The formation of native land imagery in traditional Kazakh society: On the example of historical toponyms of Western Kazakhstan

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of elements of the toponymic system of Western Kazakhstan in the context of the processes of territorial identification and the construction of images of the native land in traditional Kazakh society. The toponyms Zhaiyk and Mangistau played a key role in the history and culture of the Kazakh clans that  were part of the Junior Zhuz. The region of Western Kazakhstan was not only a traditional place of nomadic settlement but also an important center of economic activity and cultural interaction. The article examines the ethnic and historical-cultural aspects of the etymology of these toponyms, their connection with tribal migrations, and their role in the processes of forming the ethnic identity of the Kazakhs. Data from written sources, folklore, and historiographic analysis of scholarly literature reveal the marking role of toponymy in the western region of Kazakhstan – as indicators of ethnic boundaries, as a center of ethnic processes that took place here, and as evidence of interactions between individual groups of nomads from ancient times  to the Middle Ages. In the article, the authors employ interdisciplinary methods,  including toponymic analysis, historical-comparative, ideographic, and historical-typological approaches. The theoretical framework for the study of toponyms is based on the concepts of “toponymic space,” the historical and cultural landscape, and territorial identity. The results of the research indicate that since ancient times, the modern territory of Western Kazakhstan has been a region of settlement  for nomadic tribes, who developed it economically over thousands of years and filled the space with sacred meanings and mental categories.  In this way, a “toponymic picture of the world” was created – closely linked not only to economic development but also to the parallel processes of the formation of ethnic consciousness among the Sarmatian-Massaget, Oghuz, and Kipchak ethnic communities.  The “toponymic space” conceptualized by nomads can be understood as a description of their world, embodied in place names that have become ethnic symbols in the development of the  territorial identity of an entire people.