KAZAKHS
A mix of nomadic Mongol and Turkic tribes, the Kazakhs moved into Central Asia in the 13th century and emerged as an ethnic group in the 15th century. The Kazakhs are regarded as a Turkic people although they have links to Genghis Khan and the Mongols. Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and Mongolians all have similar facial features. All have traditionally been nomads. Although few Kazakhs are nomads anymore they still regard themselves as nomads at heart. Kazakhs in Kazakhstan are the most Russified major group in Central Asia due their close contacts with Russians over a long period. Russians began expand into their territories in the 1700s while the other groups in Central Asia remained isolated.
The Kazakhs (also spelled Kazakh or Khazak) have traditionally been excellent horsemen. They have lived for a long time in Mongolia and western China (Xinjiang) as well as Kazakhstan. Arguably those that live in western China and particularly Mongolia have stayed true to their nomadic ways than Kazakhs in Kazakhstan.
The Kazakh have traditionally made their living from livestock raising and animal husbandry. In the pre-Soviet era, only small numbers of them settled down and are engaged in agricultural production, in part because where they lived was not very well suited for agriculture. Most Kazakhs are Muslims. They practice ground burials and celebrate Muslim holidays. During memorial services Kazakhs recite Muslim prayers and feast on lamb and horse. They have traditionally practiced bonfire weddings. Because of their traditional nomadic ways they raised relatively few mosques.
Kazakhs have traditionally roamed along the steppes of Kazakhstan from western China to the southern border of Russia for centuries. For centuries Kazakhstan was a country of nomads and herders. Tribes were the basis of society; the tribe was constituted of family members and the family elders. Inter-tribal marriages were important in establishing security and peace. To this day, Kazakhs say, "the matchmaking lasts a thousand years, while the son-in-law lasts only a hundred." Arranged marriages are still the norm in many parts of the country. [Source: kwintessential.co.uk]
In 1989, there were 8,136,000 Kazakhs in the Soviet Union, with 6,535,000 in Kazakhstan an large numbers in Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. More than a million lived in other countries, mainly China, Mongolia and Turkey and in Europe.
People of Kazakhstan
People in Kazakhstan are refereed are to as Kazakhs and Kazakhstanis.Kazakh technically refers to the Kazakh ethnic group although it can also refer to Kazakhstan citizens, which are officially called Kazakhstanis although the term is not that widely used — at least in the Western press anyway. “Kazakh” is an old Turkic words that means "someone who is independent and free."
People of Kazakhstan: Noun: Kazakhstani(s); adjective: Kazakhstani.Ethnic groups: Kazakh (Qazaq) 63.1 percent, Russian 23.7 percent, Uzbek 2.9 percent, Ukrainian 2.1 percent, Uighur 1.4 percent, Tatar 1.3 percent, German 1.1 percent, other 4.4 percent (2009 est.). Languages: Kazakh (official, Qazaq) 64.4 percent, Russian (official, used in everyday business, designated the "language of interethnic communication") 95 percent (2001 est.). Religions: Muslim 70.2 percent, Christian 26.2 percent (mainly Russian Orthodox), other 0.2 percent, atheist 2.8 percent, unspecified 0.5 percent (2009 est.) [Source: CIA World Factbook]
Kazakhstan is unique in that its people, the Kazakhs, did not form the majority of the population upon independence in 1991. After independence large numbers of Kazakhs moved to Kazakhstan and large numbers of non-Kazakhs — mostly Russians — moved out so that now Kazakhs do make a majority of Kazakhstan’s poplation. Currently the northern part of the country is populated mostly by Russians and Ukrainians while Kazakhs are more prevalent in the south. Other prevalent nationalities include Germans, Uzbeks, and Tatars. Over one hundred different nationalities reside in the country. [Source: kwintessential.co.uk |]
The goal of increasing the number of Kazakhs in Kazakhstan can be seen in many overt and covert actions and policies. Many street names have reverted to their historical names. Kazakh has been declared the national language of the country (even though many native Kazakhs cannot speak their own language). Expatriated Kazakhs have been invited to return home and settle. Couples are encouraged to have large families. |
People of Central Asia
The people of Central Asia are basically divided into two types: the traditional nomads and semi-nomads (Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Mongols and Turkmen) and the settled people (the Uzbeks and Tajiks). According the DNA studies, Tajiks, Uzbeks and Turkmen have retained their "ethnic purity."
There has traditionally been a lot of intermarriage between the ethnic groups of Central Asia. Uzbeks and Tajiks have traditionally been difficult to distinguish from one another. The same is true with Kyrgyz and Kazakhs. Clan and regional ties have historically been more important than ethnic identity.
Alexandre Bennigsen wrote in 1979 that ‘sub-national and supra-national loyalties remain strong in Central Asia and actively compete with national ones’; however, his thesis that this supra-national identity ought to be based on anti-Russian ‘pan-Turkestanism’ with the Uzbeks as its directing element is difficult to accept, at least as far as Tajikistan is involved.” [Source: “Tajikistan” by Kirill Nourzhanov and Christian Bleuer, Australia National University, 2013 ]
See Separate Article PEOPLE OF CENTRAL ASIA factsanddetails.com
Kazakhs and Kyrgyz
Kazakhs and Kyrgyz are close relatives. They look similar, have many similar customs and speak similar languages. Many believe they are essential the same people with Kazakhs traditionally residing in the steppes and Kyrgyz living in the mountains. The Kyrgyz, however, have a longer and more coherent history than the Kazakhs.
Describing Kazakhs and Kyrgyz in the 19th a writer in the journal “Russly vestnik “wrote: “A child is assigned a foal from a favorite mare born in the same year as the child; they are brought up almost together spothat by the time the child is able to sit astride the horse) and that happened when child has his third birthday) the animal is completely trained and like a household pet.”
The Kazakh and Kyrgyz “”archal” saddle has very high pommels each of which is split on two; the ends that stick out have round holes in which little sticks are thrust...Instead of stirrups it has deep, wide pouches attached to the saddle rees of the child’s feet.; the sticks support the child form the sides. The high pommels act as a support from front and back and therefore he sits in complete safety and cannot fall except with the horse.”
Kazakhs, Cossacks and Russified Kazakhs
“Kazakh” is an old Turkic words that means "free man" or “secessionist.” The same Turkic word is believed to be the root of the word Cossack, another group of people associated with the steppe. Kazakhs and Cossacks are very different though. The Kazakhs have called themselves “Kazakhs” or “Kazakhs” since the 17th century, or possibly the 15th century when they broke away from an Uzbek khan in the 15th century. Neighboring groups began calling them Kazakhs by the 17th or 18th centuries.
Russians initially called referred to the Kazakhs as “Kazakhs” or “Kazatsakaye” but later called them “Kyrgyz.” This was done to distinguish the Kazakhs from the Cossacks. To avoid confusion between Kazakhs and Kyrgyz until the 20th century Russians called Kazakhs ‘Kyrgyz’ and Kyrgyz were called Black Kyrgyz. Only in 1926 when the Kazakhs gained national autonomy did the Kazakhs regain the use of their traditional name.
The Kazakhs are the most Russified of all the groups in Central Asia. This is because they were the first people to be brought under Russian rule and have maintained close contacts with Russians over a long period.
Under the Soviet rule and Russification, Kazakh nomads were forced to give up there nomadic ways and move to dreary cities and collective farms, they lost their traditions and identity. The Russification program was successful. Many Kazakhs speak Russian better than Kazakh. Since claiming independence the Central Asia nations have revived a language long and culture suppressed by the Soviet Union.
Early Kazakhs
The Kazakhs emerged as a major group during the 14th and 15th century with the rise of the Kazakh Khanate. This Khanate was made up of three powerful entities called “zhuz” (“orda” in Russian, or horde): the Old (or Great) Zhuz in southern Kazakhstan, the Middle Zhuz in central and northeast Kazakhstan; and the Young (or Lesser) Zhuz in western Kazakhstan. Each zhuz was ruled by a khan and comprised of a number of tribes, which in turn were made up of clans. During this period they raided each other and were raided by others and much as they raided other groups. Many Kazakhs still identify themselves by their zhug.
The present-day Kazakhs became a recognizable group in the mid-fifteenth century, when clan leaders broke away from Abul Khayr, leader of the Uzbeks, to seek their own territory in the lands of Semirech'ye, between the Chu and Talas rivers in present-day southeastern Kazakhstan. The After the decline of the Timurids in 15th century, while the Uzbeks were settling down on the land between the Syr-Darya and Amu-Darya, which more or less corresponds with modern Uzbekistan, the Kazakhs were living a nomadic life north of the Syr-Darya.
The first Kazakh Khans were Kerei and Zhanybek. During their reign Turkestan was involved in the Khans’ fight for power over the East Desht-in Kipchak. The main reason for the fight was the economic and strategic importance of the area. Up to the late 15th century, the initial Khanate’s area was expanded and later included western Semirechie, some towns in southern Kazakhstan, and the major part of central Kazakhstan. In the first quarter of the 16th century, the Kazakhs dominated the majority of East Desht-i Kipchak. [Source: B.E. Kumekov, National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan, 2010 |]
The first major Kazakh leader was Khan Kasym (r. 1511-23), who united the Kazakh tribes into one people. In the sixteenth century, when the Nogai Horde and Siberian khanates broke up, clans from each jurisdiction joined the Kazakhs. The Kazakhs subsequently separated into three new hordes: the Great Horde, which controlled Semirech'ye and southern Kazakhstan; the Middle Horde, which occupied north-central Kazakhstan; and the Lesser Horde, which occupied western Kazakhstan. [Source: Library of Congress, March 1996 *]
Ethnic Composition of Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan has by far the largest non-Asian population and the smallest population of other Central Asian ethnic groups (for example, only 2 percent are Uzbek). According to the 2009 the national census Kazkahs make up 63 percent of the population and Russians, 24 percent. The last 13 percent of the population is divided between lots of Central Asian ethnic groups, as well as some European groups such as Poles and even Germans whom the Soviet Union forcibly relocated there after World War II. [Source: Max Fisher, Washington Post, February 7, 2014 |:|]
According to one count there are 130 different ethnic groups in Kazakhstan. These include are some Kurds, most of whom were exiled there in World War II; Cossacks, who are leaders in the movement to have Kazakhstan returned to Russia; and Torgut Mongols, who traditionally were nomads who herded sheep, some horses, cattle and camels in rich pastures in eastern Kazakhstan.
Citizenship is based on residency rather than birth or ethnicity. There is an Assembly of People representing various minorities. Non-Kazakh ethnic groups are well represented in the government and the economy but real power lies in the hands of Kazakhs, particularly those connected with the President Nazarbayev’s family and clan.
Ethnic Group Numbers in Kazakhstan
Ethnic groups: Kazakh (Qazaq) 63.1 percent, Russian 23.7 percent, Uzbek 2.9 percent, Ukrainian 2.1 percent, Uighur 1.4 percent, Tatar 1.3 percent, German 1.1 percent, other 4.4 percent (2009 est.). [Source: CIA World Factbook =]
According to the 1999 census, 53.4 percent of inhabitants were Kazakh, 30 percent Russian, 3.7 percent Ukrainian, 2.5 percent Uzbek, 2.4 percent German, and 1.4 percent Uyghur. Ethnic Groups in 1994: Kazakhs 45 percent; Russians 36 percent; Ukrainians 5 percent; Germans 4 percent; Tatars and Uzbeks 2 percent each. In 1991 the Kazakh and Russian populations were approximately equal. There are about 100,000 Tajiks in Kazakhstan, compared to about 8 million in Tajikistan.
Ethnic groups in 1989: (numbers, percentage of population): 1) Kazakhs: 6,534,000; 39.7 percent; 2) Russians: 6,227,500; 37.8 percent; 3) Germans: 957,000; 5.8 percent; 4) Ukrainians: 896,000; 5.4 percent; 5) Uzbeks: 332,000; 2 percent; 6) Tatars: 328.000; 2 percent; 7) Uighurs: 185,300; 1.1 percent; 8) Belorussians: 182,600; 1 percent; 9) Koreans,103,000; 0.6 percent; 10) Azerbaijanis: 90,000; 0.5 percent. [Source: Anatoly M. Khazanov, University of Wisconsin, August 2, 1994 ^|^]
The Kazakh Population in Kazakhstan (year, numbers, percentage of total population): 1830: 1,300,000; 96.4 percent; 1850: 1,502,000; 91.1 percent; 1860: 1,644,000; 1870: 2,417,000; 1897: 3,000,000; 79.8 percent; 1926: 3,713; 57. 1 percent; 1939: 2.640,000; 38. 2 percent; 1959: 2,755,000; 30.0 percent; 1970: 4,234,000; 32.6 percent; 1979: 5,289,000; 36.0 percent; 1989: 6,531,000; 39. 7 percent; 1992: 7,297,000; 43.2 percent. ^|^
Movement of Ethnic Groups in Out of Kazakhstan
During the 1950s and 1960s agricultural "Virgin Lands" program, Soviet citizens were encouraged to help cultivate Kazakhstan's northern pastures. This influx of immigrants (mostly Russians, but also some deported nationalities) skewed the ethnic mixture and enabled non-ethnic Kazakhs to outnumber natives. Non-Muslim ethnic minorities departed Kazakhstan in large numbers from the mid-1990s through the mid-2000s and a national program has repatriated about a million ethnic Kazakhs back to Kazakhstan. These trends have allowed Kazakhs to become the titular majority again. This dramatic demographic shift has also undermined the previous religious diversity and made the country more than 70 percent Muslim. =
Between 1989 and 1999, 1.5 million Russians and 500,000 Germans (more than half the German population) left Kazakhstan, causing concern over the loss of technical expertise provided by those groups. These movements have continued in the early 2000s. The Kazakh population is predominantly rural and concentrated in the southern provinces, while the German and Russian populations are mainly urban and concentrated in the northern provinces. [Source: Library of Congress, December, 2006]
In the early 1990s, Kazakhstan was the only former Soviet republic where the indigenous ethnic group was not a majority of the population. In 1994 eight of the country's eleven provinces had Slavic (Russian and Ukrainian) population majorities. Only the three southernmost provinces were populated principally by Kazakhs and other Turkic groups; the capital city, Almaty, had a European (German and Russian) majority. Overall, in 1994 the population was about 44 percent Kazakh, 36 percent Russian, 5 percent Ukrainian, and 4 percent German. Tatars and Uzbeks each represented about 2 percent of the population; Azerbaijanis, Uygurs, and Belarusians each represented 1 percent; and the remaining 4 percent included approximately ninety other nationalities. [Source: Library of Congress, March 1996 *]
Ethnic Issues of Kazakhstan
As in the other Central Asian republics, the preservation of indigenous cultural traditions and the local language was a difficult problem during the Soviet era. The years since 1991 have provided opportunities for greater cultural expression, but striking a balance between the Kazakh and Russian languages has posed a political dilemma for Kazakhstan's policy makers. [Source: Library of Congress, March 1996 *]
Kazakhstan's ethnic composition is the driving force behind much of the country's political and cultural life. In most ways, the republic's two major ethnic groups, the Kazakhs and the "Russian-speakers" (Russians, Ukrainians, Germans, and Belarusians), may as well live in different countries. To the Russians, most of whom live in northern Kazakhstan within a day's drive of Russia proper, Kazakhstan is an extension of the Siberian frontier and a product of Russian and Soviet development. To most Kazakhs, these Russians are usurpers. Of Kazakhstan's current Russian residents, 38 percent were born outside the republic, while most of the rest are second-generation Kazakhstani citizens. *
The Nazarbayev government moved the capital from Almaty in the far southeast to Astana (formally Aqmola) in the north-central region . That change caused a shift of the Kazakh population northward and accelerated the absorption of the Russian-dominated northern provinces into the Kazakhstani state. Over the longer term, the role of Russians in the society of Kazakhstan also is determined by a demographic factor — the average age of the Russian population is higher, and its birth rate much lower.
Population of Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan is he world's ninth largest nation by area but has a population of just 18 million or so people. Despite its size, in population Kazakhstan is a distant second to Uzbekistan among the Central Asian republics. In the 1990s it had the lowest birth rate and the highest emigration rate in the region, and its population remained virtually stable during that period. The population density of Kazakhstan is among the lowest in the world, partly because the country includes large areas of inhospitable terrain.
Population: 18,157,122 (July 2015 est.), country comparison to the world: 62. In 2006 Kazakhstan’s population was estimated at 15,233,244, of which about 52 percent was female. In 1994, the population was estimated to be 17,268,000.
Age structure: 0-14 years: 25.41 percent (male 2,294,513/female 2,319,233); 15-24 years: 15.33 percent (male 1,417,344/female 1,366,655); 25-54 years: 42.59 percent (male 3,768,418/female 3,965,188); 55-64 years: 9.49 percent (male 753,011/female 970,569); 65 years and over: 7.17 percent (male 448,857/female 853,334) (2015 est.). Population pyramid: Dependency ratios: total dependency ratio: 48.7 percent; youth dependency ratio: 38.7 percent; elderly dependency ratio: 10 percent. potential support ratio: 10 percent (2014 est.). Median age: total: 29.7 years; male: 28.4 years, female: 31.1 years (2014 est.). [Source: CIA World Factbook =]
Fertility and Birth Control in Kazakhstan
Total fertility rate: 2.31 children born/woman (2015 est.), country comparison to the world: 92. Contraceptive prevalence rate: 51 percent (2010/11). =
Sex ratio: at birth: 0.94 male(s)/female; 0-14 years: 0.99 male(s)/female; 15-24 years: 1.04 male(s)/female; 25-54 years: 0.95 male(s)/female; 55-64 years: 0.78 male(s)/female; 65 years and over: 0.53 male(s)/female. total population: 0.92 male(s)/female (2015 est.). =
According to the U.S. Department of State: “Couples and individuals have the right to decide the number, spacing, and timing of their children and had the means to do so free from discrimination, coercion, or violence. Women and men received equal treatment for sexually transmitted infections. According to a study published by the UN Fund for Population, approximately 50 percent of women used some form of contraception. According to data published by the World Health Organization, skilled personnel attended more than 99 percent of births. [Source: “Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2014: Kazakhstan,” Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, U.S. Department of State *]
Of the 4.2 million women of childbearing age in the 1990s, an estimated 15 percent have borne seven or more children. Nevertheless, in 1992 the number of abortions exceeded the number of births, although the high percentage of early-stage abortions performed in private clinics complicates data gathering. According to one expert estimate, the average per woman is five abortions. Rising abortion rates are attributable, at least in part, to the high price or unavailability of contraceptive devices, which became much less accessible after 1991. In 1992 an estimated 15 percent of women were using some form of contraception. [Source: Library of Congress, March 1996 *]
The declining birth rate is another issue with the potential to become politicized because it affects the demographic "race" between Kazakhs and Russians. With demographic statistics in mind, Kazakh nationalist parties have attempted to ban abortions and birth control for Kazakh women; they have also made efforts to reduce the number of Kazakh women who have children outside marriage. In 1988, 11.24 percent of the births in the republic were to unmarried women. Such births were slightly more common in cities (12.72 percent) than in rural areas (9.67 percent), suggesting that such births may be more common among Russians than among Kazakhs. *
Population Growth and Density in Kazakhstan
Population growth rate: 1.14 percent (2015 est.), country comparison to the world: 103. Birth rate: 19.15 births/1,000 population (2015 est.), country comparison to the world: 88. Death rate: 8.21 deaths/1,000 population (2015 est.), country comparison to the world: 89. Net migration rate: 0.41 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2015 est.), country comparison to the world: 72. [Source: CIA World Factbook =]
Because the annual growth rate has been negligible in the early 2000s, population growth is a critical issue for policy makers. Although in recent years a large number of legal and illegal immigrant workers have come to Kazakhstan from Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, in 2006 the estimated net migration rate was –3.33 individuals per 1,000 population. [Source: Library of Congress, December, 2006 **]
In 1989 some 1.4 million Kazakhs lived outside Kazakhstan, nearly all in the Russian and Uzbek republics. At that time, an estimated 1 million Kazakhs lived in China, and a sizeable but uncounted Kazakh population resided in Mongolia. Since that time many of these Kazakhs have moved to Kazakhstan.
Because much of the land is too dry to be more than marginally habitable, overall population density is a very low 6.2 persons per square kilometer. Large portions of the republic, especially in the south and west, have a population density of less than one person per square kilometer. Some 56 percent of the population lives in urban areas, and the population is heavily concentrated in the northeast and southeast. In the early 2000s, economic growth brought significant movement from rural to urban areas.
Demographic Factors of Kazakhstan
The population of Kazakhstan declined from around 18 million in the mid 1990s to around 15 million in the early 2000s. This was primarily the result of migration of non-Kazakhs and Kazakhs alike from Kazakhstan, infant mortality and low life expectancy. Many Germans returned to Germany. Many Russians returned to Russia. Since then the poplation has risen to around 18 million again. The increase has been the result of some increase in the fertility rate, the return of Kazakhs that left in 1990s for economic reasons who have returned as the economic has improved and an influx of non-Kazakhs seeking jobs in Kazakhstan’s during its oil boom in the late 2000s and early 2010s.
In 2006 some 23 percent of the population was younger than 15 years of age, and 8.2 percent was older than 64. The birthrate was 15.8 births per 1,000 population, and the death rate was 9.4 per 1,000 population. The overall fertility rate was 1.9 births per woman. The infant mortality rate was 28.3 deaths per 1,000 live births. Life expectancy at birth was 61.6 years for males and 72.5 years for females. [Source: Library of Congress, December, 2006 **]
In the mid 1990s, the birth rate, which was declining slowly, was estimated at 19.4 births per 1,000 population in 1994. The death rate, which had been climbing slowly, was estimated at 7.9 per 1,000 population — leaving a rate of natural increase of 1.1 percent, by far the lowest among the five Central Asian republics. In 1995 the total fertility rate — 2.4 births per woman, a drop from the 1990 figure of 2.8 — also was far below the rates for the other Central Asian republics. In the first six months of 1994, some 1.8 percent fewer babies were born than in the same period the previous year. In the same months, the number of deaths rose by 2.5 percent compared with those in the same period in 1993. In some provinces, death rates are much higher than the average, however. Shygys Qazaqstan (East Kazakhstan) Province has a death rate of 12.9 per thousand; Soltustik Qazaqstan (North Kazakhstan) Province, eleven per 1,000; and Almaty Province, 11.3 deaths per 1,000. The cause of nearly half of these deaths is cardiovascular disease. [Source: Library of Congress, March 1996 *]
Because of declining life expectancy and decreases in the size of the Russian population, which is demographically older and has a low birth rate, the republic's residents are a relatively young group; in 1991 there were only 149 pensioners per 1,000 population, as opposed to 212 per 1,000 in the former Soviet Union as a whole.
Outflow of Non-Kazakhs and Inflow of Kazakhs to Kazakhstan
In the early 1990s, the republic experienced a pronounced outflow of citizens, primarily non-Kazakhs moving to other former Soviet republics. Although figures conflict, it seems likely that as many as 750,000 non-Kazakhs left the republic between independence and the end of 1995. Official figures indicate that in the first half of 1994 some 220,400 people left, compared with 149,800 in the same period of 1993. In 1992 and 1993, the number of Russian emigrants was estimated at 100,000 to 300,000. Such out-migration was not uniform. Some regions, such as Qaraghandy, lost as much as 10 percent of their total population, resulting in shortages of technicians and skilled specialists in that heavily industrial area. [Source: Library of Congress, March 1996 *]
To some extent, the outflow has been offset by in-migration, which has been of two types. Kazakhstan's government has actively encouraged the return of Kazakhs from elsewhere in the former Soviet Union and from China and Mongolia. Unlike other ethnic groups, ethnic Kazakhs are granted automatic citizenship. More than 60,000 Kazakhs emigrated from Mongolia in 1991-94, their settlement — or resettlement — eased by government assistance. Most were moved to the northern provinces, where the majority of Kazakhstan's Russian population lives. Because these "Mongol Kazakhs" generally do not know Russian and continue to pursue traditional nomadic lifestyles, the impact of their resettlement has been disproportionate to their actual numbers. *
The other major source of in-migration has been non-Kazakhs arriving from other parts of Central Asia to avoid inhospitable conditions; most of these people also have settled in northern Kazakhstan. Although officially forbidden and actively discouraged, this in-migration has continued. In a further attempt to control in-migration, President Nazarbayev decreed that no more than 5,000 families would be permitted to take up residence in the republic in 1996. *
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Last updated April 2016