Qasim bin Janibek Khan (,

romanized Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and ...

: ''Qasym bin Jänıbek Han''), known by his shortened regal name as Qasim Khan (also spelled as Kasym Khan) was a son of Janibek Khan. He ruled as the fourth

Khan Khan may refer to: *Khan (inn), from Persian, a caravanserai or resting-place for a travelling caravan *Khan (surname), including a list of people with the name *Khan (title), a royal title for a ruler in Mongol and Turkic languages and used by ...

of the

Kazakh Khanate The Kazakh Khanate ( kk, Қазақ Хандығы, , ), in eastern sources known as Ulus of the Kazakhs, Ulus of Jochi, Yurt of Urus, was a Kazakh state in Central Asia, successor of the Golden Horde existing from the 15th to 19th century, ...

from about 1511 to 1521. He is viewed as the greatest leader to unite the Kazakh tribes. Although,

Burunduk Khan Burunduk Khan (, ''Būryndyq han'') also known as Muryndyq (, ''Mūryndyq'') was a son of Kerei Khan and the third Khan of Kazakh Khanate in 1474 or from 1480 to 1511. Biography Burunduk became a khan in 1474. The sources describe the reign of ...

was the Khan of the Kazakhs, the control of the government was in the hands of Qasim Khan. Eventually, he sent Burunduk Khan into exile who died in

Samarkand fa, سمرقند , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from the top:Registan square, Shah-i-Zinda necropolis, Bibi-Khanym Mosque, view inside Shah-i-Zinda, ...

. Qasim Khan had a brother named Adik Khan who was married to Sultana Nigar Khanim, daughter of

Yunus Khan Yunus Khan (b. 1416 – d. 1487) ( ug, يونس خان}), was Khan of Moghulistan from 1462 until his death in 1487. He is identified by many historians with Ḥājjī `Ali (, Pinyin: ''Hazhi Ali'') ( ug, ھاجى علي}), of the contempor ...

Moghulistan Moghulistan (from fa, , ''Moghulestân'', mn, Моголистан), also called the Moghul Khanate or the Eastern Chagatai Khanate (), was a Mongol breakaway khanate of the Chagatai Khanate and a historical geographic area north of the Ten ...

. When Adik Khan died, Qasim Khan took her as his wife. Qasim Khan is generally regarded as one of the greatest rulers of the

. Shortly after taking the throne in 1511, Qasim Khan fought against his cousin Muhammad Shaybani for control of the Desht-i-Kipchak region. After Shaybani and the

Uzbeks The Uzbeks ( uz, , , , ) are a Turkic ethnic group native to the wider Central Asian region, being among the largest Turkic ethnic group in the area. They comprise the majority population of Uzbekistan, next to Kazakh and Karakalpak mino ...

suffered severe losses in numerous battles near Lake Balkhash, the

Uzbek Khanate The Uzbek Khanate ( uz, Oʻzbek xonligi or ''Oʻzbek ulusi / Ўзбек хонлиги or Ўзбек Улуси''), also known as the Abulkhair Khanate was a Shaybanid state preceding the Khanate of Bukhara. During the few years it existed, the ...

agreed to give Qasim Khan and the

Kazakhs The Kazakhs (also spelled Qazaqs; Kazakh: , , , , , ; the English name is transliterated from Russian; russian: казахи) are a Turkic-speaking ethnic group native to northern parts of Central Asia, chiefly Kazakhstan, but also part ...

all former Uzbek lands north of the Syr Darya. This effectively allowed Qasim Khan to conquer all of modern

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 ...

, much of modern-day

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked co ...

, and parts of southwestern

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part ...

, western

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

, and

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the ea ...

. The

consistently controlled of all of these lands until the 18th century, when they began suffering attacks from the

Tsardom of Russia The Tsardom of Russia or Tsardom of Rus' also externally referenced as the Tsardom of Muscovy, was the centralized Russian state from the assumption of the title of Tsar by Ivan IV in 1547 until the foundation of the Russian Empire by Peter I ...

in the north, the

Emirate of Bukhara The Emirate of Bukhara ( fa, , Amārat-e Bokhārā, chg, , Bukhārā Amirligi) was a Muslim polity in Central Asia that existed from 1785 to 1920 in what is modern-day Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. It occupied the land ...

to the south, and the

Dzungars The Dzungar people (also written as Zunghar; from the Mongolian words , meaning 'left hand') were the many Mongol Oirat tribes who formed and maintained the Dzungar Khanate in the 17th and 18th centuries. Historically they were one of major tr ...

in the east. After his conquests against Muhammad Shaybani, Qasim began to advance the power of the Kazakh state for the long term. He is credited with creating the first written code of laws for the

, which he called "The Bright Road of Qasim Khan" as well as creating some of the first written records of the

Kazakh language The Kazakh or simply Qazaq (Latin: or , Cyrillic: or , Arabic Script: or , , ) is a Turkic language of the Kipchak branch spoken in Central Asia by Kazakhs. It is closely related to Nogai, Kyrgyz and Karakalpak. It is the official langua ...

, which used the

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

script until the early 20th century. Qasim Khan, a devout

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

himself, was also a proponent of

Islamic culture Islamic culture and Muslim culture refer to cultural practices which are common to historically Islamic people. The early forms of Muslim culture, from the Rashidun Caliphate to the early Umayyad period and the early Abbasid period, were predom ...

and a patron of the arts. Under his reign, all inhabitants of modern-day

fully adopted

Sunni Islam Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disag ...

, which had begun spreading throughout the Desht-i-Kipchak steppe in the 13th century but only became firmly established under him and the

Shaybanid The Shibanids or Shaybanids ( fa, سلسله شیبانیان) or more accurately the Abu'l-Khayrid-Shibanids were a Persianized''Introduction: The Turko-Persian tradition'', Robert L. Canfield, Turko-Persia in Historical Perspective, ed. Robert L. ...

rulers before him. Mirza Muhammad Haidar Dughlat, the Kazakh Chagatayid governor of

Kashmir Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompas ...

, wrote extensively about Qasim's success in the

Tarikh-i-Rashidi Mirza Muhammad Haidar Dughlat Beg (Persian: میرزا محمد حیدر دولت بیگ c. 1499/1500 – 1551) was a Chagatai Turco-Mongol military general, governor of Kashmir, and a historical writer, He was a Turkic speaking Dughlat prince ...

. With the relatively notable exceptions of Ottoman

Sultan Sultan (; ar, سلطان ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it c ...

Selim I Selim I ( ota, سليم الأول; tr, I. Selim; 10 October 1470 – 22 September 1520), known as Selim the Grim or Selim the Resolute ( tr, links=no, Yavuz Sultan Selim), was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1512 to 1520. Despite las ...

and

Safavid Safavid Iran or Safavid Persia (), also referred to as the Safavid Empire, '. was one of the greatest Iranian empires after the 7th-century Muslim conquest of Persia, which was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often conside ...

Shah Ismail I Ismail I ( fa, اسماعیل, Esmāʿīl, ; July 17, 1487 – May 23, 1524), also known as Shah Ismail (), was the founder of the Safavid dynasty of Iran, ruling as its King of Kings ('' Shahanshah'') from 1501 to 1524. His reign is often ...

, Dughlat considered Qasim to be one of the most powerful rulers of the eastern Islamic world. Qasim oversaw the construction of numerous mosques and mausoleums, especially in northern

, many of which still stand today. Towards the end of his reign, Qasim built an alliance with the rising Timurid prince

Babur Babur ( fa, , lit= tiger, translit= Bābur; ; 14 February 148326 December 1530), born Mīrzā Zahīr ud-Dīn Muhammad, was the founder of the Mughal Empire in the Indian subcontinent. He was a descendant of Timur and Genghis Khan through hi ...

, who shared a common enemy of Muhammad Shaybani with him. Qasim had three sons by his two wives: Khanzada Abu'l Khair was born to Sultan Nigar Khanum, while Khanzada Haqnazar and Khanzada Muhammed were born to Khanyk Sultan Khanum. Since he was the oldest, Khanzada Muhammed ultimately succeeded his father as khan, followed by Haqnazar long after him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Kasym Kazakh khans Year of birth missing Year of death missing

See also

References