Aḥmed Shāh bin Janysh Sultan (,

romanized In linguistics, romanization is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and transcription, ...

: ''Ahmed Şah bin Janyş Sūltan''), also known as Ahmed Khan, was a

Khan Khan may refer to: * Khan (surname), including a list of people with the name * Khan (title), a royal title for a ruler in Mongol and Turkic languages and used by various ethnicities Art and entertainment * Khan (band), an English progressiv ...

of the Kazakh Khanate who ruled the western part of modern-day

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

as well as the upper reaches of the

Syr Darya The Syr Darya ( ),; ; ; ; ; /. historically known as the Jaxartes ( , ), is a river in Central Asia. The name, which is Persian language, Persian, literally means ''Syr Sea'' or ''Syr River''. It originates in the Tian Shan, Tian Shan Mountain ...

river from 1533 to 1536. Through his father, Janysh Sultan, he was a nephew of the great ruler Qasim Khan, the fourth khan of the Kazakh Khanate. Ahmed resided in Hazrat-e-Turkistan, the capital and largest city of the Kazakh Khanate, as well as Sawran, another major Kazakh settlement established during the time of his uncle and father. Ahmed also lived in northern

near modern-day

Astana Astana is the capital city of Kazakhstan. With a population of 1,423,726 within the city limits, it is the second-largest in the country after Almaty, which had been the capital until 1997. The city lies on the banks of the Ishim (river), Ishim ...

and

Pavlodar Pavlodar (; ; ) is a city in northeastern Kazakhstan and the capital of Pavlodar Region. It is located northeast of the national capital Astana and southeast of the Russian city of Omsk along the Irtysh River. In 2010, the city had a popul ...

for much of his life, as he fought a war of succession for the Kazakh throne.

Biography

After the death of Kasim Khan, presumably around in 1521, his oldest-son, Muhammad Khan, (aka Mamash Khan) became the new khan. Muhammad's reign was short-lived. In 1522, a civil war broke out between the descendants of Janibek Khan for the throne. When Muhammad Khan was killed in 1523, he was succeeded by Tahir Khan, son of Ádik Sultan and one of Janibek Khan's grandsons. Under his rule, the civil war continued. After Tahir's death, Toǵym was proclaimed as the new Khan, but his succession was not recognized by Budiash, the ruler of

Jetisu Jetisu ( ) or Semirechye ( rus, Семиречье, p=sʲɪmʲɪˈrʲetɕje) or Heptopotamia is a historical region in Central Asia corresponding to the southeastern part of modern Kazakhstan. Name Jetisu is also transcribed Jeti-Suu (, ), Zh ...

, or Ahmed, the ruler of Sygnak, who both declared themselves Khan. To resolve the conflict, the Kazakh Khanate was split into three kingdoms. Assuming himself to be the most powerful ruler in Central Asia, Ahmed Khan proclaimed himself the "''Shah-i-Turan''" (

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

for "King of

Turan Turan (; ; , , ) is a historical region in Central Asia. The term is of Iranian origin and may refer to a particular prehistoric human settlement, a historic geographical region, or a culture. The original Turanians were an Iranian tribe of th ...

"), becoming the first Kazakh ruler to assume this unconventional title. In 1535, Ahmed Khan was deposed and overthrown by Aziz Sultan, a Kazakh noble. Six months later in 1536, Ahmed again ruled in the upper reaches of the Syr Darya, and attacked the

Nogai Horde The Nogai Horde was a confederation founded by the Nogais that occupied the Pontic–Caspian steppe from about 1500 until they were pushed west by the Kalmyks and south by the Russians in the 17th century. The Mongol tribe called the Manghuds con ...

which defeated him and captured him along with his fifteen sons. Ahmed Khan was killed by Orak Batyr, the son of a noble Nogai Beyy Alchagira who was also killed earlier by the Kazakhs. After Ahmed's death, all the territories that were under his control was captured by Haqnazar, who managed to end the feud and restore the unity of the Kazakh Khanate.

References

* *{{cite book , last=Abuseitova , first=Meruyert , date=1985 , title=Казахское ханство во второй половине XVI века , trans-title=Kazakh Khanate in the second half of the XVI century , url= , language=Russian , location=Alma-Ata , publisher= , isbn= Year of birth unknown 1536 deaths Kazakh khans