The Karakalpak People

The Karakalpaks are a heterogenous people, their appearance ranging from European to Mongoloid. They are a confederation of many tribes, organised into two major divisions or arıs, the On To'rt Urıw (meaning fourteen tribes) and the Qon'ırat. A recent French study of the DNA from men belonging to both arıs has shown that whilst there are strong genetic relationships within individual Karakalpak clans, these relationships are not shared from clan to clan. This confirms the historical evidence, which suggests that the Karakalpaks are a confederation of different tribes with no common origin, just like the neighbouring Uzbeks, Kazakhs and Turkmen.





The world population of Karakalpaks is probably less than 600,000, making them one of the smallest Turkic groups in Central Asia. About 80% live in the Autonomous Republic of Karakalpakstan, the remainder being mainly located in other parts of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Russia. For comparison, the Kazakhs may number up to 14 million worldwide, of which only 8½ million (about 60%) live in Kazakhstan. Surprisingly the Karakalpaks are not the dominant population of Karakalpakstan – they make up less than one third of the population and are just outnumbered by Uzbeks, some of whom have moved into southern Karakalpakstan from other parts of Uzbekistan in recent years.

The Karakalpaks speak Karakalpak, a language that belongs to the Kipchak or north-western category of the Turkic-Altaic family of languages, along with Kazakh, Bashkir, and Nogay. Of course the Karakalpaks would describe themselves as Qaraqalpaq in the Latin alphabet, not Karakalpak. The latter is the Russian transliteration of their name and this has subsequently become the name most commonly used in the West. The Uzbeks call them Qoraqalpog. We would prefer to use Qaraqalpaq ourselves but have reluctantly chosen to use the Russian spelling as this is the overwhelming preference for users of the internet (by a factor of 120).

The Karakalpaks are very close to the Kazakhs in more than language. The two groups have very similar traditional material cultures and social customs. The limited archaeological and historical evidence available suggests that the Karakalpaks might have formed as a confederation of tribes in the late 15th century or during the 16th century in a region of the lower Amu Darya in close proximity to the Kazakhs of the Lesser Horde (or Junior Zhuz). The Karakalpaks spent a considerable time under Kazakh domination and some of their tribes were led by Kazakh princes.

However whereas the Kazakhs were traditionally nomadic sheep breeders and travelled widely across the steppes, the Karakalpaks were semi-settled and only partly nomadic, pursuing a mixed pastoral-agricultural-fishing economy and breeding cattle rather than sheep. They lived close to the rivers and marshes and migrated seasonally from their wintering grounds, or qıslaw, to their summering grounds, or jazlaw, which were usually not too far apart from each other. Karakalpaks belonging to the Qon'ırat arıs were more focused on cattle breeding and fishing, whereas the more southerly dwelling On To'rt Urıw were more heavily engaged in agriculture.

Clan identity remains very important to the Karakalpaks up to the present day and children are taught to value and respect their clan from an early age. The majority of clans practice exogamy, meaning that a woman may not marry within her own clan. This makes marriage a tough proposition for many young brides. They must leave their own family and village to go and live with the family of the groom. In some households, the youngest daughter-in-law is treated almost as a full-time family servant.

Throughout much of their history, the Karakalpaks have battled against poverty and have been treated as underdogs by more dominant ethnic groups. Their lives, families, grazing pastures and possessions were constantly under threat from attack by marauding tribes, whether Kalmyks in the 17th and 18th century, or Kazakhs, Khorezmian Uzbeks and Turkmen in the 18th, 19th and early 20th century. Though their security improved following the arrival of the Russians in 1873, they have always remained economically inferior to the neighbouring Uzbeks. Although they are now part of an independent Uzbekistan, they still face indifference, persecution and hostility from Uzbek politicians, government and other officials. A Karakalpak visiting Tashkent keeps his ethnicity quiet if he wants an easy life. If one requires a permit or some other official document, it is often preferable to claim to be Uzbek to avoid the inevitable discrimination and deliberate delay.

Karakalpakstan is one of the two poorest regions of Uzbekistan, and the Karakalpak population suffers higher levels of poverty, unemployment, and sickness than their Uzbek neighbours. A good monthly wage is about $20, and the majority of individuals have to survive on much less. As elsewhere in Uzbekistan, wages are often paid several months in arrears and there is often a general shortage of local currency – the Uzbek som.

Karakalpakstan has an isolated, closed, undeveloped and inefficient economy primarily dependant on agriculture – mainly cotton and rice growing. Less than 9% of the workforce is involved in industrial production. The region depends totally on support from Tashkent – even at the most basic level there are not even any local sources of capital for investment. The discovery of large gas reserves below the U'stirt and Aral Sea will unfortunately do little for the local population. The exploitation of these reserves will depend on money and expertise brought into the region from elsewhere, especially from Russia, and any economic surplus will accumulate in government coffers in Tashkent. Natural gas extraction is a capital intensive industry requiring only a small specialist labour force for its management and maintainance.

The situation is made worse by the growing Aral Sea environmental disaster, which continues to adversely affect the northern population of the Amu Darya delta – mainly the Qon'ırat Karakalpaks. The Aral fishing industry has been destroyed, much of the surrounding agricultural land is turning into desert and even further south, secondary salinization – that ancient curse of the Khorezmian farmer – has restricted the land available for cultivation. Local climate change, especially the reduction in rainfall, is also affecting farmers further south. At the same time, toxic residues remaining from past over-intensive use of pesticides and defoliants on the cotton crop have polluted the ground water. Exacerbated by grossly inadequate levels of health care, this has led to a high incidence of ailments and diseases, ranging from anaemia and tuberculosis to thyroid complaints and cancers.

One of the positive legacies from the Soviet period is that the overwhelming majority of children still go to school and adult literacy is extremely high. However following Uzbek independence it is no longer obligatory to teach Russian and many good schools now attempt to teach English as an alternate foreign language. In the past many older rural Karakalpaks never learnt to speak Russian anyway, but now it is common to find young people in the cities who can only speak Karakalpak.

Today Karakalpaks can be divided into two types. The urban dwellers who live in Soviet-style apartment blocks, mostly located in Biruniy, Taxiyatas, No'kis and Xojeyli although some were also constructed for agricultural workers on kolxoz and sovxoz collective or State farms, and the majority of the rural population who live in small single-storey adobe houses or tams. The latter are also widespread in low-rise towns like Shımbay and Shomanay as well as in the suburbs of No'kis and other big conurbations. Most Karakalpaks living in a tam maintain a small vegetable garden with some fruit trees and a few chickens. Some might even have a cow and some goats. Indeed it is not unusual to see a herd of goats being taken through the backstreets of No'kis to graze on some derelict site.

Such meagre resources can make an important difference to the family dinner table. Most Karakalpaks live on a high carbohydrate-diet, based on bread, rice, pasta, potatoes and other root vegetables. Commodities like meat, sausage and cheese are relatively expensive and only small amounts of meat and fish are served with an average meal. Tea is the universal beverage.

This view of Qon'ırat Sunday bazaar shows various examples of modern Karakalpak dress

Pronunciation of Karakalpak Terms

• arıs



• bas oramal



• jazlaw



• ma'deli



• qıslaw



• shapan

Return to top of page

Home Page