Genealogy of Kazakh tribes

The Kazakh shezhire (tree) is a genealogical pedigree of the Kazakhs. It is a written or oral enumeration of ancestors in the direct male line.

According to Kazakh customs, every Kazakh is obliged to know his ancestors up to the 7th generation, which in turn means to know his genealogy and ancestry of his ancestors. And also thanks to the knowledge of their ancestry, it was possible to avoid closely related marriages, which has been prohibited since ancient times.

Kazakhs take shezhire very seriously and believe that it is important for every Kazakh to know their ancestry.

If earlier shezhire was transmitted orally, today you can find publications in the form of books, multi-volumes, where all members of a certain genus are listed.

The number of people of some large tribes such as Albanians, Alimuls, Argyns, Bayuls, Dulats, Naimans can number up to 1 million people only among Kazakhs, without taking into account other nationalities, where there may also be representatives of this genus.

Let’s find out what type of Kazakh tribes exist, how they differ from each other and what are their features.

Since ancient times, the Kazakhs were divided into genera or tribes (Ru), which were included in 3 zhuz (branch, part, hundred), and there are also several small genera that are not included in the zhuz. These 3 zhuzs are called: senior, middle, junior.

Kazakh zhuzes had the following features: 1) internal regional unity; 2) ethnic unity; 3) cultural and economic community; 4) community of political leadership.