The question of the correlation between the political and the ethnic history of the Kazakh people is a rather topical issue, since the history of the tribes that made up the Kazakh people and the history of the Urusid dynasty had little in common in the XV-XVI centuries. Aims and objectives of the study are to examine the problematic issues of the ethnogenesis from the point of view of the geographical history and to attempt to resolve the contradictions between the ethnic and political history of the Kazakhs. Materials and methods. The works "Mihman-name-i Bukhara" by Fazlallah ibn Ruzbihan, “Majma al-gharaib” by al-Balkhi, as well as legends about Alasha-khan were used as materials. Results. As a result of the study, the key role of the wintering grounds of the tribes in the Syrdarya valley in the ethnogenesis of the Kazakh people was established. The presence of summers in three different parts of the eastern Desht-i Kipchak, in turn, played a role in the division of this community of tribes into three groups, which became the basis for the zhuzes. Conclusions. As a result of the Urusids' establishment of power in the Prisyrdarya region, the polytonym "Kazakh" became the ethnonym of the subordinate population, and thus, the political and ethnic history of the Kazakh people acquired unidirectional movement.