Data about Kazakhs stored in U.S. archives represents a rich and underutilized resource for historians, cultural researchers, policymakers, and the Kazakh people themselves. These archives contain a wide range of materials—from diplomatic correspondence and travel accounts to ethnographic studies and declassified intelligence reports—that shed light on the history, culture, and global perception of the Kazakh people.
«Peoples of Asiatic Russia»
There are a lot of academic books and scientific studies that provide information about the general situation of Central Asia in the Russian colony. Another book related to our study is titled «Peoples of Asiatic Russia». Authored by Waldemar Jochelson, this book was published by The American Museum of Natural History in 1928.
As vast as the land of Central Asia is, the culture, history, and traditions of the peoples inhabiting it are numerous and diverse. The author divided the peoples of Central Asia into different groups and wrote in detail their history, culture, and traditions.
The author describes the purpose of writing the book as follows: «The writing of a handbook on the peoples of Asiatic Russia is a peculiarly difficult task. These peoples are of many racial strains, the relations of which, the one to the other, are not always clear. For example, the divisions of the so-called Ural Altaic peoples, the Pala Asiatics, the Aryan, and the Semitic elements present complicated problems. Each of these divisions must be considered from the standpoint of its own perplexing anthropological and historical aspects, as well as taking into account kinship and connections with other peoples outside of Asiatic Russia, or even outside of Asia. Further, adequately to present these ethnic divisions, and the various groups of peoples, one must review their somatological, linguistic, and cultural characters. To this end these divisions have been treated geographically and in accordance with their present locations, as the tribes to be found in Siberia proper, in the Amur region, the Steppe provinces, in Turkestan, the Caucasus, and finally the native populations of bordering countries. Lastly, for the sake of perspective, we add a review of the prehistory and migrations in the region as a whole, together with a résumé of cultural characteristics.»
In the chapter «The nations of Turkestan» of this book, the territory of this region, its rulers and peoples subject to it, and the population at that time are given with accurate data. And the author wrote Kazakh under the name "The Kirghiz-Kaisak». «The name Kirghiz is applied to two tribes related in language, customs, and mode of life, but differing in origin, and partly in physical type - the Kirghiz-Kaisak and Kara-Kirghiz. The Kirghiz-Kaisak, numbering about 1,600,000, occupy the steppes of the provinces of Semirechye, Syr Daria, and northwestern Transcaspia; they also live in Samarkand Province and in Khiva. They call themselves Kaisak or Kosack, meaning a free, independent people, or by the name of the divisions to which they belong.»
Speaking about the division of Kirghiz-Kaisak into various groups, the following information about their physical structure is included. «The Kirghiz-Kaisak are of medium stature (161 ems.), with a well-developed thorax; their hands and feet are small; they have robust constitutions and are inclined to gain considerably in weight with advancing age; the skin color is of yellowish tints; the head hair is straight, coarse, and black, and becomes gray late in life; the beard is scant, growing late, in the form of a wedge; the head is round with a brachycephalic index. Their faces are broad with prominent cheekbones; their noses broad, short, and low-bridged; their eye fissures are almost horizontal and the lids often have a Mongoloid fold; their legs are often bowed from constant horseback riding».
In the following chapters of his book, researcher Waldemer Jochalson shows the number of livestock in the Turkestan region in the years 1914-1917-1920 with a special table. At the same time, the number of Kazakhs at that time, that is, in 1914, is presented as data. «The total number of Kirghiz, according to statistical data published in 1911, was 4,692,384. Of these, 2,480,443, or a little more than one half of both branches of Kirghiz lived in Turkestan (p. 77) and 37,982 in Siberia of whom there were about 33,000 in western Siberia (p. 33). A small part of the Kirghiz-Kaisak, called Bukeyef, numbering about 150,000 (see p. 128) live in Europe between the Ural and the Volga. Thus, there remain for the Steppe Provinces, 2,173,959. Sedelnikoff;' however, gives 1,929,572 for the Steppe Kirghiz. In the Steppe Provinces, only the Kirghiz-Kaisak are nomadic.»
Even more interesting for us, the author presents the results of his research on the somatology of the Kazakh people of the last century. Further, the author looks for answers to such questions as what religion the Kazakh people believe in, what kind of marks they put on their cattle, and what kind of house they live in, and he devotes the following chapters to other Turkic peoples.
Ella Maillart`s «Turkestan Solo»
More can be said about the book «Turkistan Solo» by the Swiss adventurer, traveler, writer, and photographer Ella Maillart. Maillart's trip to Central Asia at the beginning of the 30s of the last century was a bright moment of his adventurous life. Maillart, who set off from Mongolia's Tien-Shan mountains, explored Tashkent, Samarkand, and Bukhara, which seemed mysterious to the world, and turned his horse's head to Amu Darya. Riding a camel, he crosses the Kyzylkum desert east of the Aral Sea alone, hiding from dangerous checkpoints.
«Turkistan Solo» is his excellent work about the Kyrgyz eagle hunters, the secret organs of the Soviet Union, and the eternal nomads who still inhabit the desolate steppes of Central Asia. Any book can indeed allow its reader to look back at the past and understand the image of society at that time. For the first time in Great Britain "G. The second chapter of this book, published by P. Putnam's Sons publishing house, is entirely devoted to his journey on the soil of Turkestan.
From the book of the traveler Maillart, we saw the image of a Kazakh woman in the thirties of the last century. He describes it as follows: Far from a station in the midst of the sandy desert the train stops. While the engine fills up with water, crouching Kazak women, with ancient, leathery faces, and the flowered cotton of their chemise-like dresses caught in by long black waistcoats, sell water from their 'boils-itself' (which is what samovar means).
Not tired of looking around, Maillart sees the Aral Sea in the distance. «Late that night we stop at Aralskoie More, a port on the Aral Sea. Shell necklaces and many kinds of fish, both dried and fried, are on sale here, but we find the prices too high for us. Mila buys a lovely sweater of camel hair for herself, for fifty roubles, from a woman of the steppes. It is shearing time, and all the women carry bundles of the natural hair in their arms. I pay four roubles for a pound for myself, with which to line my sleeping-bag when we get to the mountains.»
The memory of the trip that we have turned over the pages of the past shows the appearance of the Kazakh steppe and the life of our people in the last century. Perhaps this is history written in stone. Elle Maillart died in 1997 at the age of 94. A lot of work is left behind. At the end of this work, the author said, «This is how my most important journey in my mind ended. Saleven, November 1933» he signs. The fact that Maillart, known to the world as a famous female traveler, came to the sacred steppes of Turkestan where our ancestors lived, got to know the culture of our people, wrote a book about her journey, and introduced it to the Western society is a great achievement for us. If you look at it this way, the world is changing. In the past, they flocked to us, and now we want to travel to western countries. But none of us pays attention to writing a travelogue. Many mysterious people from the West, who consider us a mysterious place, came and went. The task now is to study and study what great work they wrote about us.
About epic poems of Central Asia
There are many similarities in the culture, language, traditions, and spiritual values of the Turkic peoples living in Central Asia. It is true that most of the poems and epics preserved in the country have a common feature. As a research work of G.M.H. Shoolbraid firstly in 1965 at the Columbia University of the USA under the title "Siberian Epic Song", then in 1975 under the research series of the Ural and Altai languages of the University of Indiana in the USA from the publishing house of the said university "Epics of Siberia and Central Asia" was published as a research work.
First of all, he focuses on the history and origin of the epic poems belonging to the peoples of Siberia and Central Asia, their differences and differences from each other, and makes a separate explanation. A small study of the poem «Alpamys» and the saga «Kambar batyr» is included. In this study, an explanation of this saga is given, the history of its origin, the place of the event, its consequences, and its results are analyzed. Emphasis is placed on comparative episodes of clan conflict, heroism, and cowardice. This work also mentions that this saga is not a national, but a spiritual heritage of a tribal color. For example, at the beginning of the commentary, the researcher indicates that «Alpamys and Barshin are the sons of Baiburi and Baysary, the tribal chiefs of the Konyrat clan» G. M. H. Shoolbraid, «Epics of Siberia and Central Asia», Bloomington, USA, 1975.
And the song «Kambar Batyr» is also located in one of the chapters of this research work. The author also presented this epic poem as a tribal version. For example, at the beginning of the speech, «In the past, the Wak tribe lived in poverty. This tribe was adopted by a fourteen-year-old boy named Kambar by hunting.»
« Kambar
«In ancient times there was a clan called Uak; it was very very poor. This clan was provided for by a fourteen-year-old youth, Kambar by name; he shot wild ases and wild goats, and with them fed his people. To the leeward side of Uak, at a distance of six days journey, lived the people of Khan Azimbaj. The khan had a beautiful daughter called Nazym-sulu. She was twelve years old. Once his favorite vizier came to Azimbaj and said to him, «O, Azimbaj, full of wisdom! Listen to me. Why do you not give in marriage your twelve-year-old Nazym? To no purpose she spend her days. Why not find her a husband?" Then Azimbaj set up ten white yurtas, gathered his people and said, «I shall give my daughter without bride-price to him whom she herself shall choose”. Nazym-sulu found none to please her, and the maiden came before her father and said, "Among the people who are gathered there is none who could rein up the untamed horse of the herd." Then a certain old man came before the khan and said, "There is a youth by the name of Kambar, who provides for clan of Uak. If you do not say that he is an utter pauper, he will suit your daughter." The khan was angered against the old man, and said, "Do you think that I have taken leave of my senses, that I would give my daughter to a penniless peasant?" But Nazym stood beside her father and wrote down the name of Kambar. One day Kambar was hunting wild asses and goats, when he forded a stream, and saw that Nazym-sulu with her forty maidens had come down to the bank and unfolded a tent. Nazym saw Kambar, and said,
«Kambar of the Khan bone,
Thy raven-black steed, Lyska,
Has lights, liver, and a flowing mane.
Come into our tent,
Here we have sugar, currants, and tea.» [35]*
After that, the researcher refers to another version of the song «Kambar Batyr», that is, to the book «Kyrgyz Dalas» published in 1865 by L. Majer.
Early version'
«The prince of the Kalmucks has been trying to obtain the beautiful Nazym by force, and Kambar can persuade the people to make his personal cause a reason for rebellion. The parents and kinfolk of Nazym have decided not to oppose the threats of the Kalmuck khan and have brought Nazym to the wedding feast, for which naturally, the majority of the people have gathered. Kambar also arrives, very late. The khan asks him why he has not appeared earlier to the invitation, to which the hero replies that he was delayed on the way by a matter of settling some affairs from which he could not excuse himself. To the question, "What were they?" he tells his story. First of all, there appeared before him a mouser and a hawk; the former had caught a duck, and the hawk had taken it from him. Kambar decided the dispute in favour of the mouser, because the hawk could always capture a duck, while the mouser could do so only once. Then there came to him a mongrel and a borzoi, of whom the first had caught a steppe antelope!? and the second had stolen it. The hero solved their dispute in the same fashion, in favor of: the mongrel dog, and gave it to the antelope. In deciding these disputes, he tho about each for three days, and so lost time. The Kalmuck khan understands the meaning of these allegories and of Kambar's execution, but the Kirghiz who are present, carried away by Kambe's daring, and previously prepared by him for rebellion, protect him, and a wedding feast ends in a slaughter, in which the Kirghiz are victorious».
It should be noted here that the song «Kambar Batyr» is one of the heroic epics of the Kazakh people, and Kazakh scholars have studied and written many works on the fact that there are 19 versions of it so far. There is no doubt that field-style epic poems, which were protected as scientific work in a US university and published as a special book, will continue to be studied.
The data about Kazakhs stored in U.S. archives is not just academic—it’s deeply personal, national, and global. It has the potential to reshape how Kazakhs see themselves, how others understand Kazakhstan, and how history is written in the 21st century. Unlocking and utilizing this information is a crucial step toward building a more informed, culturally rooted, and globally connected Kazakhstan.
