Shoqan (Mukhammedkhanafiya) Walikhanov (1835-1865) Born in Qusmurun fortress (100 km to the south-east of Qostanai). Tore, great-grandson of the famous khan Abylai. Graduated from Siberian Military School (kadetskii korpus). Friend of Grigorii Potanin, Fedor Dostoevskii, Apollon Maikov and many other Russian intellectuals. Of- ficer of the Russian Army (shtabs-rotmistr). Famous ethnographer and historian. Author of many articles on the Kazakhs, the Kyrgyz and people of Eastern Turkistan. Member of the Russian Geographical Society. Worked in St. Petersburg in 1860-1861. Regarded Islam as “a religion hostile to all kinds of knowledge” and the Tatars as “fanatics.” Highly regarded Russian culture and at the same time advocated self-development of the Kazakhs.
