Khaknazar khan

Khaknazar khan was the talented governor, who led Kazakh khanate (the Khanate) during the renaissance in the second part of 16^th century. He united the khanate, which at that time was fragmented and governed by individual sultans. 

Khaknazar did not limited himself with union of Kazakhs, but also joined Nogais, Kalmyks, Bashkirs, Uzbeks, Moguls and Kyrgyz to his khanate.

He controlled one of the part of Nogai Ulus, after joining the left bank of Yaik,. In middle of 16^th century the khanate was fighting on different fronts.  In 1554, the campaign against the east Kalmyks led by Tauekel Sultan. In 1555, Khahnazar fought against Moguls in the southeast, where Abdal-Latif khan was killed. In the south part, Kazakhs during three years kept Shaybanid khan, the emir of Tashkent, at bay and in the west Alshy Smail, the Nogai Myrza. All of this shows how the Khanate enhanced their power led by Khaknazar. 

In alliance with Abdollah, the khan of Uzbeks, he went against Siberian khan Koshim and returned previously lost Sauran and Turkestan. In 1573, the Russian tsar Ivan the Terrible, driven by his greed, sent to Khanknazar his ambassadors headed by T. Chebukovym. The Khanate was the gates to the Central Asia, where key from them was in the hands of Khaknazar. The real goal of Russian tsar was to get this key.

After joining Kazan and Astrakhan khanates, Russia set full control of the Volga and now began to conquer the Nogai horde and the Siberian khanate.

The information about repeated clashes of the Khanate with Shaybanids in the fight for Tashkent, since the time of Kasym Khan, was mentioned in the notices and documents.  

If Abdollah, the khan of Uzbeks, wanted to use Kazakhs to deal with his rival, the governor of Tashkent Baba Sultan, whose nickname was Barak, whereas Khaknazar wanted to destroy Shaybanids using rivalry and inflight of Uzbeks.

It is one of the manifestation forms of Khaknazar’s policy to strengthen Kazakh khanate. Baba sultan afterwards killed Khaknazar khan with help of Buzahur sultan. Science does not disprove the popular legends, which link division of Kazakhs into tribes with the name Khaknazar. In one of the oral traditions of those times mentioned about division of Kazakhs:

Kazakhs are descended from the Alash,

Were subordinated to Nogai,

Nogai did not give them to be offended by enemies

And they helped each other.

After being separated from the Nogai,

Kazakhs further divided into zhuzes.

The first line indicates the origin of Kazakhs. The second refers to the time when the Kazakhs were included in Nogai horde, after the collapse of the Kazakh khanate. The following lines indicate about Times of Troubles, when Kazakh lands had invasion from numerous enemies like Kalmyks Shaibanids and Moguls, who wanted to expand their territory by taking advantage of the collapse of the Kazakh Khanate.

These lines show the period when the Nogai horde was colonized by Russians and Noghais finally moved away from the Khanate. It was the time when Kazakhs separated into three tribes.