500 Tenge Khanate

Issued as part of Kazakhstan's long-running "Nomadic Civilization" commemorative program, this coin marks the 550th anniversary of the Kazakh Khanate, founded around 1465 when Janybek Khan and Kerei Khan broke from the Uzbek Khanate and led their followers into the Zhetysu region. The split was less a formal declaration than a migration — the word "Kazakh" itself likely derives from a Turkic root meaning free or wanderer.

The 550-year anniversary framing required some historiographical flexibility, as the exact founding date remains disputed among scholars.