Bokey

The steppe between the Volga and Ural provided seasonal pastures for Nogai, Kalmyk and Kazakh herders north of the Caspian. Its open grasslands and salt lakes formed part of the wider country through which herds moved in search of grazing. The name Bokey recalls a Kazakh horde established here at the beginning of the nineteenth century.

In 1801 Sultan Bokey, a son of Nurali Khan, obtained Russian permission to lead families of the Junior Zhuz across the Ural into the lands between the rivers. The new community became known as the Inner or Bokey Horde. Russian authorities recognized Bokey as khan in 1812; after his death in 1815 his brother Shigay governed for the young heir Zhangir. The horde supplied livestock and wool to Russian markets while remaining a society shaped by pastoral movement.