Modern domestic historiography of the history of foreign policy of the Kazakh khanate in the XVII–XVIII centuries

Research аrticle

Abstract

The article analyzes a number of historiographic sources on the history of the foreign policy of the Kazakh Khanate in the 17th–18th centuries in order to determine the degree of study of the topic. The purpose of this study is to conduct a historiographic review of the foreign policy of the Kazakh Khanate in the 17th and 18th centuries. For a long time, the history of the Kazakh Khanate's foreign policy was not the subject of specialized study. Only in recent years have Kazakh historians begun to pay attention to this issue. Since independence, Russian historical scholarship has been more deeply engaged in studying the Kazakh Khanate's relations with neighboring and distant countries than it was during the Soviet era. Not only has the number of studies increased, but their source base has also expanded. Historical sources published under the state programs «Cultural Heritage» and «Archive 2025» have been introduced into scholarly circulation. Sources stored in foreign archival collections were identified and collections of archival documents and materials were published. Diplomatic letters written in Manchu were translated into Kazakh, and historical source studies were conducted on them. Based on new historical knowledge and methodology, scholarly conceptual conclusions were drawn. There are also aspects in which historians' findings align with the opinions of foreign scholars. Nevertheless, Russian researchers are studying this issue within the context of national interest and from the perspective of modern research methods. The research explores the Kazakh Khanate's relations with the Central Asian states, Russia, the Bashkirs, Kyrgyz, and Dzungars during this period, as well as the foreign policies of the khans and sultans Abulkhair, Abylai, and Vali. During the period of independence, historians studied Kazakh-Russian, Kazakh-Uzbek, and Kazakh-Dzungar relations. Therefore, priority is given to historiographic works devoted to the study of these relations. Kazakh historical scholarship has not analyzed the historiography of the Kazakh Khanate's foreign policy in the 17th and 18th centuries. This may be due to the fact that domestic historiography remained largely stagnant for a long time, with scholars of the Kazakh Khanate and its foreign relations considered nationalists, and historians avoiding complex political issues. The paucity of data on the history of the Kazakh Khanate's foreign policy also hindered research into this issue. Only in recent years have previously unknown historical sources been discovered. Based on these sources, research is being published, in the direction of new historical knowledge. The historiographical review identified the need for an in-depth and comprehensive study of the Kazakh Khanate's foreign policy relations based on new sources. It was confirmed that it is important for scholarship to study Kazakh-Turkish, Kazakh-Persian, Kazakh-Chinese, and Kazakh-Azerbaijani relations using archival documents previously unavailable for scholarly use. It was also determined that, in order to further rationally pursue the multi-vector foreign policy of the modern Republic of Kazakhstan, it is necessary to study its past experience.