During the 17th century, the Karakalpaks were concentrated along the Syr Darya: from the middle Syr Darya to the east of Kyzyl Orda, with a fortress at Signaq, to the lower Syr Darya including the Kuvan Darya and Jana Darya tributaries, with the Aq-O'zek fortress at Yangi-kent. Throughout this period they remained subservient to, and paid tribute to, the Khans of the Kazakh Little Horde. However by the start of the 18th century, some Karakalpaks had already begun to filter south into northern Khorezm, where they became embroiled in the conflict between the Aral Uzbeks and the Khivan Khan.

At the beginning of the 18th century attempts were being made to reunite the different Karakalpak populations located in Khorezm, the Zerafshan Valley and elsewhere with the main body of so-called Turkestan Karakalpaks living in the “land of the fathers” along the Syr Darya. Signaq seems to have been at the heart of this effort to establish links with all of the tribes. However this attempt at tribal unification was overcome by events.

In the 17th century Dzhungars, or Mongol Uighur tribes from East Turkestan, began moving west and started attacking the eastern Kazakhs. The Great Horde had been able to halt their invasion around Lake Balkash. However, in the 1710’s the Dzhungars resumed their western movement with greater vigour, at a time when the Kazakh Hordes were in conflict with each other. Aware of the impending danger, both the Kazakhs and the Karakalpaks attempted to secure closer relations with Russia but without success. Although the Russians sent an ambassador to hold discussions with the Karakalpaks in 1721, nothing quickly transpired. In 1723 the Dzhungars invaded in force, overwhelming the Great Horde and any Karakalpaks who remained in the eastern part of the middle Syr Darya, causing destruction to the towns and villages, irrigation systems and crops. Many people were taken away in captivity.

This whole episode caused the complete disruption of the Kazakh nation and has gone down in their history as “the years of the Great Disaster”. Most of the tribes belonging to the Middle and Little Hordes took flight, with the Little Horde dispersing to the Emba, Ural and Volga valleys and a minority going towards Khiva. This in turn led to conflict, with the fleeing Kazakhs and Karakalpaks being attacked by Volga Kalmuks and Ural Cossacks. The Russians, fearful that the Karakalpaks might combine with the Bashkirs and other steppe tribes, supported the Kalmuks and supplied them with arms.

Some Karakalpaks moved eastwards with some of the Middle Horde Kazakhs, along the Syr Darya to Tashkent, and then south-west into the Samarkand region, whilst many others migrated into the Ferghana Valley. Here they settled and their ancestors still live in the many fully or partially Karakalpak villages that can be found throughout these regions today. Some Karakalpaks migrated westwards and settled between the Ural and Volga Rivers in what is today modern Bashkiria. However, the majority of Karakalpaks moved south-west into the lower Syr Darya, the Kuvan Darya, the Jana Darya and south towards the Aral Sea. Most of the “upper” Syr Darya Karakalpaks had finally been forced together with the “lower” Karakalpaks.

This traumatic episode led to renewed cooperation between Karakalpaks and Kazakhs to gain Russian protection. The Karakalpaks sent ambassadors to Russia in 1725, and the leader of the Kazakh Lesser Horde, Khan Abul Khayr (1717-48) who also ruled over the “lower” Karakalpaks, sent his delegation the following year. Unfortunately the Russians had gained the impression that the Karakalpaks were a warlike and aggressive tribe. However, when Abul Khayr sent his ambassador to Saint Petersburg in 1730 with a proposal to place the Little Horde under the patronage of Russia, the Russians responded by sending their ambassador to see Abul Khayr in the following year. This was a long and productive visit during which it became clear that both the Karakalpaks and the Kazakhs genuinely sought peace under the protection of Russian citizenship.

Back in Russia, I K Kirilov, the secretary to the Russian Senate, became a proponent of the idea, realising that naturalisation would provide Russia with a way of controlling the tribes, pacifying the steppes and increasing security and trade. After a return visit to Saint Petersburg, deeds of naturalisation were finally issued to Khan Abul Khayr and Khan Kaip, one of the Karakalpak Khans. The territories of the Middle and Lesser Hordes had effectively become an integral part of Russia.

Kirilov was tasked with the founding of a new city at the mouth of the river Or, which subsequently became Orenburg, and Kazakh and Karakalpak peoples were encouraged to come and settle and to establish their trades and professions in its environs. Its purpose was to act as an important staging post for Russian commercial caravans. Part of Kirilov’s duty was to re-map the region, and the map of the Aral region in his 1734 Atlas shows Karakalpaks in the delta of the Syr Darya and along the eastern shores of the Aral Sea and “subject Kyrgyz (Kazakhs)” to the north of the Aral Sea.

Detail of Muravin's map showing the Karakalpak Division on the Kuvan Darya in 1741.

Following the accession of the Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, Lieutenant Gladyshev was sent from Orenburg with his surveyor, Muravin, to visit Abul Khayr at his headquarters on the Kuvan Darya. It was felt expedient to repeat and record the oath of allegiance from all of the “lower” Karakalpak tribal leaders representing some 12,000 nomad tents. But the Karakalpaks stressed to Gladyshev that whilst they wanted Russian citizenship, they also wanted to escape from the yoke of the Kazakh Khan.

Thanks to this expedition, Gladyshev and Muravin provided the first documentary information about the Karakalpak people, including a summary of their tribal structure, and their semi-nomadic lifestyle , involving a mixture of stockbreeding, irrigated delta agriculture and fishing. They kept horses, sheep, goats, cattle and a few camels, using cattle to pull both the plough and their two-wheeled carts or arba. For navigating the waterways they used 6m long boats with small sails, which were capable of crossing the Aral Sea from the mouth of the Syr Darya to the mouth of the Amu Darya. They farmed wheat, barley and millet and cut down the reeds for animal fodder.


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