Kazakh Khanate

The Kazakh Khanate, 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 the 19th century, centered on the eastern parts of the Desht-i Qipchaq. The khanate was established by Janibek Khan and Kerei Khan in 1465. Both khans came from the Turco-Mongol clan of Tore which traces its lineage to Genghis Khan through dynasty of Jochids. The Tore clan continued to rule the khanate until its fall to the Russian Empire. From the 16th to the 17th centuries, the Kazakh Khanate ruled and expanded its territories to eastern Cumania (modern-day West Kazakhstan), most of Uzbekistan, Karakalpakstan and the Syr Darya river with military confrontation as far as Astrakhan and Khorasan Province, which are now in Russia and Iran, respectively. The Khanate was later weakened by a series of Oirat and Dzungar invasions. These resulted in a decline and further disintegration into three Juzes, which gradually lost their sovereignty and were incorporated to the expanding Russian Empire in the 19th century. The establishment of the Kazakh Khanate marked the beginning of Kazakh statehood whose 550th anniversary was celebrated in 2015.