The Kazakh ethnic group is not only native to Kazakhstan, but also to Russia, China, Mongolia and other Central Asian states as a Turk-speaking minority. The Kazakhs, who have been regarded as an independent ethnic group since the 15th century, led a nomadic life in the steppe until the 20th century and mainly raised livestock. At the latest since the Islamization of Central Asia completed in the 19th century, most Kazakhs have been Sunni Muslims.
Sergei Ivanovich Borisov (1867–1931), Kazakh woman in wedding garment on horseback, colored photograph, ca. 1911–1914; source: Wikimedia Commons, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SB_-_Kazakh_woman_on_horse.jpg?uselang=en, public domain.