Barefooted Flight

The Barefooted Flight is a name given to the catastrophic defeat and ensuing relocation of the Kazakhs from some southern areas of Kazakhstan in 1722 or 1723. The relocation included members of the Senior Horde, Middle Horde, and Junior Horde, as well as members of the Kyrgyz and Karakalpaks. The degree of starvation and loss of life is open to historical debate, but the after effects are documented among the sedentary neighbors of the Kazakhs. In short, the Barefooted Flight created a "worst case of nomadic-sedentary relations: steppe pastoralists ravaged the cultivated land of sedentary neighbours."

The Barefooted Flight

In 1723, a detachment of Oirats attacked deep into territory previously controlled by the Kazakhs, including the cities of Sayram, Turkistān, and Tashkent, which passed under their control and remained Zunghar possessions until their destruction by the Chinese in 1758.

In National History

The Kazakh political activist and historian Mukhamedzhan Tynyshpaev wrote several works which described the Flight. His narrative of the events would later form the basis of Soviet-era and Post-Soviet histories of the event.