People have
lived in Kazakhstan since the Paleolithic era, also called the Old Stone Age.
The initial domestication of horses is attributed to the Botai/ Kazakh culture (3700–3100
BC). The majority of the Kazakh population's heritage came from the Ancient
North Eurasians, a group of closely related Europeans who also had some Ancient
East Asian mixture.
The region of Kazakhstan had a significant role in the Steppe Route of Eurasian
trade, which served as the model for the later land-based Silk Roads. It is
thought by archaeologists that the wide steppes of this region are where people
originally domesticated horses.
Historically, the Kazakh
people pursued a nomadic lifestyle for which the region’s climate and terrain
were well suited. The indigenous Kazakhs belonged to several divisions of
Turkic tribes, and the movements, conflicts, and alliances of these tribes determined
the early history of Kazakhstan.
