Borat is funny, but the plight of Kazakh people is no laughing matter. After Stalin killed half of them, nuclear testing sealed the fate of the rest.
The nomadic Kazakhs of Russia have been colonised by Slavs, Cossacks, Stalinists, and Soviets. Result - famine, fallout, and an average age of 31.
Kazakh means nomad. There are three main Kazakh zhuz (hordes), each composed of a number of clans descended from common ancestors.
In the 19th century population density in Kazakhstan was 1 person per sq km. By the end of that century their land had been colonised by Slavic and Cossack invaders. The Kazakh population had always existed in a delicate balance with what the land could provide, so great famines followed the invasion.
At that time there were about three and a half million Kazakhs. As late as 1926 three quarters of all Kazakhs were still living a traditional lifestyle, dependent on livestock and seasonal agriculture. In the late 1920s, Stalin ordered the nomads to settle, in a bid to “intensify agricultural production”. This crass stupidity led to the deaths of 90 percent of Kazakh livestock. The ensuing famine resulted in the loss of 40 percent of the Kazakh population. The “settling” of these Indigenous people was nothing short of genocide. Read more.
