Isatai Taimanov

Taimanov, Isatai

 

Born 1791; died July 1838. Leader of an antifeudal and anticolonial uprising in the 1830’s in the Bukei Horde in Kazakhstan.

In 1812, Taimanov became an elder of the Bersh clan, which led a nomadic life near the Caspian Sea. His protests against the mistreatment of the peasants displeased the khan but made him extremely popular with the people. In February 1836, Taimanov, Makhambet Utemisov, and a few others led an uprising composed principally of Kazakh peasants. Taimanov’s detachments numbered 2,000 armed horsemen in 1837. The uprising culminated in the unsuccessful siege of Khan Dzhagir’s headquarters in October 1837. Later in the same year the rebels were routed at Tas-Tiube. Taimanov managed to escape to the Lesser Horde with a small detachment. There he joined Sultan Kaip-Galii Ishimov in the latter’s attempt to wrest the Lesser Horde from Russia with the help of the khan of Khiva. Taimanov was killed in July 1838 in a clash with a detachment of tsarist troops.

REFERENCE

Bekmakhanov, E. B. Ocherki istorii Kazakhstana XIX v. Alma-Ata, 1966.

N. E. BEKMAKHANOVA