Relations between the Kazakh Khanate and Safavid Iran: Analyzing Written Sources and Museum Materials of Kazakhstan
Связи Казахского ханства и Сефевидского Ирана (письменные источники и музейные материалы Казахстана)
Atygayev N.A. Ahmetzhan K.S. Ibrayeva A.G.
2025Kalmyk Scientific Centre of Russian Academy of Sciences
Oriental Studies
2025#18Issue 61293 - 1308 pp.
Introduction. The article deals with the history of relations between the Kazakh Khanate and Safavid Iran. Despite these states were separated by the vast lands of Transoxiana — first under the Shibanids and later under the Ashtarkhanids — they did have political, diplomatic and other ties. Goals. The work examines available written messages and museum collections of Kazakhstan for a comprehensive insight into Kazakh-Safavid relations. Materials and methods. The paper focuses on related written sources and museum exhibits of Kazakhstan. Particular attention is paid to Persian-language narrative writings of Safavid historiography. These basically include historical works dedicated to Shah Ismail I and his successors, such as Tarikh-i Shah Ismail, Alam-ara-yi Safavi and others. Some published Russian ambassadorial materials have also been involved. The study employs key methods of historical research (descriptive, historical comparative methods and other generally accepted tools and approaches). The descriptive method proves central to reconstructing events and describing how they developed over time, while the rest have served as somewhat supplements to the former. Results. Various written sources indicate that contacts between the Kazakh Khanate’s population and that of Safavid Iran began already in the early sixteenth century, when Shah Ismail I and his successors launched active military and political campaigns in Khorasan and Transoxiana. Although Kazakh rulers of the specified period had been supporting the Shibanids of the Bukhara Khanate and opposing the Safavids together with the latter, in decades to come leaders of the Kazakh and Safavid states would become interested in forming an alliance to wage war against the Shibanid Abdullah Khan. Written records suggest that Tauekel Khan of the Kazakh did attempt to establish ties with Shah Abbas but no results of these efforts were ever documented in medieval sources. Nevertheless, it can be assumed that such a military and political alliance between the Kazakh and the Safavid did exist, and that they did coordinate their military endeavors against the Khan of the Uzbek. Written sources also attest to some active contacts between Khan Tauke and Safavid rulers in the mid-to-late seventeenth century. Conclusions. These long-lived contacts between the Kazakh Khanate and Safavid Iran reflected in written sources are confirmed with Kazakhstan’s museum artifacts that serve as material evidence of due cultural interaction. Various historical sources show it was during the Safavid period that this cultural exchange became particularly intense. Museum materials further demonstrate that the influence of Iranian weaponry culture is most evident in the traditional armament of Western Kazakhstan which is geographically closer to Iran.
Iran , Kazakh Khanate , Kazakhs , manuscripts , museum , Safavids , weaponry
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Abai Kazakh National Pedagogical University, 13, Dostyk Ave., Almaty, 050000, Kazakhstan
Central State Museum of the Republic of Kazakhstan, 44, Samal-1, Almaty, 050051, Kazakhstan
Military History Museum of the Armed Forces of Republic of Kazakhstan, 2, Republic Ave., Astana, 010000, Kazakhstan
National Museum of the Republic of Kazakhstan, 54, Tauyelsizdik Ave., Astana, 010000, Kazakhstan
Abai Kazakh National Pedagogical University
Central State Museum of the Republic of Kazakhstan
Military History Museum of the Armed Forces of Republic of Kazakhstan
National Museum of the Republic of Kazakhstan
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