Overview
Abu'l-Khayr, a descendant of Jochi's son Shiban, built the khanate from which the Uzbek and Kazakh peoples both emerged. For forty years he led the nomads of the eastern Qipchaq steppe, the people then called Uzbeks, and his grandson Muhammad Shaybani founded the Uzbek states of Central Asia.
Rise to Power
Born in 1412, he was captured in 1427 when his patron Jumaduq Khan was killed. Released the next year, he gathered the tribes around Tyumen and the Tura river, defeated the khan of Sibir on the Tobol, and was proclaimed khan in 1428.
Rule and Achievements
- Occupied Urgench in Timurid Khwarazm in 1430–1431, but could not hold it, and raided Khwarazm again in 1435–1436
- Took the towns of the middle and lower Syr Darya in 1446 and made Sighnaq his capital
- Helped the Timurid Abu Sa'id take Samarkand in 1451, and married Rabiya Sultan Begum, daughter of Ulugh Beg
- Was defeated by the Oirats under Üz Temür Tayishi near Sighnaq, probably around 1457
- Saw the sultans Kerei and Janibek lead a large part of his people away in the 1460s; their followers became the Kazakhs
Legacy
He died in 1468, possibly in fighting with the Kazakhs; some sources say 1469 or 1470. His khanate broke up soon after, but his grandson Muhammad Shaybani reunited the Uzbeks and conquered Transoxiana in 1500–1507.