Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country mostly in Central Asia, with a part in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbekistan to the south, and Turkmenistan to the southwest, with a coastline along the Caspian Sea. Its capital is Astana, while the largest city and leading cultural and commercial hub is Almaty. Kazakhstan is the world's ninth-largest country by land area and the largest landlocked country. It has a population of 20 million and one of the lowest population densities in the world, at fewer than 6 people per square kilometre. Ethnic Kazakhs constitute a majority, while ethnic Russians form a significant minority. Officially secular, Kazakhstan is a Muslim-majority country, although ethnic Russians in the country form a sizeable Christian community.
Kazakhstan, the largest country fully within the Eurasian Steppe, has been a historical crossroads and home to numerous different peoples, states and empires throughout history. Throughout history, peoples on the territory of modern Kazakhstan had nomadic lifestyle, which developed and influenced Kazakh culture.
Cambyses II was the second King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire from 530 to 522 BC. He was the son and successor of Cyrus the Great and his mother was Cassandane.
The Saka were a group of nomadic Eastern Iranian peoples who historically inhabited the northern and eastern Eurasian Steppe and the Tarim Basin.
Cyrus II of Persia, commonly known as Cyrus the Great, was the founder of the Achaemenid Persian Empire. Hailing from Persis, he brought the Achaemenid dynasty to power by defeating the Median Empire and embracing all of the previous civilized states of the ancient Near East, expanding vastly and eventually conquering most of West Asia and much of Central Asia to create what would soon become the largest polity in human history at the time. Widely considered the world's first superpower, the Achaemenid Empire's largest territorial extent was achieved under Darius the Great, whose rule stretched from the Balkans and the rest of Southeast Europe in the west to the Indus Valley in the east.
Dariga Nursultanqyzy Nazarbayeva is a Kazakh businesswoman and politician who is the daughter of Nursultan Nazarbayev who was the President of Kazakhstan from 1990 to 2019. She was a member of the Mäjilis from 2004 to 2007, 2012 to 2015 and 2021 to 2022. She was Deputy Chairwoman of Mäjilis from 2014 to 2015 until being appointed as a Deputy Prime Minister under Massimov's cabinet. She was a member of the Kazakh Senate from 2016 to 2020, serving as Senate Chairwoman from 2019 to 2020. She is one of the richest women in Kazakhstan.
Mandane was a Median princess and, later, the queen consort of the Persian king Cambyses I and the mother of Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Achaemenid Empire. The name likely originates from the Old Iranian *Mandanā-, which means “delighting, cheerful”.
The Massagetae or Massageteans, also known as Sakā tigraxaudā or Orthocorybantians, were an ancient Eastern Iranian Saka people who inhabited the steppes of Central Asia and were part of the wider Scythian cultures. The Massagetae rose to power in the 8th to 7th centuries BCE, when they started a series of events with wide-reaching consequences by expelling the Scythians out of Central Asia and into the Caucasian and Pontic Steppes. The Massagetae are most famous for their queen Tomyris's alleged defeating and killing of Cyrus, the founder of the Persian Achaemenid Empire.
Zhetysu or Jeti-Suu, also transcribed Zhetisu, Jetisuw, Jetysu, Jeti-su or Jity-su, is a historical name of a part of Central Asia corresponding to the southeastern part of modern Kazakhstan.
Tomyris also called Thomyris, Tomris, or Tomiride, is known only from the Greek historian Herodotus. According to him, she reigned over the Massagetae, an Iranian Saka people of Central Asia. Tomyris led her armies to defend against an attack by Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid Empire, and defeated and killed him in 530 BC. She had his severed head placed in a bag or bowl filled with blood, saying to it "There: drink your fill of blood!"
Kazakh, Qazaq or Kazakhstani may refer to someone or something related to Kazakhstan:
FC Ordabasy is a professional football club from Kazakhstan based at the Kazhimukan Munaitpasov Stadium in Shymkent. Ordabasy was formed in 1949, following the merger of two existing Kazakhstan Premier League sides, FC Zhiger and FC Tomiris.
The Dahae, also known as the Daae, Dahas or Dahaeans were an ancient Eastern Iranian nomadic tribal confederation, who inhabited the steppes of Central Asia.
The Amyrgians were a Saka tribe.
The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire, also known as the First Persian Empire, was the ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid dynasty in 550 BC. Based in modern-day Iran, it was the largest empire by that point in history, spanning a total of 5.5 million square kilometres. The empire spanned from the Balkans and Egypt in the west, West Asia as the base, the majority of Central Asia to the northeast, and the Indus Valley to the southeast.
Spargapises was the son of queen Tomyris of the Massagetai.
Tomris, Tomiris or Tamiris is a Turkic female name used in Azerbaijan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan. The name is a modern Turkic derivation of Tomyris, an ancient Iranian Massagetae queen from Central Asia.
This is a short History of the central steppe, an area roughly equivalent to modern Kazakhstan. Because the history is complex it is mainly an outline and index to the more detailed articles given in the links. It is a companion to History of the western steppe and History of the eastern steppe and is parallel to the History of Kazakhstan and the History of central Asia.
The names of the Scythians are a topic of interest for classicists and linguists. The Scythians were an Iranic people best known for dominating much of the Pontic steppe from about 700 BC to 400 BC. The name of the Scythians is believed to be of Indo-European origin and to have meant "archer". The Scythians gave their name to the region of Scythia. The Persians referred to all Iranic nomads of the steppes, including the Scythians, as Sakas. Some modern scholars apply the name Scythians to all peoples of the Scytho-Siberian world, but this terminology is controversial.
Akan Satayev is a Kazakhstani film director, actor, screenwriter and producer. Honored Worker of Kazakhstan and laureate of State Award of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
