The ruling structure of the Golden Horde had split by the early fifteenth century into several large groups known as khanates, including the Nogai Horde and the Uzbek Khanate.

The present-day Kazaks become a recognizable group in the mid-fifteenth century, when clan leaders break away from the Uzbeks to seek their own territory in the lands of Semirech'ye, between the Chu and Talas rivers in present-day southeastern Kazakstan.

The first Kazak leader is Khan Qasym (r. 1511-23), who unites the Kazak tribes into one people.