The region that is now Kazakhstan was settled by Turkic tribes beginning in about the 8th century ad. In the 13th century the area was incorporated into the Mongol empire of Genghis Khan. Upon Genghis Khan’s death in 1227, his empire was divided among his descendants. Most of present-day Kazakhstan became part of the territory ruled by his son Chagadai, but the western and most of the northern parts were included in the far-reaching empire of the Golden Horde established by Batu Khan, Genghis’ grandson.

In 1723 Galdan's successor Cevang Rabtan was again on the attack. Aided by Swedish officers who had been made Russian prisoners at the Battle of Poltava (1709) and had found their way to these distant parts, the Dzungars launched a devastating invasion of the eastern Kazak lands. The memory of this national catastrophe, “the Great Disaster,” has never faded among the Kazaks. The next and last Dzungar invasion hit the Middle Horde, but thanks to the skills of that horde's khan, Abu'l-Khayr (1718–49), who managed to forge a temporary all-Kazak alliance, it was less devastating. Final deliverance from the Dzungar plague came in the form of Chinese (Manchu) intervention; in 1757–58 the Ch'ien-lung emperor launched two major campaigns, in the course of which the Dzungars were, for all practical purposes, exterminated and their land incorporated into China. For a time, the wily Ablai Khan of the Middle Horde had chosen not to take sides in the Dzungar-Chinese conflict. But, once the scores were settled, Ablai found it prudent to offer his submission to the Ch'ien-lung emperor. Then, in 1771, Ablai was confirmed as ruler by both the Chinese and the Russians. As a result of the collapse of Dzungar power, the Chinese inherited a vast territory that extended to Lake Balkhash and beyond, far into the Kazak steppes.

By the end of the 15th century, the Kazakhs emerged as a distinctive group, created by the intermingling of Mongol and Turkic peoples. In the early 16th century the Kazakh tribes united to form a great nomadic empire under the warlord Kasim Khan. The Kazakhs soon became divided, however, with the tribes fighting among themselves. As a result of these internecine struggles, three major groupings emerged among the Kazakhs—the Great Horde (Ulu Zhuz) in the southeast portion of present-day Kazakhstan, the Middle Horde (Orta Zhuz) in the central steppe region, and the Little Horde (Kishi Zhuz) between the Aral Sea and the Ural River in the west. Each horde was composed of a number of tribes that were collectively ruled by a khan. The khan Haq Nazar succeeded in uniting the Kazakh hordes between 1538 and 1580, but by the 17th century the Kazakhs were again fragmented. In the 1680s the Kazakhs began to fight a series of wars against invaders from the east called Oirots, a group of four Mongol tribes, including Dzungars, that sought to conquer Kazakh lands. Although the Kazakh hordes united again for purposes of war, Dzungar invasions completely devastated the Kazakhs by 1720. This period is remembered in Kazakh history as the