The military commander never suffered a single defeat in his military career.
The dome of the Bogenbay Batyr helmet is stored in the Military Museum in Astana. Sarbaz.kz discovered the 18th-century exhibit during a visit to the National Military-Patriotic Centre. The upper part of the helmet has been preserved without other components such as the aventail (chainmail), cheekpieces, faceplate, and so on.
Photo: Sarbaz.kz
Kanjiygalі Bogenbay Batyr was a great Kazakh military commander, the supreme commander of the armies of three Kazakh Juzes (territorial divisions) and the Kazakh Khanate's ambassador to the Qing Empire.
Batyr was born in 1690. His grandfather, Aldeun, a renowned Batyr of Khan Esim, reclaimed 12 Kazakh cities from the Uzbek Khan Katagan and was the emir of Turkestan. His father, Aksha, as a sardar, commanded an 80,000-strong army for Tauke Khan. His mother was Sandık, a Karakalpak. Bogenbay had three wives who bore him 12 sons, as mentioned on the portal of the Ereymentau Historical and Local History Museum named after Bogenbay Batyr.
From 1697 to 1707, Bogenbay Batyr studied at the Khan's Horde in Turkestan at the Karnak Medrese. In 1708, he participated in supporting the Bashkir people's uprising against Russian colonial policies during Az Tauke Khan's time. In 1710, he took part in the Karakum Khan Council. Bogenbay Batyr engaged in battles at Ayagoz, Bulanty-Bileuty in the Ulytau region, Aktaban Shubyrindy - Alkakol sulama, Anyrakay battle, and in the Shurshitkyrgan battle near the Shiderty River. Bogenbay Batyr participated in more than 100 battles. The military commander never suffered a single defeat in his military career.
He passed away at an old age while sitting on a horse in the summer of 1775. His body was brought to the capital of the Kazakh Khanate, the city of Turkestan, and buried in the mausoleum of Khwaja Ahmed Yasawi.
Photo: kozhalar.kz
A bronze monument to Bogenbay Batyr, standing at 11 meters tall, has been erected in the capital. Equestrian monuments to Bogenbay Batyr were unveiled in Ereymentau and Aktobe. Numerous streets across Kazakhstan's regional and district centers, the village of Bogenbay in the Akmola region, a historical and local history museum, and a Kazakh secondary school in the city of Ereymentau, as well as the Akmola Regional Boarding School for Gifted Children in Sports in the town of Stepnogorsk, are named in honor of Bogenbay Batyr.
