pg. 206 — Khan 
The Khan was considered the leader of the Kazakh Khanate's different tribal and nomadic groups for centuries, although the Kazakh Khanate split up into three different hordes with their own individual Khans in 1718. As the Russian state began to take greater control of the Kazakh region, however, the position of Khan was eventually abolished by the early 19th century, which is another theme throughout the book. Traditional customs and practices, such as appointing a Khan with political and cultural influence, were undermined and replaced by Russian state control.  

pg. 214 — infarction
A myocardial infarction, or a heart attack, is the cause of Abutalip's death. This could be interpreted as Abutalip literally dying of heart break since has has been forcibly and unjustly taken away from his friends and family. 

pg. 221 — Stalin
Joseph Stalin, premier of the Soviet Union, passed away on March 5, 1953. Incidentally, this is the day Zaripa and Yedigei find out that Abutalip has officially passed away, a victim of Stalin's strict control and crackdown across the country for those not "Russian enough." It is an ironic scene, as people are passionately grieving the Soviet leader's death while Yedigei and Zaripa are a few feet away, silently grieving the needless loss of their friend.

pg. 226 — Koenigsberg 
Koenigsberg, now Kalingrad, Russia, was an old Prussian settlement. Koenigsberg was occupied by Nazi Germany prior to and during WWII and much of the city was destroyed by British bombings. Poles and Jews were persecuted and made slave laborers by Germans during this time period, and only some 73,000 people remained by the end of WWII compared to the over 370,000 at the beginning. Many civilians either died as prisoners of war, famine, persecution, immigrated elsewhere, or expelled. The fact that Yedigei has "gone as far as Koenigsberg" yet feels that he is suffering more now, after learning of his friend Abutalip's death, speaks to the magnitude of Yedigei's personal loss.