- Shokan Valikhanov
Shokan Valikhanov ( _kk. Шоқан Уәлиханов, Russian: Чокан Чингисович Валиханов, 1835-1865) was the first Kazakh scholar, ethnographer and historian. He is regarded as the father of Kazakh
historiography andethnography . TheKazakh Academy of Sciences is named after Shokan Valikhanov.A male-line descendant of
Genghis Khan , Valikhanov was born at the house of his grandfather, Wali Khan, whose own grandfather wasAblai Khan , the great khan ofOrta Zhuz . He received early education in his village Kushmurune at a private Kazakhmaktab , or grade school.Valikhanov was one of the first Kazakhs educated in Russian language and worked for Imperial Russia. He lived in
St.Petersburg for two years and joined the staff of theRussian Geographical Society , serving as officer of the Russian army for the remaining days of his life.Valihkanov published books and articles devoted to the history and culture of Central Asia; among them researches "Kirghiz (Kazakhs)," "Traces of shamanism in Kirghiz (Kazakhs)", "About Kirghiz nomads' camp" and others contained ethnographic data that have been used to date. He also compiled Kazakh epic poem "Kozy-Korpesh and "Bayan-Sulu" as well as Kyrgyz
Epic of Manas .Valikhanov report of his trip to
Kashgaria in 1858-59 remains a valuable account on the situation inXinjiang in the aftermath of Wali Khan's invasion of the region and on the eve of theMuslim Rebellion of the 1860s.References
*ru icon [http://www.unesco.kz/kazhistory/valih_biogr.html Biography from the UNESCO branch in Kazakhstan]
ee also
* [http://kazakhstan.neweurasia.net/2006/08/12/tinker-taylor-soldier-kazakh/ www.neweurasia.net (biography) (in English)]
* [http://www.peoples.ru/science/history/walihanov/ www.peoples.ru Shokan Valikhanov (in Russian)]
* [http://users.omsknet.ru/sbb/html/dict.html#valihanov Shokan Valikhanov in Omsk (in Russian)]
* [http://www.geocities.com/plt_2000plt_us/chv/ Shokan Valikhanov (photos, biography) (in Russian)]
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