Kipchak branch
Karakalpaks
A Kipchak Turk people of the Amu Darya delta, whose homeland on the Aral Sea has been transformed by the sea’s retreat.
Qaraqalpaqlar / Karakalpaklar
The Karakalpaks — whose name means “black hat” — are a Kipchak Turk people closely related in language and culture to the Kazakhs, and are mainly Sunni Muslims. They settled in the Amu Darya delta, on the southern shore of the Aral Sea, in the 18th century. Karakalpak and Uzbek are official languages of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, whose capital is Nukus.
Since the 1960s the diversion of the Amu Darya and Syr Darya for irrigation has caused the Aral Sea to shrink dramatically. Former fishing ports such as Moynaq now lie far from the water, and the change has deeply affected the economy, health and environment of the region.
Nukus is home to the State Museum of Art of the Republic of Karakalpakstan named after Igor Savitsky, founded in 1966, which holds Karakalpak applied and folk art alongside a renowned collection of Russian avant-garde painting.
- Language
- Karakalpak, a Kipchak Turk language closely related to Kazakh
- Branch
- Kipchak
- Homeland
- The Republic of Karakalpakstan, in the Amu Darya delta south of the Aral Sea, within Uzbekistan
- Also living in
- Other regions of Uzbekistan, including the Fergana Valley, and Kazakhstan
Key dates
18th century
Karakalpak groups settle in the Amu Darya delta, south of the Aral Sea.
1873
The lands on the right bank of the Amu Darya come under Russian rule; the left bank remains within the Khanate of Khiva.
1925
A Karakalpak Autonomous Oblast is created.
1932–1936
The oblast becomes the Karakalpak Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (1932) and is joined to the Uzbek SSR (1936).
Since the 1960s
The Aral Sea shrinks as river water is diverted for irrigation.
Heritage
- Epic poetry sung by bards (jyraus), including Qırq Qız (“Forty Maidens”) and its heroine Gulayim
- Textiles, embroidered costume, jewellery and yurt furnishings of the Aral delta
- The Savitsky Museum in Nukus and the work of the 19th-century poet Berdaq
Sources
- Minority Rights Group International, World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples, “Uzbekistan: Karakalpaks”
- D. Richardson and S. Richardson, Qaraqalpaqs of the Aral Delta (Prestel, 2012)
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Karakalpakstan”