Muhammed Qanapiya Shoqan Walikhanov Kazakh scholar ethnographer

Muhammed Qanapiya Shoqan Walikhanov

Kazakh scholar, ethnographer, historian and participant in The Great game. The father of modern Kazakh historiography and ethnography. (November 1835 – April 10, 1865)

Childhood Shoqan spent his youth in his father’s traditional yurt. His father Chingis arranged his son’s early education, enrolling him in 1842 at age six in a small private school, or maktab, which provided a secular education. It was here that he began his studies of Arabic script and his native language Chagatai, which served as the lingua franca of Central Asia at that time. Shoqan in 1847, upon enrolling in the Omsk Military Academy

At an early age Shoqan moved from his father’s home to the estate of his paternal grandmother Aiganym, in Syrymbet. Shoqan was enrolled in the Siberian Cadet Corps by his grandmother. Walikhanov entered the military academy in Omsk in 1847. After graduating from the Omsk Cadet School, where he read not only Russian but also English language literature, Walikhanov traveled extensively in Central Asia in the late 1850 s. It was during his stay in Omsk that Walikhanov first made the acquaintance of Fyodor Dostoevsky. Portrait of Shoqan Walikhanov made in St. Petersburg by I. A. Kardovsky

Adult life 1. 1855 -56 - mission to the region of Issyq Köl. 2. June 28, 1858 – Kashgar. 3. The spring of 1861 - he became seriously ill with tuberculosis. 4. 1864 - Shoqan was assigned to help with Colonel Cherniaev's continued conquest of Central Asia. 5. He spent his last remaining months in the village of Sultan Tezek, eventually marrying Sultan Tezek’s sister, Aisary.

Major Work: Articles and books devoted to the history and culture of Central Asia Chinese Turkestan and Kozy-Korpesh - Regarding the Dzungaria Bayan-Sulu camps of Kazakh nomads The Kazakhs Traces of Shamanism among the Kazakhs

Travel routes of Shoqan Walikhanov in the Kulja and Kashgar

Sketches Of Shoqan Walikhanov

Family tree of Shoqan Walikhanov: Genghis Khan Jochi Abylai Uali Khan Shyngys Shoqan

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