Kenesary Khan

Kenesary Kasymuly was a grandson of Ablai Khan. When the Russian Empire abolished the khans' power and began building forts on Kazakh land, he rose in revolt in 1837.

In 1841 representatives of the three zhuzes elected him khan — the last revival of the Kazakh Khanate. He built a regular army, taxation and administration and resisted tsarist troops for ten years.

In 1847 he was captured and killed in fighting in what is now Kyrgyzstan. His head is reported to have been sent to St Petersburg and lost, and Kazakhstan continues to search for it. A monument to him stands in Astana.