Early Modern States of the Steppe and Central Asia: Map & History

There were two groups of Nogais: those north of the Caspian Sea under their own Bey (leader), and those north of the Black Sea nominally subject to the Crimean Khan. The first group was broken up circa 1632 by the Kalmyks. The second shared the fate of the Khanate of Crimea.

From Wikipedia: Nogai Horde · Society (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Due to the decentralised nature of the Golden Horde, the Nogais were relatively independent of their overlords in Sarai and thus didn't oppose the Crimeans in their fight with the Golden Horde. However, after the sack of Sarai and the collapse of the Golden Horde, the Crimeans started to claim legitimacy as the successors of the Golden Horde and thus wanted to expand their rule over the Nogais. They justified their expansion, by invoking the title of "Khan" which showed their connection to Chingissids. But, as the Nogais were one of a few tribes whose rulers descended not from the Chingissids but from their own dynasty, they rejected any authority of Crimean Khan, which eventually led to clashes and conflicts between them. The first and most important attempt of Crimean Khanate to subjugate the Nogais ended when the Nogais killed the Crimean Khan Mehmed I Giray, near Astrakhan.

From Wikipedia: Nogai Horde · History: Independence and the Conflict with Crimean Khanate (CC BY-SA 4.0)

After the Mongols managed to destroy the Cuman-Kipchak Confederation and conquered its lands, they established the Golden Horde also known as Ulus Juchi. At its peak it dominated most of the land area between Volga and Danube rivers. During this time Manghit Edigu Bey (Edigu) rose to power and managed to reorganize the various Manghit tribes into the Nogai Horde. Due to his role in defeating and killing Tokhtamysh he was granted a great measure of independence to the Nogai Horde and giving him control over much of the western territories of the Golden Horde. However, soon after his death, at the beginning of the 15th century the Golden Horde had entered a period of internal decline due to struggle for power between Crimea and Nogais and eastern Khanates.

From Wikipedia: Nogai Horde · History: Decline of the Golden Horde (CC BY-SA 4.0)

There is no consensus among medieval historians regarding the place and time of the formation of the early Kazakh Khanate. Russian historiography follows the dating proposed by Tursun Sultanov. He considers the death of Abulkhair-khan in 875 AH (1470–1471) as the date of the formation of the Kazakh Khanate.

From Wikipedia: Kazakh Khanate · Name: Issues with the date of the khanate's establishment (CC BY-SA 4.0)

During the 18th century, raids by Kazakhs on Russia's territory of Orenburg were common; the Kazakhs captured many Russians and sold them as slaves in the Central Asian market. The Volga Germans were also victims of Kazakh raids; they were ethnic Germans living along the River Volga in the region of southeastern European Russia around Saratov.

From Wikipedia: Kazakh Khanate · Economy: Kazakh Khanate slave trade on Russian settlement (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Following the death of Kasym Khan around 1521, the Kazakh Khanate entered a period of rapid decline under the rule of his son Mamash Khan and subsequently under Tahir Khan and Buydash Khan, the sons of his brother Adiq Sulṭan. Mamash Khan was killed in combat, while Tah Khan lost the support of most of his followers and was eventually abandoned by them. In the aftermath, the Manghits reasserted their control over the Qipchaq Steppe. After Buydash Khan’s reign, internal fragmentation and political weakness reached such an extent that Muḥammad Ḥaidar Dughlāt observed that after the year 940 AH (1533–1534), "the Kazakhs were completely uprooted." The Kazakh Khanate regained its control over the eastern Qipchaq Steppe during the reign of Haqnazar, a son of Kasym Khan.

From Wikipedia: Kazakh Khanate · History: Turmoil and civil war (CC BY-SA 4.0)

On October 10, 1731, the khan of the Junior Jüz, Abu'l Khayr, swore fealty to Anna of Russia to obtain Russian help against his rival Sultan Qayip and to secure economic stability. Shortly thereafter the Middle Jüz's Khan Semeke agreed to suzerainty under the same terms. Neither khan remained very loyal to the Russians, but from this point Russian sovereigns began to assert the right to appoint the khans of the Junior and Middle Jüzes and to exert greater influence on them. The Kazakhs in turn began to view the khanate with greater suspicion, as khans increasingly sought Russian help against their rivals within the Khanate.

From Wikipedia: Kazakh Khanate · History: Fall (CC BY-SA 4.0)

As the Shaybanids set out to make Bukhara the cultural and architectural capital of their dynasty, countless building ventures transformed the city under their rule. Bukhara’s grand mosque, the Kalan Mosque, was built in 1121 C.E. However, under the Shaybanids in the early 16th century, it was entirely reconstructed with the addition of stone columns, arches, and 288 vaults. The mosque was part of a religious complex that also consisted of a five-domed palace and a mosque.

From Wikipedia: Shaybanids · Shaybanid architecture (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The economy of the Khivan Khanate rested on a combination of irrigated agriculture, pastoralism, and long‑distance trade, each reinforcing the other and sustaining the khanate’s position in Central Asia. Along the fertile banks of the Amu Darya, fields of wheat, barley, rice, melons, and cotton were cultivated, while orchards produced fruits that supplied both local markets and distant caravans. These harvests depended on an elaborate network of irrigation canals, some of which dated back to earlier Khorezmian states but were repaired and expanded under successive khans, ensuring that the desert margins could be transformed into productive farmland.

From Wikipedia: Khanate of Khiva · Economy (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Russians made five attacks on Khiva. Around 1602, some free Ural Cossacks unsuccessfully raided Khorezm. In 1717, Alexander Bekovich-Cherkassky attacked Khiva from the Caspian Sea. After he won the battle, Shir Ghazi Khan (1715–1728) made a treaty and suggested that the Russians disperse so that they could be better fed. However, after dispersing, they were all killed or enslaved, only a few surviving and escaping to tell the tale. In 1801, an army was sent toward Khiva but was recalled when Paul I was murdered. In the Khivan campaign of 1839, Perovsky tried an attack from Orenburg. The weather was unusually cold and he was forced to turn back after losing many men and most of his camels. Khiva was finally conquered by the Khivan campaign of 1873. The Russians installed Sayyid Muhammad Rahim Bahadur Khan II as the vassal ruler of the region.

From Wikipedia: Khanate of Khiva · History: Russian conquest and protectorate (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Khiva’s culture reflected a synthesis of Turkic, Persian, and Islamic traditions, with Chagatai/Uzbek widely used in administration and literature alongside Persian in scholarship and poetry. Religious life was anchored in Sunni Islam (Hanafi jurisprudence), supported by mosques, madrasas, and endowed institutions that structured education and public piety.

From Wikipedia: Khanate of Khiva · Culture (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The first dynasty to rule the khanate was the Shaybanid dynasty, which reigned from 1501 until 1598. They were a branch of the Abu'l-Khayrid dynasty and claimed descent from Genghis Khan through his son Jochi. The ancestor of the ruling Abu'l-Khayrids, Abu'l Khayr Khan, established an empire that by the time of his death in 1469 stretched from Siberia to the Syr Darya river. He controlled the cities of Sighnaq, Suzaq, Arquq, Uzgend, and Yassi along the Syr Darya. However, the Uzbek tribes remained nomadic, living a life on the steppe, and Abu'l Khayr Khan had no interest in conquering the lands of Mawarannahr (Transoxiana) or Khorasan. Following his death, his empire broke up into smaller pieces led by sultans and tribal chieftains. One of these units was led by Muhammad Shaybani, Abu'l Khayr's grandson.

From Wikipedia: Khanate of Bukhara · History: Rise of Muhammad Shaybani (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Administration of the khanate was decentralized through a system of appanage. The major appanages, divided by a kurultai after Muhammad Shaybani's death, were based in Bukhara, Samarkand, Tashkent, and Balkh. Each of these was traditionally held by a different lineage of the Abu'l-Khayrid dynasty. Lesser appanages included Miyonkol (the region between Bukhara and Samarkand, including Jizzakh); Sogd (in northern Tajikistan); Fergana (including Khujand); Ḥeṣār-e Šādmān (present-day Dushanbe and the Vakhsh valley); Shahrisabz (historically known as Kesh); and Badakhshan. The lesser appanages often fell under the influence of the major appanage rulers. Fergana was frequently contested between the rulers of Tashkent and Samarkand; Shahrisabz similarly alternated between Samarkand and Bukhara.

From Wikipedia: Khanate of Bukhara · Government (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Muhammad Shaybani Khan was fond of poetry, and Turkic language collections of his poetry are extant today. There are sources that Muhammad Shibani wrote poetry in both Turkic and Persian. The "Divan" of Muhammad Shibani's poems, written in the Central Asian Turkic literary language, is currently kept in the Topkapi manuscript collection in Istanbul. The manuscript of his philosophical and religious work: "Bahr ul-Khudo", written in the Central Asian Turkic literary language in 1508, is located in London. Muhammad Shaybani wrote poetry under the pseudonym Shibani. He wrote a prose work, Risale-yi maarif-i Shibani. It was written in the Turkic-Chagatai language in 1507 shortly after his capture of Khorasan and is dedicated to his son, Muhammad Timur-Sultan. The manuscript is kept in Istanbul.

From Wikipedia: Khanate of Bukhara · Culture (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The Ashtarkhanids were replaced by the Uzbek Manghit dynasty, whose members ruled Bukhara until 1920.

From Wikipedia: Khanate of Bukhara · History: Janid decline and Manghit takeover (CC BY-SA 4.0)

There were two groups of Nogais: those north of the Caspian Sea under their own Bey (leader), and those north of the Black Sea nominally subject to the Crimean Khan. The first group was broken up circa 1632 by the Kalmyks. The second shared the fate of the Khanate of Crimea.

From Wikipedia: Nogai Horde · Society (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Due to the decentralised nature of the Golden Horde, the Nogais were relatively independent of their overlords in Sarai and thus didn't oppose the Crimeans in their fight with the Golden Horde. However, after the sack of Sarai and the collapse of the Golden Horde, the Crimeans started to claim legitimacy as the successors of the Golden Horde and thus wanted to expand their rule over the Nogais. They justified their expansion, by invoking the title of "Khan" which showed their connection to Chingissids. But, as the Nogais were one of a few tribes whose rulers descended not from the Chingissids but from their own dynasty, they rejected any authority of Crimean Khan, which eventually led to clashes and conflicts between them. The first and most important attempt of Crimean Khanate to subjugate the Nogais ended when the Nogais killed the Crimean Khan Mehmed I Giray, near Astrakhan.

From Wikipedia: Nogai Horde · History: Independence and the Conflict with Crimean Khanate (CC BY-SA 4.0)

After the Mongols managed to destroy the Cuman-Kipchak Confederation and conquered its lands, they established the Golden Horde also known as Ulus Juchi. At its peak it dominated most of the land area between Volga and Danube rivers. During this time Manghit Edigu Bey (Edigu) rose to power and managed to reorganize the various Manghit tribes into the Nogai Horde. Due to his role in defeating and killing Tokhtamysh he was granted a great measure of independence to the Nogai Horde and giving him control over much of the western territories of the Golden Horde. However, soon after his death, at the beginning of the 15th century the Golden Horde had entered a period of internal decline due to struggle for power between Crimea and Nogais and eastern Khanates.

From Wikipedia: Nogai Horde · History: Decline of the Golden Horde (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The Oirats were originally from the forested region of northwestern Mongolia, where they lived during the early 13th century. In The Secret History of the Mongols, the Oirats are classified as a "forest people" (oy-yin irgen) and are not included among the lineages that constituted the Mongol nation. The Oirats were regarded as a distinct people rather than as one of the branches of the Mongols proper, and are portrayed as a non-Mongol people, alongside groups such as the Kereits and Naimans. The chronicle mentions them only briefly, identifying them as one of the forest peoples who submitted to Jochi, the eldest son of Genghis Khan, during his campaign of 1207.

From Wikipedia: Dzungar Khanate · History: Origins (CC BY-SA 4.0)

After the destruction of the Dzungar Oirat people, the Qing dynasty sponsored the settlement of millions of Han, Hui, Xibe, Daur, Solon, Turkic Oasis people (Uyghurs), and Manchus in Dzungaria since the land had been emptied. Stanley W. Toops notes that modern Xinjiang's demographic situation still reflects the settlement initiative of the Qing dynasty. One third of Xinjiang's total population consisted of Han, Hui, and Kazakhs in the north, while around two-thirds were Uyghurs in southern Xinjiang's Tarim Basin. Some cities in northern Xinjiang, such as Ürümqi and Yining, were essentially made by the Qing settlement policy.

From Wikipedia: Dzungar Khanate · History: Demographic change in Xinjiang (CC BY-SA 4.0)

After securing peace with the Qing dynasty to their east, the Dzungars launched their largest attack on the oases of Central Asia in 1723. They moved their forces into the territories inhabited by those Kazakh and Kyrgyz tribes that had remained independent of the Dzungar Khanate. The Kazakhs fought against the Dzungars in 1723–1730, which resulted in the defeat of the Kazakhs and the loss of their capital.

From Wikipedia: Dzungar Khanate · History: Central Asian campaign (1723–1732) (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The Oirats were once the most powerful nomadic horsemen in the steppes of Inner Asia during the post-Mongol period. The Oirats rose to prominence under charismatic leaders such as Esen Taishi (r. 1439–1455) and Galdan Boshugtu Khan (r. 1671–1697), who forged powerful—though ultimately short-lived nomadic empires, which harassed their neighboring Chinggisid polities, including the Northern Yuan (1368-1691), Moghul Khanate (1347-1680s), the Uzbek Khanate (1501–1747), and the Kazakh Khanate (1450s–1848). From the mid-seventeenth century onward, the Oirats of the Volga region, known as the Kalmyks, alone menaced their nomadic neighbor, such as the Nogais and Tatars.

From Wikipedia: Dzungar Khanate · Culture (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Galdan Tseren died in 1745, triggering widespread rebellion in the Tarim Basin and starting a succession dispute among his sons. In 1749, Galden Tseren's son Lama Dorji seized the throne from his younger brother, Tsewang Dorji Namjal. He was overthrown by his cousin Dawachi and the Khoid noble Amursana, but they too fought over control of the khanate.

From Wikipedia: Dzungar Khanate · History: End of the Dzungar Khanate (1745–1757) (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The Oirats were one of the forest peoples who lived in west of the Mongols of Genghis Khan. They submitted to Genghis in 1207 and played prominent roles in the history of the Mongol Empire.

From Wikipedia: Oirat Confederation · Background (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The collapse of the confederation of the Oirats began with Torghuds, along with the Dorbets and a few Khoshud clansmen, seceding from the union. In 1628, the Torghut chief Khoo Orlug with some Dorbets and Khoshuts moved westward across the Kazakh steppes. The little jüz of the Kazakhs and the Nogais tried to halt them at Nemba and Astrakhan but were defeated by the Torghuts. The Torghuts subjugated local Turkic peoples of Mangyshlak Peninsula and Caspian Sea. They colonized the Volga Delta and occupied whole steppes north of the Caspian, establishing the Kalmyk Khanate. The Kalmyks plundered the Khanate of Khiva from 1603 to 1670. The Kalmyk Khanate proved good allies to the Russian Empire.

From Wikipedia: Oirat Confederation · Collapse and formation of the Dzungar Khanate (CC BY-SA 4.0)

In 1709, the leader of the Ming tribe, Shahrukh Biy (r. 1709–1722), established the Koktonliq Ata fortress near Kokand, becoming its ruler and thus starting the Khanate of Kokand. In the 1720s and 1730s, the Fergana Valley was largely unaffected by the violent nomadic invasions of the Samarkand and Bukhara oases, and many refugees from the destroyed adjacent regions moved to Kokand. Shahrukh Biy's eldest son and successor Abd al-Rahim Biy briefly occupied Khujand, Urateppe, and the remnants of Samarkand during this period of instability. He also made an alliance with the Uzbek Keneges tribe, who ruled Shahrisabz. He did this by marrying Oychuchuk Oyim, the daughter of Ibrahim Biy Keneges.

From Wikipedia: Khanate of Kokand · History: Early period (1709–1799) (CC BY-SA 4.0)

In Kokand and other towns, the qadi-kalan was in command of the qadi (judges in Islamic jurisprudence), while the khwajah-kalan served as the primary religious counselor for the khan's court. Typically, the leaders of the provinces and towns were referred to as hakims or kushbegis. Kokand, Marghilan, Andijan, Namangan, and later Tashkent were the principal provinces of the khanate. Smaller districts known as bekliks were governed by begs or dadkhahs, who were obligated to make one or two annual visits to the khan's court. The Qipchaq and Uzbek tribal confederacies were typically associated with the provinces. For example, Marghilan and Osh were populated by Turks, Urateppe was ruled by the Iuz Uzbeks, and Namangan was reportedly under Qipchaq influence.

From Wikipedia: Khanate of Kokand · Administration (CC BY-SA 4.0)

From the reign of Narbuta Biy and onwards, the Fergana Valley's irrigation systems was developed by the Shahrukhids. Kokand was responsible for the construction and upkeep of hundreds of miles of irrigation canals for about a century. Communities that stood to profit from these projects were generally responsible for providing the vast workforce needed to carry them out. Much of the valley’s wilderness, pasture, and brush was ultimately transformed into arable land, which could then support migrant farming communities or provide settlements for nomadic and semi-nomadic populations. The framework for the cotton economy in the region that would develop in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was primarily built by the Khanate of Kokand.

From Wikipedia: Khanate of Kokand · Irrigation and agriculture (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Between 20,000 and 30,000 Uzbek irregulars made up Kokand's army under Narbuta Bey; these troops, known as the Qaraqazan ("Black Scorpion"), relied mainly on plunder as their form of payment. Alim Khan realized that his ambitions to consolidate power would be thwarted by this structure, even though the army had demonstrated its efficacy in the Fergana valley. Alim Khan sought to make use of on the significant advancements in military technology that had occurred over the previous century. He understood that a standing army, properly armed with muskets, cannons, and gunpowder and trained to use them effectively, was essential for Kokand to reach its full potential.

From Wikipedia: Khanate of Kokand · Military (CC BY-SA 4.0)

In the 1830s, more than 5 million people lived in the Khanate of Kokand. Roughly 3 million of them were sedentary residents with Turkic and Iranian roots, while the remaining population of 2.0–2.5 million were nomadic tribes, spread across 400,000 households, consisting of various Turko-Mongolian groups such as Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Karakalpaks, Kalmyks, and Farghani Qipchaqs. Turkic-speakers, whatever their dialect, were referred to as Turks, while Persian-speakers were referred to as Tajiks. Some non-Persian Iranians from the mountains, such as the Pamiri Shughni people, also referred to themselves as Tajik, though others commonly called them by different names, such as "Ghalcha". The term "Sart" was commonly applied to sedentary Turks and Tajiks. Usually bilingual in Turkic and Persian, they belonged to the same cultural tradition and occupied the same economic role.

From Wikipedia: Khanate of Kokand · Society and culture (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Following this, Madali Khan, who had received Conolly in Kokand, and who had also sought an alliance with Russia, lost the trust of Nasrullah. The Emir, encouraged by the conspiratorial efforts of several influential figures in Kokand (including the commander in chief of its army), invaded the Khanate in 1842. Shortly thereafter he executed Madali Khan, his brother, and Omar Khan's widow, the famed poet Nodira. Madali Khan's cousin, Shir Ali, was installed as the Khan of Kokand in June 1842. Over the next two decades, the khanate was weakened by a bitter civil war, which was further exacerbated by Bukharan and Russian incursions. During this period, the Kyrgyz tribes also broke away, forming the Kara-Kyrgyz Khanate under the leadership of Ormon Khan. Shir Ali's son, Khudayar Khan, ruled from 1844 to 1858, from 1862 to 1863, and from 1865 to 1875.

From Wikipedia: Khanate of Kokand · History: Decline and downfall (1842–1876) (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The highest military power and command of the army belonged to the Emir. The main command of all infantry and all artillery was concentrated in the hands of the tupchi-bashi (chief of artillery), who, in case of receiving the rank of commander-in-chief, became the head of the entire Bukhara army (including cavalry). The provision of the troops was under the jurisdiction of the Kush-Begi (Uzbek: qushbegi, 'vizier'), and the management of monetary and clothing allowances was entrusted to the durbin (state treasurer), and the in-kind allowance was entrusted to the Ziaetdin Bek. The militia came under the jurisdiction of the military authorities only after being called up for service.

From Wikipedia: Emirate of Bukhara · Government: Military (CC BY-SA 4.0)

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the majority of the Emirate's exports consisted primarily of cotton, wool, silk and related products, wool and oils. Bukhara was also considered the center of the Central Asian Astrakhan trade, obtained from the skin of karakul sheep. These skins were brought from around the breeding regions in neighbouring Karakul, Chorjou, Karki, Karshi, Khorezm and Afghanistan.

From Wikipedia: Emirate of Bukhara · Economy (CC BY-SA 4.0)