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Matthew Patay's
Note of the Month
September 2005
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Map and flag images provided by Graphic Maps
This month's featured note
is from the country of the Kazakhstan.
The denomination is 20 Tengé and the Standard Catalog of World Paper Money
(SCWPM) Number is P-11.
The note is dated 1993.
(front)
The banknote is brown on multi-colored underprint.
Abai Kunanbaev (10 August 1845 - 6 July 1904) a poet, philosopher, composer and
educator is at right.
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The following information
was obtained from:
Iraj Bashiri
Abai Kunanbaev
(10 August 1845 - 6 July 1904)
Also known as Ibrahim Kunanbaev, the Kazakh poet, philosopher, composer, and educator was born on 10 August, 1845 in Chingis-Tau (now Karaul) and died on 6 July, 1904, at the same place. The founder of modern Kazakh literature's father, a prominent feudal lord, made sure that his son receieved a proper education, which at that time meant a mektap upbringing at the aul complemented with a Russian education at Semipalatinsk. The latter education was pivotal in Abai's grasp of the dynamics of his time; it enhanced his knowledge which thus far had been confined to the world Firdowsi (935-1020), Nizami Ganjavi (1141-1209), Sa'di (1213-1292), and Alisher Navo'i (1441-1501). Indeed, it was not until after becoming familiar with the works of Ivan Andrevich Krilov (1769-1844), Mikhail Urivich Lermontov (1814-1841), and Alexandr Sergevich Pushkin (1799-1837), that Abai became convinced that he could reshaped the views and the lifestyle of his tribe.
One of the early promoters of the Russian language and culture among the Kazakhs, Abai became a favorite of Soviet commentators who found in him the epitome of progress in dismantling the Islamic Shari'a law among the Kazakhs. Abai's "Kulembaiu" (1888), "Luckily, I too Became a Governor" (1889), and "The Bailiff Delights in Authority" (1889) are poignant examples of his stance against oppression and the tyranny of the bais. His treatment of the four seasons of the year: "Spring" (1890), "Summer" (1886), "Fall" (1889), and "Winter" (1888) includes several innovative features.
Abai's literary legacy also includes a number of ballads dedicated to eastern and western themes. Among these fictional pieces like "Mas'ud" (1887) and "Alexander," exploring the eastern and western themes respectively, stand out.
Abai was a musician. He adapted some of his own lyric poetry to music and employed the Kazakh vernacular for the expression of the progressive aspects of the literatures of the East and the West.
Abai's life has been the subject of two major works by Mukhtar Auezov (1897-1961). Entitled "Abai" (1942-47) and "The Path of Abai " (1952-56), they examine Abai's life as well as the history that shaped the lives of Abai's contemporaries. The saga begins with Abai as a boy returning to his aul from Semipalatinsk. There he observes the execution of a man and a woman who had been found guilty by the Shari'a law. He is appalled that his own father should be the instrument of the destruction of the innocents. He decides there and then that the Kazakhs must become civilized.
Abai's education, however, was not sufficient to fathom the depth of the cultures involved. According to Auezov, he joined forces with E. P. Mikhailov, a political exile who familiarized Abai with the plight of the Russians struggling to free themselves from serfdom.
Using his poetic and musical talents, Abai reached the youths of the auls and communicated his message to them. And with their help, he opened the way for a smooth transition for the Kazakhs into a sedentary, law-abiding existence.
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(back)
Equestrian hunter at left center.
The following information was obtained from:
Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Prehistory of Kazakhstan
Sandra
L. Olsen
Section of Anthropology
Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Since 1993, the Carnegie Museum of Natural History has been collaborating with the University of North Kazakhstan and the North Kazakhstan History Museum in the investigation of an eneolithic (3600-2300 B.C.) settlement known as Botai. The Botai culture is known by three large sites, the eponymous settlement of Botai, Krasnyi Yar, and Vasilkovka. The site of Botai is located on the Iman-Burluk River, a tributary of the Ishim, in Kokshetav Oblast. The settlement has at least 153 pithouses, but part of the site has been cut away by the steeply eroding river bank. The Carnegie Museum has been involved in excavating one pithouse and one large midden and their surrounds.
The economy of the Botai people depended almost solely on horses. Most were probably the wild species, Equus ferus, that was hunted with bows and arrows and harpoons, but some may have been domesticated. The current research has focused on the following topics:
* Were some of the horses at Botai tamed or domesticated?
* If so, is this one of the earliest locations for horse domestication?
* How did they butcher the horses and what products from horses did they use?
* Were the Botai people sedentary rather than nomadic like their ancestors and descendants?
* Were the Botai people Central Asian or Indo-European?
* How did they use the bones of horses and other animals to make tools and other artifacts?
* What can we learn from modern Kazakh pastoralists that applies to Botai horse utilization?
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For more information about Kazakhstan visit:
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