A timeline from ancient nomads to the modern republic, with the rulers who shaped it
Last reviewed on 29 September 2026
The history of Kazakhstan runs from Bronze Age herders on the steppe to a modern republic that is barely thirty-five years old. Between those points sit the Saka horse warriors, the Silk Road cities of the Syr Darya, the Mongol conquest, a Kazakh Khanate founded in 1465, two centuries of Russian rule, seven decades of Soviet rule, and independence declared on 16 December 1991.
Nomadic confederations herded and fought across this steppe for three thousand years while caravan cities grew along its southern rivers. Genghis Khan swept through in 1219–1221 and the region became part of the Mongol empire, then of its successor khanates. In 1465 two sultans, Kerey and Zhanibek, broke away to found the Kazakh Khanate, which later divided into three zhuz — the Great, Middle and Little Hordes. Facing Dzungar invasion, the hordes accepted Russian protection from 1731 onward, and protection became annexation by the mid-19th century. The Soviet period brought forced settlement and a catastrophic famine in the early 1930s, then wartime deportations, the Virgin Lands campaign, the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site and the Baikonur cosmodrome. Kazakhstan was the last Soviet republic to declare independence, on 16 December 1991, and has had two presidents since: Nursultan Nazarbayev (1991–2019) and Kassym-Jomart Tokayev (2019–present).
It depends which founding you mean. As an independent state, Kazakhstan dates from 16 December 1991 — the last of the fifteen Soviet republics to declare independence, nine days before the USSR itself was dissolved. As a distinct Kazakh polity, the date usually given is 1465, when Sultans Zhanibek and Kerey led their followers away from the Uzbek Khanate into the Zhetysu valleys and founded the Kazakh Khanate; Kazakhstan marked the 550th anniversary of that event in 2015. And as a named territorial unit, an autonomous republic was created within Soviet Russia in 1920 (renamed the Kazakh ASSR in 1925) and became the Kazakh SSR, a full Soviet republic, in 1936.
The dates below are the ones worth knowing before you visit the museums and monuments. Dates for the early periods are approximate.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| c. 2000–1000 BCE | Bronze Age herders on the steppe; many of the Tamgaly petroglyphs near Almaty date from this period |
| c. 800–200 BCE | Saka (Scythian) nomads dominate the steppe; the Golden Man burial near Issyk dates from this era |
| 552 CE | First Turkic Khaganate founded; Turkic peoples spread across the steppe |
| 751 | Battle of Talas, on the Talas River near modern Taraz: Arab Abbasid forces defeat Tang China, opening Central Asia to Islam |
| 10th–12th centuries | Karakhanid state; Silk Road cities such as Otrar, Taraz and Sayram flourish |
| 1166 | Death of the Sufi poet Khoja Ahmed Yasawi in Turkestan (traditional date) |
| 1219–1221 | Mongol conquest under Genghis Khan; Otrar is destroyed |
| 13th–15th centuries | Region ruled by the Golden Horde and other Mongol successor khanates |
| c. 1389–1405 | Timur orders the Yasawi Mausoleum built in Turkestan |
| 1465 | Kerey and Zhanibek found the Kazakh Khanate |
| 1723 | Dzungar invasion — the "Years of Great Disaster" (Aqtaban Shubyryndy) |
| 1731 | Abulkhair Khan of the Little Zhuz accepts Russian protection |
| 1822–1848 | Russia abolishes the khans' authority in all three zhuz |
| 1837–1847 | Revolt of Kenesary Kasymov, the last Kazakh khan |
| 1854 | Russian fort of Verny founded — today's Almaty |
| 1916 | Central Asian revolt against wartime labour conscription |
| 1917–1920 | Alash Orda, a short-lived Kazakh autonomous government |
| 1920 | Autonomous republic created within Soviet Russia (named Kazakh ASSR in 1925) |
| 1930–1933 | Collectivisation and famine (Asharshylyq); an estimated 1.5 million or more people die |
| 1936 | Kazakh SSR becomes a full Soviet republic |
| 1930s–1940s | Mass deportations of Koreans, Volga Germans, Chechens and others to Kazakhstan |
| 1949 | First Soviet nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site |
| 1954–1960 | Virgin Lands campaign brings large-scale grain farming and settlers to the north |
| 1955 | Baikonur Cosmodrome founded; Yuri Gagarin launched from it in 1961 |
| December 1986 | Jeltoqsan protests in Alma-Ata after a non-Kazakh is appointed party leader |
| 29 August 1991 | Semipalatinsk Test Site closed |
| 16 December 1991 | Independence declared; Nursultan Nazarbayev becomes president |
| 1995 | Current constitution adopted by referendum (30 August, now Constitution Day) |
| 1997 | Capital moves from Almaty to Akmola, renamed Astana in 1998 |
| 2019 | Nazarbayev resigns; Kassym-Jomart Tokayev becomes president; Astana renamed Nur-Sultan |
| January 2022 | Nationwide unrest, known as Qandy Qantar ("Bloody January") |
| 2022 | Constitutional reforms; presidency limited to one seven-year term; capital renamed Astana again |
Kazakhstan has never had a single unbroken line of rulers. Power passed from the khans of the Kazakh Khanate, to Russian governors, to the Communist Party leaders of the Kazakh SSR, and finally to the presidents of the independent republic. These are the names you will meet on street signs, banknotes and monuments. Reign dates for the khans are approximate, as sources differ.
In the Soviet system the real leader of a republic was the First Secretary of its Communist Party. The best known are:
Ancient Silk Road city and former Kazakh capital, home to the Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi (UNESCO World Heritage Site) and the spiritual centre of the Turkic world.
UNESCO World Heritage Site with thousands of rock carvings, many from the Bronze Age, a few hours' drive from Almaty.
One of the oldest cities in Kazakhstan, with the medieval Aisha Bibi and Babaji Khatun mausoleums nearby.
Displays a reconstruction of the Golden Man and wide-ranging exhibits on Kazakhstan's history from prehistoric times to the present.
The country's largest museum, with halls on ancient and medieval history, the Kazakh Khanate and independence.
For how this history shaped the faiths you will meet, see religion in Kazakhstan; for the customs that survived it, see Kazakh traditions.
Kazakhstan declared independence from the Soviet Union on 16 December 1991, the last of the fifteen Soviet republics to do so. Independence Day is still celebrated on 16 December.
The Kazakh Khanate was founded in 1465 by Kerey and Zhanibek, and lasted until the Russian Empire abolished the khans' authority in the first half of the 19th century. Kenesary Kasymov, killed in 1847, is regarded as the last khan.
Kazakhstan has had two presidents: Nursultan Nazarbayev from 1991 to 2019, and Kassym-Jomart Tokayev from 2019 to the present.
The capital, Astana, was renamed Nur-Sultan in honour of Nursultan Nazarbayev when he stepped down in 2019. After the unrest of January 2022 and the political reforms that followed, it was renamed Astana again in September 2022.
Yes. Kazakhstan was a Soviet republic from 1920 (first as an autonomous republic within Russia, then as the Kazakh SSR from 1936) until independence in December 1991.
From ancient civilisations to modern independence, Kazakhstan's history comes alive through its people, monuments and traditions.
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