the other Central Asian

states largely due to the country's vast natural resources. Current issues include: developing acohesive national identity; expanding the development of the country's vast energy resources andexporting them to world markets; diversifying the economy outside the oil, gas, and miningsectors; enhancing Kazakhstan's economic competitiveness; developing a multiparty parliamentand advancing political and social reform; and strengthening relations with neighboring statesand other foreign powers.

Location: Central Asia, northwest of China; a small portion west of the Ural (Zhayyq) River ineastern-most Europe

Area: Total: 2,724,900 sq kmCountry comparison to the world: 9Land: 2,699,700 sq kmWater: 25,200 sq km

Area - Comparative: Slightly less than four times the size of Texas


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A gold sun with 32 rays above a soaring goldensteppe eagle, both centered on a sky bluebackground; the hoist side displays a nationalornamental pattern "koshkar-muiz" (the horns of

the ram) in gold; the blue color is of religioussignificance to the Turkic peoples of thecountry, and so symbolizes cultural and ethnicunity; it also represents the endless sky as wellas water; the sun, a source of life and energy,exemplifies wealth and plenitude; the sun's raysare shaped like grain, which is the basis ofabundance and prosperity; the eagle hasappeared on the flags of Kazakh tribes forcenturies and represents freedom, power, andthe flight to the future

Terrain: vast flat steppe extending from the Volga in the west to the Altai Mountains in the eastand from the plains of western Siberia in the north to oases and deserts of Central Asia in thesouth

Elevation extremes: Lowest point: Vpadina Kaundy -132 m

Highest point: Khan Tangiri Shyngy (Pik Khan-Tengri) 6,995 m

Natural Resources: major deposits of petroleum, natural gas, coal, iron ore, manganese, chromeore, nickel, cobalt, copper, molybdenum, lead, zinc, bauxite, gold, uranium

Environment - Current Issues: Radioactive or toxic chemical sites associated with formerdefense industries and test ranges scattered throughout the country pose health risks for humansand animals; industrial pollution is severe in some cities; because the two main rivers that flowedinto the Aral Sea have been diverted for irrigation, it is drying up and leaving behind a harmfullayer of chemical pesticides and natural salts; these substances are then picked up by the windand blown into noxious dust storms; pollution in the Caspian Sea; soil pollution from overuse of

agricultural chemicals and salination from poor infrastructure and wasteful irrigation practices

Population: 17,948,816 (July 2014 est.); Country comparison to the world: 64

Urbanization: urban population: 53.6% of total population (2011)

Life Expectancy at Birth: total population: 70.24 yearsCountry comparison to the world: 150

male: 64.98 yearsfemale: 75.17 years (2014 est.)Ethnic Groups: Kazakh (Qazaq) 63.1%, Russian23.7%, Uzbek 2.8%, Ukrainian 2.1%, Uighur 1.4%,Tatar 1.3%, German 1.1%, other 4.5% (2009 census)

Religions: Muslim 47%, Russian Orthodox 44%,Protestant 2%, other 7%ce

Education Expenditures:3.1% of GDP (2009)Country comparison to the world: 138Government Type: Republic; authoritarianpresidential rule

Independence: 16 December 1991 (from the SovietUnion)

Legal System: Civil law system influenced byRoman-Germanic law and by the theory and practiceof the Russian Federation


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The Tenge:Commemorative banknote 10000 tengedevoted to 20 years of Independence. On the 100 notethere is a watermark with the portrait of Ablay han. In thecenter of the banknote (backside) is the Hodja AhmedYassavi's mausoleum. The 50 tenge note shows rockpaintings of Mangistau. On the 1 tenge note you can seeAl-Farabis geozetrical constructions and formulations.

(http://www.nationalbank.kz/?docid=29 )

Executive Branch: Chief of state: President Nursultan A. NazarbaevHead of Government: Prime Minister Karim Masimov

Legislative Branch: Bicameral Parliament consists of the Senate (47 seats; 15 members areappointed by the president; 32 members elected by local assemblies and the Mazhilis (107 seats;

9 out of the 107 Mazhilis members elected by the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan, apresidentially appointed advisory body designed to represent the country's ethnic minorities;non-appointed members are popularly elected to serve five-year terms)

Judicial Branch: Supreme Court (44 members); Constitutional Council (seven members)

Political Parties and Leaders: Nur Otan (Bakhytzhan Zhumagulov); Azat NSDP (co-chairedby Bolat Abilov and Zharmakhan Tuyakbay); and Ak Zhol Party (Bright Path) (AlikhanBaymenov)

National Anthem: Name: "Menin Qazaqstanim" (My Kazakhstan)

lyrics/music: Zhumeken Nazhimedenov and Nursultan Nazarbayev/Shamshi Kaldayakov

Economy - Overview: Kazakhstan, geographically the largest of the former Soviet republics,excluding Russia, possesses enormous fossil fuel reserves and plentiful supplies of otherminerals and metals, such as uranium, copper, and zinc. It also has a large agricultural sectorfeaturing livestock and grain. In 2002 Kazakhstan became the first country in the former SovietUnion to receive an investment-grade creditrating, and from 2000 through 2007,Kazakhstan's economy grew more than 9% peryear. Extractive industries, particularlyhydrocarbons and mining, have been the enginesof this growth. However, geographic limitationsand decaying infrastructure present seriousobstacles. Landlocked, with restricted access tothe high seas, Kazakhstan relies on its neighborsto export its products, especially oil and gas.Although its Caspian Sea ports and rail linescarrying oil have been upgraded, civil aviationhas been neglected. Telecoms are improving, butrequire considerable investment, as does theinformation technology base. Supply anddistribution of electricity can be erratic. At theend of 2007, global financial markets froze upand the loss of capital inflows to Kazakhstanibanks caused a credit crunch. The subsequent andsharp fall of oil and commodity prices in 2008aggravated the economic situation, andKazakhstan plunged into recession. While theglobal financial crisis took a significant toll onKazakhstan's economy, it has rebounded well. In


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response to the crisis, Kazakhstan's government devalued the tenge (Kazakhstan's currency) tostabilize market pressures and injected $19 billion in economic stimulus. Rising commodityprices have helped revive Kazakhstan's economy, which registered 7% growth in 2010. Barring adramatic decline in oil prices, strong growth is expected to continue in 2011. Despite solidmacroeconomic indicators, the government realizes that its economy suffers from an

overreliance on oil and extractive industries, the so-called "Dutch disease." In response,Kazakhstan has embarked on an ambitious diversification program, aimed at developing targetedsectors like transport, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, petrochemicals and food processing.

GDP (Purchasing Power Parity): $243.6 billion (2013 est.). Country comparison to the world:53GDP - Real Growth Rate: 5% (2013 est.). Country comparison to the world: 57GDP - Per Capita (PPP): $14,100 (2013 est.). Country comparison to the world: 96

GDP - Composition by Sector: agriculture: 5.2%, industry: 37.9% services: 56.9% (2011 est.)Labor Force: 8.611 million (2010 est.); Country comparison to the world: 54

Agriculture - Products: Grain (mostly spring wheat), cotton; livestock

Industries: Oil, coal, iron ore, manganese, chromite, lead, zinc, copper, titanium, bauxite, gold,silver, phosphates, sulfur, uranium, iron and steel; tractors and other agricultural machinery,electric motors, construction materials

Current Account Balance: $1.965 billion (2013 est.). Country comparison to the world: 41

Exports - Commodities: oil and oil products 59%, ferrous metals 19%, chemicals 5%,machinery 3%

Exports - Partners: China 19.3%, Italy 18.1%, Netherlands 8.8%, France 6.6%, Switzerland5.8%, Austria 5.8% (2012)

Imports - Partners: China 28%, Ukraine 10.9%, Germany 8.5%, US 7.9% (2012)

Debt - External: $131.3 billion (31 December 2013 est.)

Exchange Rates: tenge (KZT) per US dollar - 151.8 (2013 est.)

Military Service Age and Obligation: 18 years of age for compulsory military service;conscript service obligation - 2 years

Military expenditures: 1.21% of GDP (2012). Country comparison to the world: 84


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The Golden Man

In the spring of 1969, a farmerexposed a small gold plaque--treasure from a burial in a largekurgan (burial mound), one ofseveral that broke the flatness of thefield. The central tomb in the kurganhad been plundered in antiquity, butthe robbers had missed a rich burialhidden in the side of the mound.

Led by Kemal Akishevarcheologists soon uncovered asarcophagus and constructed fromlarge fir logs, within which they

found a skeleton of a young man 17-18 years old, covered with 4,000gold ornaments in Scythe-SakasAnimal style.The discovery datesback to the 5th-4th c.c. BC. It is nowa cultural and national icon ofKazakhstan.

Although the burial was said tobe of a man, the headdress remindedthe Kazakh excavators of hats wornby brides in traditional weddingceremonies. Kazakh bridal hats, partof a dowry passed from generation togeneration, are also decorated with

ornamental plaques of gold andsilver cast from coins. Three earringsadorned with turquoise, andcarnelian and white beads, perhapsfrom a necklace, suggest moreelaborate jewelry than is usuallyassociated with male Saka warriors.(http://www.archaeology.org/9709/abstracts/gold.html andhttp://www.museumofgold.kz/en/expo/ oldman/

History of Kazakhstan_______

Text taken directly from Department of State Website: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/kztoc.html

The Beginnings: Humans have inhabited present-dayKazakstan since the earliest Stone Age, generally pursuingthe nomadic pastoralism for which the region's climate andterrain are best suited. The earliest well-documented state inthe region was the Turkic Kaganate, which came intoexistence in the sixth century A.D. The Qarluqs, aconfederation of Turkic tribes, established a state in what isnow eastern Kazakstan in 766. In the eighth and ninthcenturies, portions of southern Kazakstan were conquered byArabs, who also introduced Islam. The Oghuz Turkscontrolled western Kazakstan from the ninth through the

eleventh centuries; the Kimak and Kipchak peoples, also ofTurkic origin, controlled the east at roughly the same time.The large central desert of Kazakstan is still called Dashti-Kipchak, or the Kipchak Steppe.

In the late ninth century, the Qarluq state was destroyedby invaders who established the large Qarakhanid state,which occupied a region known as Transoxania, the areanorth and east of the Oxus River (the present-day Syrdariya),extending into what is now China. Beginning in the earlyeleventh century, the Qarakhanids fought constantly amongthemselves and with the Seljuk Turks to the south. In the

course of these conflicts, parts of present-day Kazakstanshifted back and forth between the combatants. TheQarakhanids, who accepted Islam and the authority of theArab Abbasid caliphs of Baghdad during their dominantperiod, were conquered in the 1130s by the Karakitai, aTurkic confederation from northern China. In the mid-twelfth century, an independent state of Khorazm along theOxus River broke away from the weakening Karakitai, butthe bulk of the Karakitai state lasted until the invasion ofChinggis (Genghis) Khan in 1219-21.

The present-day Kazaks became a recognizable group in

the mid-fifteenth century, when clan leaders broke awayfrom Abul Khayr, leader of the Uzbeks, to seek their ownterritory in the lands of Semirech'ye, between the Chu andTalas rivers in present-day southeastern Kazakstan. The firstKazak leader was Khan Kasym (r. 1511-23), who united theKazak tribes into one people. In the sixteenth century, whenthe Nogai Horde and Siberian khanates broke up, clans fromeach jurisdiction joined the Kazaks. The Kazaks


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subsequently separated into three new hordes: the GreatHorde, which controlled Semirech'ye and southernKazakstan; the Middle Horde, which occupied north-centralKazakstan; and the Lesser Horde, which occupied westernKazakstan.

The Russian Era: Russian traders and soldiers began toappear on the northwestern edge of Kazak territory in theseventeenth century, when Cossacks established the fortsthat later became the cities of Oral (Ural'sk) and Atyrau.Forced westward in what they call their Great Retreat, theKazaks were increasingly caught between the Kalmyks andthe Russians. The expanding Quqon (Kokand) Khanate tothe south forced the last of the independent Hordes (theGreat Horde) to choose Russian protection, which seemed tothem the lesser of two evils.

The Kazaks began to resist Russian control almost as

soon as it became complete. The first mass uprising was ledby Khan Kene (Kenisary Kasimov) of the Middle Horde,whose followers fought the Russians between 1836 and1847. Khan Kene is now considered a Kazak national hero.

The final disruption of nomadism began in the 1890s,when many Russian settlers were introduced into the fertilelands of northern and eastern Kazakstan. Starving anddisplaced, many Kazaks joined in the general Central Asianresistance to conscription into the Russian imperial army,which the tsar ordered in July 1916 as part of the effortagainst Germany in World War I

In 1917 a group of secular nationalists attempted to setup an independent national government. This state lastedless than two years (1918-20) before surrendering to theBolshevik authorities, who then sought to preserve Russiancontrol under a new political system.

In 1936 the territory was made a full Soviet republic.From 1929 to 1934, during the period when Soviet leaderJoseph V. Stalin was trying to collectivize agriculture,Kazakstan endured repeated famines because peasants hadslaughtered their livestock in protest against Sovietagricultural policy. In that period, at least 1.5 millionKazaks and 80 percent of the republic's livestock died.Thousands more Kazaks tried to escape to China, althoughmost starved in the attempt.

Many European Soviet citizens and much of Russia'sindustry were relocated to Kazakstan during World War II,when Nazi armies threatened to capture all the Europeanindustrial centers of the Soviet Union. Many more non-Kazaks arrived in the years 1953-65, during the so-called

Abai Qunanbaiuli (also known as

Kunanbaev)1845-1904

Kazakh poet and educator, father ofmodern Kazakh written literature.

Born to the family of KunanbaiUskanbaev, a prominent feudal lord,Abai studied at a madrasah (mosqueschool) under Mullah Akhmet-Rizain Semipalatinsk and also attended aRussian school. The humanisticviews of eastern poets and scholarsfor example, Firdawsi, Nawai,Nizami, Fizuli, and Avicennawereinstrumental in shaping AbaiKunanbaevs conception of life. The

Russian classics had a profoundimpact on himhe translated I. A.Krylovs fables, poems by M. Iu.

Lermontov, and parts of EvgeniiOnegin by A. S. Pushkinand heurged his people to acquire aknowledge of Russian culture.

Abai Kunanbaevs poems, which are

rooted in the experience of a life oftoil, called for an end to ignoranceand oppression. He ridiculed Islamicdogma and the outmoded customs of

the ancestral aul (village) andprotested the servile position ofwomen. He was an unsurpassedmaster of Kazakh poetry

(http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionar.com/Abai+Kunanbaev


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Virgin Lands campaign of Soviet premier Nikita S. Khrushchev (in office 1956-64). Under thatprogram, huge tracts of Kazak grazing land were put to the plow for the cultivation of wheat andother cereal grains. Still more settlers came in the late 1960s and 1970s, when the governmentpaid handsome bonuses to workers participating in a program to relocate Soviet industry close tothe extensive coal, gas, and oil deposits of Central Asia. One consequence of the decimation of

the nomadic Kazak population and the in-migration of non-Kazaks was that by the 1970sKazakstan was the only Soviet republic in which the eponymous nationality was a minority in itsown republic.

Independence: Text below from:http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/313790/Kazakhstan

The 1980s brought glimmers of politicalindependence, as well as conflict, as the centralgovernment's hold progressively weakened.Nazarbayev remained strongly committed to the

perpetuation of the Soviet Union throughout the springand summer of 1991. He took this position largelybecause he considered the republics too interdependenteconomically to survive separation. Proving himself askilled negotiator, Nazarbayev bridged the gapbetween the republic's Kazaks and Russians at a timeof increasing nationalism. The independent Republicof Kazakstan was proclaimed in 1991.

Nazarbayevsleadership was initially restrained,relative to the leadership of neighbouring CentralAsian states; however, over time it grew increasinglyauthoritarian. Nazarbayev was reelected to thepresidency in 1999 and again in 2005.

In 1994 the government decided to graduallytransfer the national capital fromAlmaty,located inthe countrys southeast, toAqmola,located in thenorth-centre, in the following years. The capital wasofficially moved in 1997, and in May 1998 the citywas renamedAstana.At the beginning of the 21stcentury, the rapid transformation of the capital was ledby a dramatic construction boom directed byNazarbayev and fueled largely by the countrys

growing petroleum revenues. Despite some periods oftension, Kazakhstans relations with Russiain theyears following independence remained close, markedby economic partnerships, treaties of accord, andcooperation on matters of security and intelligence. Inconsideration of both demographic and culturalfactors, Russian continues to function as an officiallanguage.

Nursultan Nazarbaey

Nazarbayev was the son of Kazakhpeasants. He graduated from a technicalschool in Dneprodzerzhinsk. He worked asa steelworker and engineer at theKaraganda plant off and on from 1960 to1977. He joined the Communist Party ofthe Soviet Union (CPSU) in 1962 and rosethrough the ranks, becoming a full memberof the Kazakhstan Politburo in 1979.Having long decried Moscows economicexploitation of Central Asia, he carefullynurtured Kazakhstans independence and in1991 became president of nation. In April2011, running against token opposition,Nazarbayev was elected to another termwith more than 95 percent of the vote.International observers deemed the electionunfair, noting widespread irregularities.(http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/top
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/16771/Almatyhttp://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/39656/Astanahttp://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/39656/Astanahttp://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/39656/Astanahttp://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/39656/Astanahttp://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/39656/Astanahttp://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/16771/Almaty


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Timeline of Major Events in Kazakh History_______Text taken directly from BBC News. Timeline: Kazakhstan. Available at:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/country_profiles/1298395.stm

1st-8th centuries - Turkic-speaking and Mongol tribes invade and settle in what is nowKazakhstan and Central Asia.

8th century - Arab invaders introduce Islam.

1219-24 - Mongol tribes led by Genghis Khan invade Kazakhstan and Central Asia. Later theybecome assimilated by Turkic tribes that make up the majority in their empire.

Late 15th century - With the formation of the Kazakh khanate, the Kazakhs emerge as a distinctethnic group.

Early 17th century - Kazakhs split into three tribal unions, the Great, Middle and LesserZhuzes, or Hordes, which were led by Khans.

1731-42 - The Khans of the three Zhuzes formally join Russia in pursuit of protection frominvasions from the east by the Mongols.

1868-1916 - Thousands of Russian and Ukrainian peasants are brought in to settle Kazakh lands;first industrial enterprises set up.

1916 - A major anti-Russian rebellion is repressed, with about 150,000 people killed and morethan 300,000 fleeing abroad.

Late 1920s-1930sOver 1 million die during destructive campaign to settle nomadic Kazakhsand collectivize agriculture.

1936 - Kazakhstan becomes a full union republic of the USSR.

1949 - The first nuclear test explosion is carried out at the Semipalatinsk nuclear test ground ineastern Kazakhstan.

1991 -Nursultan Nazarbayev wins uncontested presidential elections; Kazakhstan declaresindependence from the Soviet Union

1998 -New capital is moved and renamed Astana.

2001 - First major pipeline for transporting oil from Caspian to world markets opens

2007 - Parliament votes to allow President Nazarbayev to stay in office for an unlimited numberof terms.


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The Kazakh Dombra

The highest ranking guest is served a sheep's headcooked in a special way and distributes it to other guestsaccording to local tradition (old men, children, close anddistant relatives).

The meat is eaten with boiled pasta sheet and a meat brothcalled sorpa usually sewed in traditional Kazakh bowls called'pialas'. At the end of the meal kumys is sewed then tea.Today the dastarkhan gathers as well as Kazakhs many othernationalities: Russians, Tatars, Ukrainians, Uzbeks, Germans,Uigurs, Dungalts and Koreans.These people who have lived peacefully with the Kazakhs have influenced their cuisine,everyday life and culture and adopted some Kazakh traditions.

Today's Kazakh cuisine includes traditional Kazakh dishes as well as Uzbek, Uigur, Russian,Tatar, Korean dishes that the Kazakhs like.

Today, the range of ingredients available locally has considerably widened and influenced thenational cuisine accordingly.

Traditionally Kazakh cuisine was mostly based on meat and milk products. But more recentlyvegetables, fruits, fish, seafood, baked dishes and sweets have been added to the list of delightsKazakhs offer to their guests.

Kazakhstan Music: http://www.kazakhstanlive.com/5en.aspx?sr=4

Kazakh music is nomadic and rural, and is closely related to Uzbek and Kyrgyz folk forms.Travelling bards, healers and mystics called akyn are popular, and usually sing either

unaccompanied or with a string instrument, especially a dombra or kobyz. Akyn performancecontests are called aitys; their lyrics are often social or political, and are generally improvised,witty remarks.Traditional Kazakh music includes ensembles using instruments like the kobyz (qobuz) ordombra, as well as kyl-kobyz, sherter, sybyzgy, saszyrnay and shankobyz; the most commoninstrumental traditions are called kobizovaia, sibiz-govaia, and dombrovaia. Many songs areconnected to ancient mythology and folk religious beliefs (kui), while others were composedafter the rise of authored works (kuishi) by early songwriters (jiray) like Mahmud Kashgari,Kaztygana, Dospanbeta, Shalkiiza and Aktamberdi. The kuishi tradition is said to have peaked inthe 19th century, when composers like Kurmangazy, Madi Baliuly and Birjan and singers likeAhan were active. In the 20th century, the first major star was the singer Mayra Shamsutdinova.

Dombra:The dombra is a Kazakh stringed musical

instrument played by plucking. It has a woodenframe and two strings. Many traditional songs areplayed with dombra, which is closely linked tonomadic life. It evokes the first pages of

Beshkarmak


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The Kazakh Kobyz

Kazakhstans history and became a link stretching across generations.

As famous poet Kadir Mirzaliev said real Kazakh is not Kazakh, real Kazakh is dombra!.

Kazakh people still respect and play this instrument. In any Kazakh home you will find at leastone dombra player.

Dombra varies in length, neck, shape of corpus and amount of frets according to the

region. In western Kazakhstan you will find long, thin neck, pear-shaped dombras with 13-14frets. Dombra in Central Kazakhstan has a wide and short neck, a triangle form, with 6-8 frets.

Kobyz: http://en.abyroi.kz/persons/english-kobyz/The Kobyz (Kazakh: ) or kyl-kobyz is an ancient Kazakhstring instrument. It has two strings made of horsehair. Theresonating cavity is usually covered with goat leather.Traditionallykobyzes were sacred instruments, owned by shamans and bakses(traditional spiritual medics). According to legends, the kobyz andits music could banish evil spirits, sicknesses and death.

Folklore: Aldar Kose Tricks the Bai

_______Text taken directly from: http://silkroadcaravan.blogspot.com/2006/06/aldar-kose-tricks-bai.html

On a bitterly cold winter's day, Aldar Kose was travelling across the steppe. "Crunch, crunch,"went his rickety horse's hooves through the snow. "Brr, brr," went Aldar Kose, as he shivered inhis thin, hole-ridden coat. As he struggled along, he saw the local bai, or rich man, headedtoward him. Immediately, Aldar Kose threw open his coat and whipped off his hat.

"Greetings, Aldar Kose! Why, you are burning up. What is the matter?" said the bai."It is this magic coat," explained Aldar Kose. "It is far too warm. The holes let all of the cold out,and what little cool air does come in, blows right out through the next hole. I am melting fromthe heat."

Upon hearing this story, you would think that the bai shouldhave known better. After all, Aldar Kose was known far andwide as the cleverest and trickiest man on the steppe. But thebai only heard that Aldar Kose had something wondrous thathe himself did not, and was gripped by the desire to have itfor his own.

"My poor man," said the bai. "How you suffer! Let me help

(http://www.denisovka.info/image.php?u=372&dateline=1241807510)


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you. I will trade my fur coat and hat, which are just right, for your holey, too-warm ones, so thatyou may be more comfortable on your journey." Aldar Kose thought about the bai's offer, hidinghis smile behind his hand. "Sir, you are generous, but I cannot accept the trade," he said. "Thiscoat was enchanted and given to me by my father, whom I dearly miss."

Now the bai could not stand not to get what he wanted, and so wanted the coat even more. Hesaid, "I see it is difficult for you to let me help you. Take my coat and hat, and my horse, whichrides like the wind. The breeze will cool you."

Aldar Kose hesitated a moment. "On the one hand, I should honor my father's warning, though Idon't recall what it was. On the other hand, he always did encourage generosity in others, so Ishould allow you to help me." The bai could no longer hide his impatience to own the magiccoat. "Then you cannot refuse my generous offer. Take the fur coat, hat, horse and this bag ofgold for your father's wisdom, give me that coat and consider yourself fortunate in the trade!"

Well, quick as a flash, Aldar Kose surrendered that coat of holes and the tired old horse to the

bai. He put on the fur coat and hat, took the bag of gold, and mounted his new horse. The bainow sat on the old horse, wearing the holey coat and looking very pleased with himself. AsAldar Kose turned to ride away, he paused. "Aha! I've just remembered my father's warning," hesaid. "The magic in the coat works only for me. Good-bye!"

Select Bibliography of Sources on Kazakhstan

Aitken, Jonathan. Nazarbayev and the making of Kazakhstan. London ; New York : Continuum,2009

Bonora, Gian Luca; Niccol Pianciola and Paolo Sartori (Eds). Kazakhstan : religions and

society in the history of Central Eurasia. Torino ; New York : U. Allemandi, (2009)

Dave, Bhavna. Kazakhstan : ethnicity, language and power. London ; New York : Routledge,2007

Schatz, Edward. Modern clan politics : the power of "blood" in Kazakhstan and beyond. Seattle :University of Washington Press, c2004.

Winner, Thomas Gustav. The oral art and literature of the Kazakhs of Russian Central Asia.Durham, N.C., Duke University Press, 1958

Salhani, Claude. Islam without a veil: Kazakhstan's path of moderation. Washington, D.C. :Potomac Books, c2011.

Olcott, Martha Brill. The Kazakhs. Stanford, Calif. : Hoover Institution Press, StanfordUniversity Press, 1995

Khlid, Qurbnal. An Islamic biographical dictionary of the Eastern Kazakh Steppe, 1770-1912. Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2005


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Akshalova, Bakhytgul (ed.). Kazakh traditions and ways Almaty : "Dyke-Press", 2002

Robbins, Christopher. Apples are from Kazakhstan : the land that disappeared. Ashland, OH :Atlas Books, 2008

Martin, Virginia. Law and custom in the steppe : the Kazakhs of the Middle Horde and Russiancolonialism in the nineteenth century. Richmond, Surrey : Curzon, 2001

Privratsky, Bruce G. Muslim Turkistan : Kazak religion and collective memory. Richmond,Surrey : Curzon Press, 2001

Svanberg, Ingvar. Contemporary Kazaks : cultural and social perspectives. Richmond : Curzon,1999

Weller, R. Charles. Rethinking Kazakh and Central Asian nationhood : a challenge to prevailing

western views. Los Angeles : Asia Research Associates, 2006

Documents

CERES Country Profile - Kazakhstan