Chokan Valikanov

…such as Şoqan Wälihanov (Shoqan Walikhanov) and Abai Qūnanbayūly (Abay Kunanbayev) adapted them to specific Kazakh needs and created a secular culture unparalleled in other parts of Asian Russia.

Şoqan Wälihanov (Shoqan Walikhanov), Ybyray Altynsaryn (Ibray Altynsarin), and Abai İbrahim Qūnanbayūly (Kunanbayev)—all of whom were writing during the mid- and late 19th century—mark the beginning of a new and essentially modern self-consciousness among the Kazakh intelligentsia. Wälihanov was the first Kazakh to receive a…