Aḥmed Shāh bin Janysh Sultan (, , romanized: ''Ahmed Şah bin Janyş Sūltan''), also known as Ahmed Khan, was a Khan of the Kazakh Khanate who ruled the western part of modern-day

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

as well as the upper reaches of the Syr Darya river from 1533 to 1536. Through his father, Janysh Sultan, he was a nephew of the great ruler Qasim Khan, the fourth khan of the Kazakh Khanate. Ahmed resided in Hazrat-e-Turkistan, the capital and largest city of the Kazakh Khanate, as well as Sawran, another major Kazakh settlement established during the time of his uncle and father. Ahmed also lived in northern

near modern-day

Nur-Sultan Astana, previously known as Akmolinsk, Tselinograd, Akmola, and most recently Nur-Sultan, is the capital city of Kazakhstan. The city lies on the banks of the Ishim River in the north-central part of Kazakhstan, within the Akmola Region, tho ...

and

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for much of his life, as he fought a war of succession for the Kazakh throne.

Biography

After the death of Kasim Khan, presumably around in 1521, his oldest-son, Muhammad Khan, (aka Mamash Khan) became the new khan. Muhammad's reign was short-lived. In 1522, a civil war broke out between the descendants of

Janibek Khan Abū Saʿīd Janibek Bahadur Khan bin Barak Sultan (, , ), otherwise known by his shortened regal name Janibek Khan, was a co-founder and second Khan of the Kazakh Khanate from 1473 to 1480. He was a son of Barak, Khan of the Golden Horde from 14 ...

for the throne. When Muhammad Khan was killed in 1523, he was succeeded by

Tahir Khan Mohammad Tahir Khan (born 9 January 1981, Karachi, Sindh) is a Pakistani first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one o ...

, son of Ádik Sultan and one of

's grandsons. Under his rule, the civil war continued. After Tahir's death, Toǵym was proclaimed as the new Khan, but his succession was not recognized by Budiash, the ruler of Jetisu, or Ahmed, the ruler of Sygnak, who both declared themselves Khan. To resolve the conflict, the Kazakh Khanate was split into three kingdoms. Assuming himself to be the most powerful ruler in Central Asia, Ahmed Khan proclaimed himself the "''Shah-i-Turan''" (

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

for "King of

Turan Turan ( ae, Tūiriiānəm, pal, Tūrān; fa, توران, Turân, , "The Land of Tur") is a historical region in Central Asia. The term is of Iranian origin and may refer to a particular prehistoric human settlement, a historic geographical re ...

"), becoming the first Kazakh ruler to assume this unconventional title. In 1535, Ahmed Khan was deposed and overthrown by Aziz Sultan, a Kazakh noble. Six months later in 1536, Ahmed again ruled in the upper reaches of the Syr Darya, and attacked the

Nogai Horde The Nogai Horde was a confederation founded by the Nogais that occupied the Pontic–Caspian steppe from about 1500 until they were pushed west by the Kalmyks and south by the Russians in the 17th century. The Mongol tribe called the Manghuds co ...

which defeated him and captured him along with his fifteen sons. Ahmed Khan was killed by Orak Batyr, the son of a noble Nogai Beyy Alchagira who was also killed earlier by the Kazakhs. After Ahmed's death, all the territories that were under his control was captured by Haqnazar, who managed to end the feud and restore the unity of the Kazakh Khanate.

References

* * {{Improve categories, date=February 2021 1536 deaths Kazakh khans