In the 16th century, the Tsardom of Russia embarked on a campaign to expand the Russian frontier to the east. This effort continued until the 19th century under the Russian Empire, when the Imperial Russian Army succeeded in conquering all of Central Asia. The majority of this land became known as Russian Turkestan—the name "Turkestan" was used to refer to the area due to the fact that the vast majority of the population was inhabited by Turkic peoples, excluding the Tajiks, who are ethnolinguistically Iranian people; the ethnolinguistic map of the region has not changed significantly since then. Upon witnessing Russia's absorption of the various Central Asian realms, the British Empire sought to reinforce India, triggering the Great Game, which ended when both sides eventually designated Afghanistan as a neutral buffer zone.
Although the Russian Empire collapsed during World War I, the Russian sphere of influence remained in what was Soviet Central Asia until 1991. This region now comprises Kazakhstan in the north, Uzbekistan in the centre, Kyrgyzstan in the east, Tajikistan in the southeast, and Turkmenistan in the southwest; the Russian language is still recognized in some capacity in many of these countries.
Background
When the Russians arrived the organized states were the Khanate of Khiva in the Oxus delta south of the Aral Sea, the Khanate of Bukhara along the Oxus and Zarafshan and the Khanate of Kokand based in the Ferghana Valley. Bukhara had borders with the other two and all three were surrounded by nomads which the Khanates tried to control and tax.
Siberia
Russians first came into contact with Central Asia when, in 1582–1639, Cossack adventurers made themselves masters of the Siberian forests. They did not expand south because they were seeking furs. The Siberian Cossacks were skilled in forest travel and knew little of the steppe and since the forest tribes were few and weak while the steppe nomads were numerous and warlike.
Up the Irtysh River
The Irtysh River rises in what is now China and flows northwest to the Russian base at Tobolsk (founded in 1587). It was thought possible to ascend this river and reach the riches of China and India. In 1654, Fyodor Baykov used this route to reach Peking. The main advance was made under Peter the Great. Some time before 1714 Colonel Bukhholts and 1,500 men went upriver to a "Lake Yamysh" and returned. In 1715, Bukhholts with 3,000 men and 1,500 soldiers went to Lake Yamysh again and started to build a fort. Since this was on the fringe of the Dzungar Khanate, the Dzungars drove them off. They retreated downriver and founded Omsk. In 1720, Ivan Likharev went upriver and founded Ust-Kamenogorsk. The Dzungars, having just been weakened by the Chinese, left them alone. Several other places were built on the Irtysh at about this time.
Around the southern Urals
In 1556, Russia conquered the Astrakhan Khanate on the north shore of the Caspian Sea. The surrounding area was held by the Nogai Horde. To the east of the Nogais were the Kazakhs and to the north, between the Volga and Urals, were the Bashkirs. Around this time some free Cossacks had established themselves on the Ural River. In 1602, they captured Konye-Urgench in Khivan territory. Returning laden with loot they were surrounded by the Khivans and slaughtered. A second expedition lost its way in the snow, starved, and the few survivors were enslaved by the Khivans. There seems to have been a third expedition which is ill-documented.
At the time of Peter the Great there was a major push southeast. In addition to the Irtysh expeditions above, there was the disastrous 1717 attempt to conquer Khiva. Following the Russo-Persian War (1722–1723) Russia briefly occupied the west side of the Caspian Sea.
About 1734, another move was planned, which provoked the Bashkir War (1735–1740). Once Bashkiria was pacified, Russia's southeastern frontier was the Orenburg line roughly between the Urals and the Caspian Sea.
The Siberian line
By the late 18th century, Russia held a line of forts roughly along the current Kazakhstan border, which is approximately the boundary between forest and steppe. For reference these forts (and foundation dates) were:
Guryev (1645), Uralsk (1613), Orenburg (1743), Orsk (1735). Troitsk (1743), Petropavlovsk (1753), Omsk (1716), Pavlodar (1720), Semipalatinsk (1718), and Ust-Kamenogorsk (1720).
Uralsk was an old settlement of free Cossacks. Orenburg, Orsk, and Troitsk were founded as a result of the Bashkir War about 1740 and this section was called the Orenburg line. Orenburg was long the base from which Russia watched and tried to control the Kazakh steppe. The four eastern forts were along the Irtysh River. After China conquered Xinjiang in 1759, both empires had a few border posts near the current border.
Khivan campaign of 1717
In 1713, reports reached Peter the Great that gold deposits had been discovered in Yarkand, deep in the Dzungar Khanate. A large expedition was sent the following year to build a fort line to the region, though by 1716 the Dzungars had almost completely wiped out the force through siege. A secondary force was sent under the leadership of Alexander Bekovich-Cherkassky to the Khanate of Khiva in 1714, ostensibly to celebrate the accession of Shergazi Khan and establish trade relations, but in reality to find Yarkand and if it connected to the Caspian Sea. Cherkassky reported that there was a river, though a Khivan dam redirected from the Caspian to the Aral Sea.
Cherkassky was dispatched by Peter again in 1716, this time to construct a series of forts leading to Yarkand, destroy the reported dam, supply Russian trade ships traveling to India, and convince the Khivan Khan to subjugate himself to Russia. The expedition set out with 6,100 men, though the force was greatly depleted to construct and garrison three forts along the Caspian, and after hundreds had fallen ill due to the cold. In 1717, the expedition set out for Khiva with only 3,500 men, late in the season when the steppe became extremely hot. While they sent an envoy to Shergazi Khan claiming the force was peaceful, the khan had been warned of their intentions by the Kalmyks. The khan sent a force of 20,000 soldiers to attack the expedition, though the Russians repulsed it. The khan then offered to negotiate peace, but stated that the Russians would need to split into five smaller groups and housed separately since Khiva could not support them all. Cherkassky accepted, and after the Russian force split apart they were massacred. Cherkassky and his retinue were beheaded in front of the khan. The forts on the Caspian were abandoned, along with any plans for future expeditions.
Conquest of the Kazakh Steppe
Subjugation of the Kazakh Khanate
The Kazakh Khanate was in a weak state following the death of Tauke Khan in 1715, causing central authority to devolve to the Khanate's three clan confederations known as jüzes. The collapse of the Khanate, combined with raids from neighboring peoples and pressure from the Russian Empire caused the jüzes to seek Russian protection by becoming subjects, swearing fealty and pay taxes to the Russian Empire. In 1730, the Khan of the Junior jüz, Abū'l-Khair Khan, sent an envoy to the Russian Empire formally requested subjugation of the Junior jüz to the Russian Empire. Empress Anna of Russia accepted this request, and soon after Alexey Ivanovich Tevkelev was sent to inform the jüz. Tevkelev met with the leaders of the Junior jüz on 10 October 1731, and officially incorporate the region into the Russian Empire. Soon after on 15 December 1731, Tevkelev and the leaders of the Junior jüz sent emissaries to Semeke Khan, leader of the Middle jüz, stating that he should be subjugated to the Russian Empire. Semeke Khan accepted, giving his oath of allegiance to the Empire. The leaders of the Senior jüz also attempted to become part of the Russian Empire, with Empress Anna of Russia confirming its admission in 1738.
Despite formally claiming suzerainty over the three jüzes by 1738, Russia did not have complete control over the Kazakh Steppe and its people for much of the following century. While the Russian government viewed the oath as a strict submission of Kazakhs to the Emperor, Kazakhs saw the oath as a loose and practical way to get protection. After swearing fealty, Abū'l-Khair Khan gave hostages and pay yasak to the Russian Empire. However, many Kazakh elders did not give allegiance to the Russian Empire, the Junior jüz often would not give hostages, and the Middle and Senior jüzes gave neither tax nor hostages. Kazakh sultans continued to engage in diplomacy with the Qing Empire well into the 1820s, the khan of the Middle jüz even offering his submission to the Qing Emperor in 1779. Additionally, the Senior jüz was so distant from the Russian Empire that it was difficult for the Russian Empire to incorporate it, with it even being subjugated by the Dzungar Khanate at one point. The Senior jüz was not fully subject to the Russian empire until 1846, around the conclusion of Kenesary's Rebellion (see below).
Russian consolidation
Russia began to attempt to administrate the Kazakh Steppe in 1786, with the creation of the Orenburg Frontier Commission, a body of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. However, the Commission only extended into the Junior jüz. Authority in the steppe continued to dissolve, leading to a rise in traditional violence and raids on Russian fortresses. This, combined with the Russian governments concern for trade routes through the Kazakh Steppe led to significant political changes in the Khanate. In 1822, the Regulations for the Siberian Kirgiz was introduced, formally declaring Kazakhs inorodtsy of the Russian Empire, restricting the movement of Kazakhs, and creating tiers of administrative units in the Middle jüz. The top level of administration were four okrugs ruled by sultans, centered on a Russian fort, and policed by Cossacks. In 1824 the Charter on the Orenburg Kyrgyz was put into effect, extending the control of the Orenburg Frontier Commission, dissolving the Junior jüz, and further restricting the transhumance of regional pastoralists. While the Kazakh aristocracy maintained their positions through the administrative reforms, they lost much of the power that they once held. Despite Russian hopes of introducing stability to the region, the new administrative systems were unable to administer their subjects. While these reforms temporarily dampened the region's internal issues, they continued to grow with time, with anti-Russian sentiment spreading across the steppe.
Kenesary's Rebellion
Kenesary Qasymuly was a Kazakh sultan who sought to reduce Russian influence on the Kazakh people, and formally establish himself as Khan. His revolt began in 1837, with the destruction of a Russian fort at Aqtau. For the next several years he and his followers carried out periodic raids to capture livestock and hostages, which was met in turn by Cossack raids on Kazakhs. These retributive Russian raids were a source of food and supplies for local troops, but were largely ineffective at countering Kenesary and provoked resentment against the Russian Empire. Kenesary's raids also targeted Kazakhs, leading to them filing several petitions for Russian protection to the Orenburg Frontier Commission.
Cossack troops found Kenesary's aul in February 1844, capturing several hundred people and Kenesary's senior wife. While the two parties exchanged prisoners the following year, Kenesary did not halt his raids. In Autumn 1844, an expeditionary force of Russian troops and Kazakhs was launched to find Kenesary, though the mission led to the destruction of an innocent aul and was considered a failure. Governor-General of Orenburg Vladimir Obruchev determined that the raids would not end the rebellion, and instead a series of fortresses should be constructed deep in the steppe. A modified version of the proposal was accepted, and two permanent forts were constructed on the Turgay and Irgiz rivers. Obruchev successfully campaigned for a third, even larger and more remote, fort to be constructed in 1847 at the mouth of the Syr Darya, named Fort Raim. Russian forces continued to probe deeper into the steppe in search of Kenesary during 1846, causing several Kazakh tribal leaders to submit to the Russian Empire. While Kenesary was killed by Kyrgyz early the following year, Russian forces continued their march to the river Kapal to construct a fort. Despite crushing the rebellion, Russian control over the steppe remained loose.