During the conquest of the Junghar in the mid-18th century, the Qing dynasty (1636–1912) came into contact with the Kazakh nomads of Central Asia. Their political and economical relations continued until the Kazakh steppe was completely annexed to the Russian empire in the mid-19th century. The main objective of this research is to introduce documents that were addressed from the Kazakh leaders, known as sultan, to the Qing dynasty, and to examine their features and value as historical sources.
The introduction considers the general features of these documents and their handling within the Qing administrative system. Chapter 1 provides the text, transcription, and translation of sixteen documents written in Turki or Oirad (Qalmaq/Kalmyk). Chapters 2 and 3 consist of two essays by the authors, who have made use of these documents. Chapter 4 provides a name-list of the Kazakh missions sent to the Qing court.
We wish to express our gratitude to Dr. HAMAMOTO Mami (NIHU Research Fellow at TIAS) for reading the entire text in its original form. This research was supported by KAKENHI/Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (NODA: 21820059, ONUMA: 20820035) and is published as a part of the results of the Joint Usage / Research Center for Islamic Area Studies, the University of Tokyo.
