Middle Juz

A ''zhuz'' ( kz, ٴجۇز , Жүз, translit=Jüz, , also translated as " horde") is one of the three main territorial and tribal divisions in the Kypchak Plain area that covers much of the contemporary Kazakhstan. It represents the main tribal division within the ethnic group of the Kazakhs.

*The Senior zhuz ( kk, ۇلى ٴجۇز, Ұлы Жүз, Ūly Jüz) covers territories of southern and southeastern Kazakhstan, northwestern China (Xinjiang) and parts of Uzbekistan.
*The Middle zhuz ( kk, ورتا ٴجۇز, Орта жүз, Orta Jüz) consists of six tribes, covering northern, central and eastern Kazakhstan.
*The Junior zhuz ( kk, كىشى ٴجۇز, Кіші жүз, Kışı Jüz)) consists of three tribes, covering western Kazakhstan and western Russia (Orenburg Oblast).

History

The earliest mention of the Kazakh ''zhuz'' or hordes dates to the 17th century.
Velyaminov-Zernov (1919) believed that the division arose as a result of the
capture of the important cities of Tashkent, Yasi, and Sayram in 1598.Velyaminov-Zernov, "Russia, Mongolia, China in the 16th, 17th, and early 18th centuries". Vol II. Baddeley (1919, MacMillan, London). Reprint – Burt Franklin, New York. 1963 p. 59.

Some researchers argued that the ''zhuz'' in origin corresponded to tribal, military alliances of steppe nomads that emerged around the mid-16th century after the disintegration of the Kazakh Khanate.
Yuri Zuev argued their territorial division comprises three ecological or topographic zones, the Senior ''zhuz'' of the southern and southeastern steppe being set apart from the two other zones by Lake Balkhash.

According to some researchers, Kazakhs was separated in the first civil war in the Kazakh Khanate. Tribes that recognized Buidash Khan formed Senior zhuz. Tribes that recognized Togim Khan formed Middle zhuz. Tribes that recognized Akhmed Khan formed Junior zhuz.

According to Kazakh legends, the three ''zhuz'' were the territorial inheritances of the three sons of the legendary founder-ancestor of the Kazakhs.
In Kazakh language, ''jüz'' means either "union" or "hundred".

Senior zhuz

Historically, the Senior ''zhuz'' ( kz, Ұлы жүз, ''Uly jüz'', ۇلى ٴجۇز) inhabited the northern lands of the former Chagatai Ulus of the Mongol Empire, in the Ili River and Chu River and China's Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture (northern Xinjiang). It was also called ''Üysin jüz''.

The first record of the Senior zhuz dates to 1748, due to a Tatar emissary of the Tsaritsa who had been sent to the steppe to negotiate the submission of Abul Khair Khan in 1732. According to Nikolai Aristov, the estimated population of the Senior ''zhuz'' was about 550,000 people in the second half of the 19th century.
The territory was conquered by the Kokand Khanate in the 1820s, and by the Russian Empire during the 1850s to 1860s.

Kazakhstan's ruling elite, including former president Nursultan Nazarbayev, former First Secretary of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan Dinmukhamed Konayev, as well as famous poet Jambyl Jabayev are representatives of the Senior zhuz.

There have been several attempts to determine the exact names and nature of top-level clans throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. However, different studies created vastly different names and population numbers for the steppe clans. Generally accepted names of the first order Senior zhuz tribes or clans are:

* Dulat ( kz, Дулат, ''Dulat'', دۋلات)
** Janys ( kz, Жаныс,, ''Janıs'', جانىس)
** Siyqym ( kz, Сиқым, ''Siqım'', سىيقىم)
** Botbay ( kz, Ботбай, ''Botbay'', بوتباي)
** Shymyr ( kz, Шымыр, ''Şymyr'', شىمىر)
* Jalayir ( kz, Жалайыр, ''Jalayır'', جالايىر)
* Qangly

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