The Past
Kazakhstan is among the countries in Central Asia with a rich history that makes the nation unique among the other Asian countries. Before the current era, many nomadic tribes lived in a place that is currently known as Kazakhstan, and these nomadic tribes were collectively known as the Saka. For many years in the ancient times, the land inhabited by the Saka was a scene devastated by wars, and numerous conquerors had intruded on this land. By the year 1218, Genghiz Khan who led the Mongol-Tatar invaded the place, and they swept over Kazakhstan with fire and sword as they strived to take over the fertile land in Central Asia (Aboutkazakhstan.com, n.d.). These aggressive campaigns in the ancient times resulted in Kazakhstan being integrated into the vast empire of Mongols who are today known in history as the Golden Horde. Despite this, the Golden Horde became an unstable state weakened by the continuing wars between the different tribal lords and the fight for freedom for those who were conquered and in due course the Golden Horde disintegrated into small tribal alliances.
In the middle ages, a vast number of farmers appeared in Kazakhstan who occupied the large farming fields and practiced crop farming in large scale. Besides this, the residing population concentrated on horticulture and growing melons. Eventually, there was a rise of feudal towns and started brisk trade with neighboring states like China and Iran. It was however until the 15th century that the first states of Kazakhstan were formed and these were known as Khanates, but still this never meant that the nation had grown into a single political entity (Aboutkazakhstan.com, n.d.). The country continued to face constant wars among the inhabitants, and this was characterized by the plundering of the population. It was because of these continuous wars that Kazakhstan failed to develop both culturally and economically and thus weakened its defensive state. As a result, Kazakhstan faced many attacks from the Dzungar who taxed them profoundly and dealt with them ruthlessly in case anyone stood against them. As years advanced many other Asian tribes invaded the nation till it got to the point of the country was on the brink of enslavement and extermination.
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It was until 1731 that Kazakhstan appealed for help from Russia with whom they had already developed an excellent trade relationship and voluntary accession was signed (Aboutkazakhstan.com, n.d.). Kazakhstan was under the governance of the Russian government which helped the country develop economically and culturally; this saw the advent of industrial enterprises in the country. The Kazakhs started crop farming, and their agricultural sector grew greatly. In the 20th century, Kazakhstan was affected by the World Wars as Russia participated and this affected the economy of the countries (Pang, 2011). Nevertheless, this saw the different tribes in Kazakhstan uniting that led to the reinstatement of the Kazakh appellation, and Kazakh Autonomous SSR got its capital. By 1960s and 1970s, Kazakhstan regained its economic and agricultural power as part of USSR government (Pang, 2011). It was during this era that coal, gas, and oil deposits were discovered in the region.
Present Day Kazakhstan
In 1991, Kazakhstan finally disintegrated from the Soviet Union and became an independent sovereign state. The first president of Kazakhstan was Nursultan Nazarbayev who was their communist leader. The president was authoritarian which was a good thing for the country as he established a unique system of governance and that protected the oil deposits from overexploitation and monopoly (Pang, 2011). In 1997, the government selected Astana as their new capital city instead of the Almaty which was previously established by the Soviet Union.
Today Kazakhstan is known as the largest landlocked country in the world. The country is known to be a unitary republic with the same president who ruled over the nation when it gained independence, still the same president that governs the state today (Pang, 2011) . The form of the parliament is bicameral meaning that it has the lower house and the Senate with 107 seats in the lower house (Pang, 2011). The senate which is the upper house has 47 members who govern the regions of the country on behalf of the president.
The economy of Kazakhstan is the largest and the strongest in Central Asia, and this is supported by the increasing oil output in the country as well as the rising prices of the oil across the globe (Pang, 2011) . The economy of the country has been rising every year at an approximate rate of 8%. Unlike in the ancient times when agriculture was the leading economic sector, today energy takes the lead with the production of crude oil and natural gas supporting the economy in numerous ways (Pang, 2011). By the year 2015, Kazakhstan became one of the top ten nations that produce oil across the globe. Nonetheless, this does not mean that agriculture no longer has a place in the economy of the country only that with the development in the industrial sector, today agriculture accounts for only 5% of the economy. The country is a multicultural state that still practices most of the ancient traditions incorporated with ideologies gained from trading with other nations.
Reference
Aboutkazakhstan.com (n.d.). Kazakhstan history: past, present and future . [online] Aboutkazakhstan.com. Available at: http://aboutkazakhstan.com/about-kazakhstan-history [Accessed 13 Dec. 2017].
Pang, G. (2011). Kazakhstan . New York: Marshall Cavendish Benchmark.
