Kazakh–Dzungar Wars: Difference between revisions

Military conflicts in central Asia, 1635–1741

The Kazakh–Dzungar Wars were a series of military conflicts between the Kazakh jüzes (three tribal confederations of the Kazakh Khanate) and the Dzungar Khanate lasting from the 17th to the mid-18th century.

In the 15th century, the Oirats—a Western Mongolian people who had recently established their own state—began expanding into the territory of present-day Kazakhstan. Seeking to control key trade routes and fertile agricultural oases in Jetisu, they launched repeated raids into Central Asia, particularly against the Uzbek Khanate, ruled by Abu’l-Khayr Khan. In 1457, the Oirat forces under Uch-Temur Taishi decisively defeated Abu’l-Khayr Khan’s army near the Uzbek capital of Sighnaq after a prolonged battle. Following the defeat, Abulkhair temporarily abandoned Turkistan and returned to the steppes of Desht-i-Kipchak, later reappearing in the Syr Darya region in 1460.

During this period of political instability, two Chinggisid sultans of the Töre Dynasty—Janibek Khan and Kerei Khan—disillusioned with Abulkhair’s rule, led their followers eastward to Semirechye, settling in Moghulistan. There, they founded the Kazakh Khanate in 1465. Their followers, who broke away from the Uzbek Khanate, were initially referred to as “Uzbek Cossacks” (from the Turkic qazaq, meaning “free”),^[2] later simply known as Kazakhs (qazaqtar). In the mid-15th century, the first clashes occurred between the Oirats and Kazakhs in 1530’s. The Oirats and Kazakhs fought with a Kazakh loss, failing to subjugate the Oirats. Over time, Kazakh nomadic camps of the Middle and Little juzes were routed. In pursuit, some Oirat troops crossed the Ishim, Irghiz, and Emba rivers and, skirting the Aral Sea from the north, ravaged the areas around the cities of Urgench and Khiva.

According to the historical chronicle Badai al-Waqai (Persian: بدايع‌الوقايع, lit. ‘Amazing Events‘), written by the late-medieval Tajik historian Wasifi [fa] during the reign of Tayir Khan in the early 16th century, a fortress named Jatan (or Jashan—its exact location remains unverified by modern scholarship) was constructed to defend against Oirat incursions.^{[citation needed]}

The internal fragmentation of the Kazakh Khanate in the late 16th and early 17th centuries weakened its position and contributed to the rise of a new regional power—the Dzungar Khanate, established in the early 17th century. The first phase of clashes between the Kazakhs and the Dzungars began in 1635, shortly after the formation of the Dzungar state.^[4]

The ruler of the Dzungar Khanate, Erdeni Batur, launched major military campaigns into Kazakh territory. In 1635, during the war with the Kazakhs, he captured Sultan Jangir.^[4] He soon launched a second Dzungar campaign into Kazakh lands in 1640. This time, it was also successful for the Dzungar feudal lords, capturing 16,000 Kazakh-Kyrgyz Tokmaks between the Issyk-Kul Lake and the Chu river.

According to Tursun Sultanov, it was precisely his humiliating captivity that made Jangir an irreconcilable enemy of the Dzungars, and he devoted the rest of his life to fighting them. In this struggle, Jangir demonstrated personal heroism and military talent, and made his name famous. For his bravery and military successes, the people nicknamed him “Salqam Jangir Khan”.

In 1643, an army led by Erdeni-Batur invaded Jetisu, Battle of Orbulaq took place in the Orbulaq River gorge on the Ili river, in which a detachment of 600 Kazakh warriors led by Jangir Khan held back a 25,000 to 50,000 Dzungar army in a narrow mountain pass for some time, after which the Dzungars, having reached the plain, engaged in battle with a 20 thousand strong army brought in to help Emir of Samarkand Yalangto’sh Bakhodir; as a result of the battle, the Dzungar army was stopped, and Erdeni-Batur turned back to Dzungaria. This failure led Erdeni to punish those who had not joined the campaign, which caused internal unrest in the Dzungar Khanate. However, he also attempted to organize a new joint campaign with the Volga Kalmyks against the Kazakhs, but failed.

Following this in 1645–1646, Erdeni Batur launched a new campaign against the Kazakhs inflicting heavy casualty and devastations on the Kazakh Khanate. Russian ambassador D. Arshinsky reported that before his arrival at the Dzungar headquarters in May 1646,

“Kontaysha waged war on the Cossack horde of Yangir Tsarevich and killed many people, and took Yangir’s brother, his wife, children, and many people captive.”

Jangir Khan fought the Dzungars with varying degrees of success and fought three major battles with the Dzungar troops in 1635, 1643, and 1652, but he himself was killed in the last battle. According to the Oirat chronicle “Moonlight: The History of Rabjam Zaya-Pandita”, he was killed in battle by the 17 year old Khoshut tayiji Galdamba, which is further supported by Altyngerel’s biography on Galdamba.^[10] He later defeated a Bukharan relief force on Chu and Talas river, killing Abushukher Noyan in 1658.^[11] The border was consolidated on from Ayagöz river to the Talas river.

However, after the death of Erdeni, a succession war began in the Dzungar Khanate, which Sengge won and he had made friendly relations with the Kazakhs. However, after Sengge was killed in a coup by Zotov Batur and Chechen tayiji, Tauke Khan led 80,000-strong army against the Dzungar Khanate, gained fame as a military expert and a brave man in battle, for which he was awarded the honorary title of “batyr” (“hero, brave man”) by his subjects. Which he took Jetisu taking advantage of the succession war.

During which, Galdan had won the war and succeeded Sengge, he defeated the Khoshut Khan, Ochirtu and invaded the Yarkent Khanate. Galdan Boshughtu Khan later invaded Jetisu and Southern Kazakhstan, which he attempted to siege Sayram in 1681 and 1683 but failed.^[18] In 1684, Sairam was captured and directly caused an economic significance and fell into decline. Galdan’s troops soon captured a number of cities of: Menkent, Kharasman, Tashkent and others. The only exceptions was Turkistan, as they were in Tauke’s control, while Tashkent voluntarily recognized Galdan’s authority and was captured in 1684. The Dzungars also captured one of Tauke’s sons, whom they took to Lhasa, confirming Galdan’s serious intentions to impose Lamaism on the Kazakhs. However, the Dzungars abandoned the cities they had previously captured in exception of Jetisu—which they recaptured,^[22] which Galdan Boshugtu invaded Outer Mongolia in 1687, which killed his brother by the Tüsheet Khanate. This caused the First Dzungar–Qing War, Galdan was defeated and killed in 1697. His death marked a new stage in relations between the Dzungars and the Kazakhs.

At the beginning of the 18th century, a struggle broke out between Kazakh associations and the troops of the Dzungar khan, Tsewang Rabtan for control over the oases and trade and craft centers of southern Kazakhstan. In 1698, a 40,000-strong Dzungar army defeated the Kazakh uluses of the Senior jüz, who roamed the Chu and Talas rivers. As a result of the campaign, several thousand people were killed and 10,000 prisoners were taken.

In a letter to the Manchu emperor Kangxi, Tsewang Rabtan justified his wars against the Kazakhs: First, the Kazakh khan, Tauke demanded the return of his son, who had previously been captured by Galdan’s troops. Tsewang Rabtan had agreed and sent him home with a guard of 500 soldiers, but Tauke killed them all, took Uerhude Batur-Tayiji, and captured more than 100 Uriankhai people with their families. Secondly, the Kazakhs attacked the caravan of the daughter of Ayuka Khan, who had been married to the Dzungar Khan. Thirdly, the merchants of Tsewang-Rabtan, returning from Russia, were raided and sacked by Kazakh bandits.

In 1702, the Kazakhs retaliated against Dzungaria for the attack of 1698 and simultaneously attacked the Kalmyks and Dzungars, but the campaign failed. In 1703, an ambassador was sent by Tauke Khan and Kaip Khan to negotiate a ceasefire. It is unknown whether the parties reached an agreement, but in the following years there were no major clashes.

In 1708, a small Dzungar troop invaded the territory of the Senior jüz, which they fled to the city of Tashkent. The advance units of the Dzungar troops reached the Sarysu River in Central Kazakhstan. This caused the first kurultai^[c] took place in the summer of 1710 in the Karakum. The kurultai decided to let Bogenbay Batyr to lead a Kazakh Militia. Bogenbay was able to defeat the Dzungars in a series of battle in 1711–1712.

During 1713–1714, the Dzungars suffered major defeats at the hands of the Kazakhs. The Qing diplomat Bao Zhu, who was in the Dzungar Khanate in 1716, reported to Emperor Kangxi:

“… In the third year, the Khazaks [Kazakhs], making raids, completely ruined many border settlements, killed many people, and took women and children captive… Last year, Duler, the prince of Zaysan, who was opposed to them with three thousand men, suffered defeat and returned with great losses.”

In 1714, the Kazakhs under the rule of Khan Abul Khair invaded the border of the Dzungar Khanate, prompting Tsewang Rabtan to launch military operations through the territories of the Kyrgyz residing on the Tian Shan, send Galdan Tseren to the Lake Zaysan and Lobsangsür^[d] to Shara-Us, repelling their invasions and recapturing lost territories.^[32]

In 1715, the Qing Emperor, Kangxi appealed to the Kyrgyz and Kazakh leaders, who had previously had no contact with the Qing dynasty, with a proposal to “punish” the Dzungar khan. Responding to the Qing emperor’s request, the Kyrgyz and Kazakhs became active in Eastern Turkestan, but the Dzungars managed to withstand these clashes.^[33] Having captured Hami by 1715,^[34] Tsewang Rabtan sent his troops to the Kazakh steppes in 1716. The Dzungart army under the command of Tseren-Dondook defeated the Kazakh militia and captured a significant number of prisoners. In the same year, Kazakh militias attacked the nomads of the Choros on the Ili River, capturing Lieutenant Markel Trubnikov. The Kazakh militia launched another campaign against the Dzungars, but it failed, from disagreements between the commanders Kaip Khan and Abul Khair Khan, the Kazakhs suffered losses and were forced to retreat. At this time, the Kazakh feudal lords began negotiations with the Siberian governor M. P. Gagarin on joint action against the Dzungars. However, although the Siberian administration called for resistance against the Dzungars, it avoided concluding a full-fledged Kazakh-Russian military alliance.

In 1717, Kaip and Abul Khair attempted to conclude an anti-Dzungar alliance with Peter I, largely due to the influence of Siberian Governor M. P. Gagarin, who in his letters pointed to the Dzungar khong tayiji’s plans for conquest in neighboring regions of Eurasia and insisted that the rulers seek support from the Russian government. However, the Russian government did not support the idea of a joint campaign against the Dzungar Khanate, considering it an important counterweight to the growing power of the Qing dynasty and counting on the possibility of its peaceful annexation to Russia. Therefore, St. Petersburg limited itself to encouraging comments, without giving the Kazakh khans any specific promises of military assistance.

In the same year, the Dzungar troops defeated a Kazakh militia of 30,000 men on the Battle of the Ayagoz river, which they created wooden trenches and fortifications—allowing them to remain until a reinforcement arrived.^[39] In which a force of 1,500 men arrived and defeated the Kazakh army. In the spring of 1718, the Dzungars made a swift march from Jetisu to the Arys and Chayan rivers, seeking to capture Turkistan, the headquarters of the Kazakh khans. Several battles took place with the Dzungars reportedly “cut down the Kazakh horde”.

However after the Second Dzungar–Qing War started, the Dzungar offensive ended, allowing the Kazakhs to recover their territories and capture about three thousand Dzungar prisoners. The Russian ambassador to the Dzungar Khanate, I. D. Cheredov, reported that in 1720, “the Cossack horde approached and captured about three thousand people, whom they took with them.”

In 1723, The Dzungar Khanate invaded the Kazakh Khanate, as they started it after the Kazakhs faced a harsh and snowy winter, in which the Kazakh were preparing to migrate to summer pastures and were busy with economic activities, including the castration of young animals. Whilst the Dzungar troops suddenly attacked the Kazakhs; as the rulers of the Junior and Middle Jüz did not expect it threat. Under the Dzungar khan, Tsewang Rabtan sent more than 30,000 troops under the command of his son Lobsangsür against the Kazakhs, defeating them on Sayram, Tashkent and Khara-Murut. Whilst other forces campaigned on the Talas and Arys valleys, many of whom were killed or captured, and other nomadic settlements and cities were also attacked. In the same year, the Dzungars captured Turkistan, taking the family of Abul Khair as prisoners. The Dzungars also captured the Uzbek cities of Khujand, Samarkand, and Andijan occupying the Fergana Valley. These years went down in the history of Kazakhstan as the “Barefooted Flight” (Ақтабан Шұбырынды, Алқакөл сұлама). Which is comparable to the Mongol invasion of the 13th century where many Kazakh clans and uluses fled from southern Kazakhstan where the Senior Jüz and part of the Middle Jüz fled to Tashkent, Khujand, the Kara-tegin and Fergana regions, all the way to the Pamirs; most of the Middle Jüz to Samarkand; the tribes of the Junior Jüz to Khiva and Bukhara, as it was depicted in the song “Elimai” (“My Motherland”).

The following year, 1724, also in late winter, the Dzungars launched a second attack along the Chu River, striking the wintering quarters of the Senior jüz. The Argyns and Jalairs were driven out of the Chu Valley having their trading centers captured, plundered, and destroyed on the northern Karatau, including the city of Sozak, where some Kazakhs fled to the Betpak-Dala desert and Balkhash steppe, while others also retreated to the Karatau Mountains, using the mountain gorges as fortresses. The first two attacks did not affect the Junior jüz.^[45] Soon in 1724, Abul Khair Khan returned from the Northern Campaigns he attacked the Dzungars and captured the city of Turkistan. However in 1725, Dzungar forces led by Lobsangsür recaptured the city after a series of battle.

In 1726, a meeting of representatives from the Kazakh jüzes took place in Ordabasy near Turkestan, which decided to organize another militia, agreeing to let Junior jüz’s khan—Abul Khair to be the commander.^[47] After the meeting forces led by Abul Khair Khan and Bogenbay Batyr fought the Dzungars on the Battle of Bulanty, which occurred in the foothills of Ulytau, in the Karasyir area. This was the first, over many years, a major victory for Kazakhs over the Dzungars that gained a moral and strategic recognition. The terrain where this battle took place was called “Kalma қırılғan” – “a place where the Kalmaks were exterminated”.

In 1727, Tsewang Rabtan had died, directly causing a succession war between Galdan Tseren and Lobsangsür, which Galdan Tseren won and killed Lobsangsür. This gave the Kazakhs an opportunity to consolidate their forces and prepare for a final, decisive confrontation. On November 6, 1728, the khan of the Middle Jüz, Semeke, sent an embassy to the Volga Kalmyks for peace talks to secure his western rear and enable the Kazakhs to concentrate all their forces against the troops of the Dzungar Khanate—which the task of liberating the Kazakh lands in the south and east remained important.

Another kurultai took place in 1728, agreeing to let Khan of the Junior jüz—Abul Khair to lead the united Kazakh militia. The last major battle between the Kazakh militia and the troops of the Dzungar Khanate took place 120 kilometers from Lake Balkhash in the Anrakai area.^[e] According to estimates by Moiseev, the Battle of Anrakai took place in 1729, Kadybaev estimates 1729 or spring 1730. The Kazakh cavalry repeatedly charged at the enemy forces led by Abilmambet, Barak, Abylai, and others.

In 1729, the Dzungar leader—Galdan Tseren, to regain their gains on Kazakh pastures, requested the Russian Empire to form a coalition against the Kazakhs. Asking the Russian envoy M. Etigerov:

“Are they not attacking the Cossacks [Kazakhs] on your side?”

However, the Siberian administration categorically rejected this proposed alliance. Soon after the events of Battle of Anrakai, a civil war started between Abulmambet, Sameke, and Abul Khair over the question of the supreme khan of the Kazakhs, directly leading to the forces of the Junior and Middle Jüz to leave the theater of military operations.

Another conflict soon arose as on the summer of 1730, they captured about a thousand Dörbet yurts with their livestock. On the fall of 1731, a deep Kazakh raid into Dzungaria resulted in the capture of “many people, women and children, yurts with a thousand or more head of cattle and belongings”. The Kazakhs also invaded the areas of Altai Mountains, causing 10,000 Dzungar troops were sent to guard the nearest border areas with Kazakhstan against attacks from the Kazakh Khanate. Kazakh bandits attacked a Dzungar trade caravan, capturing a Russian convoy and Uyghur merchants on the winter of 1731. In 1731, some of the rulers of the Junior and Middle Jüz during the struggle with the Dzungar Khanate accepted Russian protectorat—in turn, sought to use the Kazakhs to protect Siberia from possible invasions by the Dzungars and to gain an ally in the Kazakh militias. The bandits were aware of the Russo–Dzungar relations, releasing the Russian convoy but they kept the Uyghur merchants. Soon the issue of prisoners between the Kazakhs and the Dzungars was resolved in a relatively humane manner. In response to planned Kazakh offensives, a 7,000-strong Dzungar army of about 30,000 men attacked the Kazakh uluses of the Middle Jüz in the summer of 1732, capturing but was repelled. In the same year, 700 Dzungar families were captured. The invasion was significant enough to prevent the traditional meeting of the Middle Jüz nobility from taking place that year.^[62] However the campaign against the Senior Jüz succeeded as they captured Tashkent, Sayram and Turkistan.^[63]

On May of 1733, a Dzungar tayiji, Tsagan arrived in Semipalatinsk with a formal request for Russian troops to jointly “destroy the Cossack(Kazakh) horde.” The Russian commanders refused, stating they could not provide military assistance without higher orders, especially in the absence of open conflict with the Kazakhs.

As a result of the war with the Qing dynasty, the Dzungars withdrew their forces from Southern Kazakhstan. In 1734, I. K. Kirilov and A. I. Tevkelev reported to the Collegium of Foreign Affairs that the khan of the Senior Jüz:

“had taken possession of the former cities of Tashkent and others, which had previously been conquered by the former Dzungar ruler, the khongtaiji, but which his son Galdan Tseren had abandoned because of the war with China… and now they hold them peacefully, and the Dzungar Kalmyks have sent envoys to them seeking to live in peace.”

Other sources also indicate that the Senior Jüz remained independent. In one of his conversations with A. I. Tevkelev, the elder of the Junior Jüz, Bukenbay, stated that:

“they, the Kirghiz-Kaisaks [Kazakhs], formerly possessed cities, namely Tashkent, Turkestan, and Sairam, together with their dependent towns and villages, and these were held by the Kirghiz-Kaisak khans and elders. In those cities lived the Sarts, that is, townspeople, from whom they collected tribute. The Khong Tayiji expelled them from those cities fifteen years ago [apparently five years ago], and now no one controls them and no tribute is collected; they live without administration…”

Nevertheless, around 1735 the Dzungars once again invaded the territory of the Senior Jüz. Kazakh feudal lords were compelled to recognize Dzungar rule. According to Alexey Levshin, Galdan Tseren’s capture of the Senior Jüz and the cities of Prisyrind was intended to prevent its incorporation into Russia. Vladimir Moiseev, however, argues that the primary motives were to secure Dzungar borders against incursions by Kazakh militias and to obtain a new source of income.This also led Bogenbay Batyr send a convoy towards the Russian authorities with information obtained from prisoners stating that, Galdan Tseren intended to send a force of up to 20,000 troops against the Middle Jüz.

During 1731–1733, a series of conflict with the Qing dynasty had the Dzungars make a peace agreement in 1739 to cede Outer Mongolia and Qinghai to the Qing dynasty and setting their border on the Altai Mountians and Uvs Lake.^[69] Whilst Galdan Tseren had wanted to invade Kazakh Khanate on the spring of 1738, however, due to the winter and unfinished negotiations, these plans were disrupted according to reports to the Orenburg authorities. Which, in 1737–1738, the College of Foreign Affairs and the Military Collegium received reports that the Dzungar command was withdrawing troops from Outer Mongolia and East Turkestan and concentrating them near the borders of the Middle Jüz along the Irtysh defensive line. In 1738, the Siberian governor Pyotr Ivanovich Buturlin reported that an eight-thousand-strong Dzungar detachment had appeared in the Altai Mountains in the area of the Kan River. Earlier, in the spring of 1735,

On the spring of 1739, 24,000 Oirat cavalrymen attacked the lands of the Middle Juz in two strike columns,^[f] where the Kazakhs were unable to repel the Dzungar invasion, as they were engaged in preparations for raids against the Kalmyk Khanate and the Bashkirs. Mobilization measures in the Middle Jüz began only after the Dzungar attack. The Senior Juz, which was in political dependence on the Dzungars, remained neutral. The Junior jüz also maintained neutrality, which Abul Khair, was absorbed by the Khivan question, attempting to seize the throne of the Khanate of Khiva according to Moiseev. The disunity of the Kazakh jüzes gave Galdan Tseren reason to believe that they would be unable to offer serious resistance to his armies^[g]

At the end of 1739 and in the first half of 1740, the Dzungars undertook another offensive against the Kazakhs. The leaders of the Kazakh militia carried out preparations in advance and offered determined resistance, with Kazakh forces delivering a number of pre-emptive strikes against the Dzungars. Dzungar commanders attempted to cut off the Kazakh routes to Russian fortresses and to the Baraba Steppe. In a conversation with Lieutenant Proskuryakov, the Dzungar commander-in-chief openly stated his intention “to send two thousand Kalmyks to Baraba to search for the enemies of the Kazakh Horde.” A representative of Septen who arrived at the Yamyshevsk Fortress confirmed that a movement was planned “down the Irtysh toward the Yamyshev side and on to the Om in order to eradicate the Kazakh Horde”.

The Russians feared a new invasion, on September 1740 the Russian government instructed the Orenburg Commission to strengthen precautionary measures, and Sultan Barak and other rulers to supply the troops with gunpowder and other necessary provisions (with the exception of artillery and firearms). However, already in the autumn of the same year, Dzungar detachments resumed attacks on Kazakhs. In response to Russian concerns over the presence of Dzungar troops near the border and their crossing to the left bank of the Irtysh, the envoys stated that this had been forced by the actions of the Dzungar command, since the Kazakhs had burned the grass in areas designated for the deployment of troops.

On late February of 1741, a Dzungar army of about 30,000 men led under the command of Septen and Galdan Tseren’s eldest son, Lama-Dorji, invaded the Middle Jüz, along the Ishim River, from Tashkent, and from Turkistan. Khan Abilmambet retreated toward Orenburg; however, his ulus was attacked, and he was left with only about 30 kibitkas. In March, Khan Abul Khair reported to V. A. Urusov that “the Dzungars have surrounded us on all sides” and requested the construction of a fortress in his nomadic lands. His envoys, Kutyr-batyr and Baibek, also petitioned for the establishment of a fortification on the Syr Darya. Many Kazakh encampments were completely destroyed, and livestock and people were driven off to Dzungaria. According to a report by the Dzungar envoy Galzat, Septen’s army returned in end of spring with three thousand captives, among whom was Sultan Ablai with two hundred warriors including other sultans and batyrs.^[h] About 15,000 soldiers returned with Septen, while the other detachments continued to operate separately, “behind rocks and close to Kirghiz (Kazakh) dwellings”. However his force was soon defeated. Attempts by the Dzungar command to strike from the south also ended in failure, which Oljabay batyr defeated Galdan Tseren’s forces.

After the death of the Galdan Tseren in 1745, this directly caused a civil war, which Amursana called the Qing Dyansty for support, causing the collapse of the Dzungar Khanate. Abylai did not interevene, sheltering Amursana and Dawachi from attacks led by Lama Dorji. However, once Amursana and Dawachi were no longer allies, Abylai Khan took the opportunity to capture herds and territory from the Dzungars.^{[citation needed]}

In 1771, the Kalmyks under the leadership of Ubashi Khan led a journey back to the territory of Dzungaria, hoping to revive their national state. Which they led about 150,000 to 170,000 people or about three-quarters of the Kalmyk population.^[84] While he claimed to the Qing officials that the failure of the river to freeze had left behind 13,000 tents, the majority of those who stayed behind were from the Dörbets, who opposed the migration.^[85] By June 1771, the migrating group had reached Lake Balkash, evading Russian forces but suffering significant losses due to harsh winter conditions, hunger, disease, and raids by Kazakh forces. When they paused to regroup there, they were surrounded by Kazakh fighters, who inflicted severe damage on their exhausted warriors and livestock.^[86][87] They later joined the Qing dynasty under Qianlong Emperor.

• Nomad, a 2005 Kazakh historical epic film that fictionalizes account Abylai Khan‘s youth.
• Myn Bala, a 2011 Kazakh historical drama film set in 1729 during a war between the Kazakhs and the Dzungar Khanate.

• Adle, Chahryar (2003). History of Civilizations of Central Asia (5th ed.). UNESCO, Adle Chahrayar. ISBN 978-8120820463.
• Atygaev, Nurlan (2023). КАЗАХСКОЕ ХАНСТВО: ОЧЕРКИ ВНЕШНЕПОЛИТИЧЕСКОЙ ИСТОРИИ XV-XVII BEKOВ [Essays on the Foreign Policy History of the 15th-17th Centuries.] (in Russian). Almaty: Eurasian Research Institute, Nurlan Atygaev. ISBN 978-601-7805-24-1.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
• Atygayev, Nurlan (2025). “The Kazakh Khanate in the 15th–17th centuries”. In Zaitsev, Ilya (ed.). Chronicle of Turkic Civilization. The Turkic World in the 13th–17th Centuries (PDF) (in Russian). Vol. 2. Barnaul: Altai State University, Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation; Research and Educational Center for Altaic and Turkic Studies “Great Altai”. p. 566.