Medieval States of the Steppe and Central Asia: Map & History
20 states of the Steppe and Central Asia on one map, from 555 CE to 1695 CE.The largest, Göktürk Khaganate, covered about 6,419,739 km²; the longest-lived, Kimek-Kipchak confederation, lasted 750 CE – 1235 CE. Each has its own section below with its rulers, capitals, wars and pictures where the records hold them.
Each state in its own colour. Move the timeline to see which existed in any year from 555 AD to 1695; select a territory to read about it. Borders: Cliopatria / Seshat (CC BY 4.0).
The Medieval States of the Steppe and Central Asia Compared
The First Turkic Khaganate, also referred to as the First Turkic Empire, the Turkic Khaganate or the Göktürk Khaganate, was a Turkic khaganate established by the Ashina clan of the Göktürks in medieval Inner Asia under the leadership of Bumin Qaghan (d. 552) and his brother Istämi. The First Turkic Khaganate succeeded the Rouran Khaganate as the hegemonic power of the Mongolian Plateau and rapidly expanded their territories in Central Asia. The khaganate became the first Central Asian transcontinental empire from Manchuria to the Black Sea.
The origins of the Turkic Khaganate trace back to 546, when Bumin Qaghan made a preemptive strike against the Uyghur and Tiele groups planning a revolt against their overlords, the Rouran Khaganate. For this service, he expected to be rewarded with a Rouran princess, thus marrying into the royal family. However, the Rouran khagan, Yujiulü Anagui, sent an emissary to Bumin to rebuke him, saying, "You are my blacksmith slave. How dare you utter these words?" As Anagui's "blacksmith slave" (Chinese: 鍛奴; pinyin: duànnú) comment was recorded in Chinese chronicles, some claim that the Göktürks were indeed blacksmith servants for the Rouran elite, and that "blacksmith slavery" may have indicated a form of vassalage within Rouran society. According to Denis Sinor, this reference indicates that the Turks specialized in metallurgy, although it is unclear if they were miners or blacksmiths.
Flag of the Göktürks KhaganateJelican9 · Public domain · Commons
Wars and Battles
When the fourth ruler of the khaganate, Taspar Qaghan, died in 581, the realm split in two over his succession. He had willed the title of khagan to Muqan's son Apa Qaghan, but the high council appointed Ishbara Qaghan instead. Factions formed around both leaders. Before long, four rivals claimed the title. They were successfully played off against each other by the Sui and Tang dynasties.
Read more
Istämi's son, Tardu the leader of the western Turks, made a bid for total independence. He seized the title and led an army east to claim the seat of imperial power, Ötüken.
In order to support his position, Ishbara of the Eastern Khaganate, acknowledged the suzerainty of Emperor Yang of Sui in order to seek their protection. Tardu attacked Chang'an, the Sui capital, around 600, demanding Emperor Yangdi end his interference in the civil war.
587 CE – 632 CE · Capital: Ordu-Baliq · 2,776,457 km²
Ordu-baliq, in the Orkhon Valley Cultural Landscape, Mongolia.James A. Glazier · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons
The Göktürks (Old Turkic: 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰜:𐰉𐰆𐰑𐰣, romanized: Türük Bodun; Chinese: 突厥; pinyin: Tūjué; Wade–Giles: T'u-chüeh), also known as Türks, Celestial Turks or Blue Turks, were a Turkic people in medieval Inner Asia. The Göktürks, under the leadership of Bumin Qaghan (d. 552) and his sons, succeeded the Rouran Khaganate as the main power in the region and established the First Turkic Khaganate, one of several nomadic dynasties that would shape the future geolocation, culture, and dominant beliefs of Turkic peoples.
As an ethnonym, the etymology of Turk is unknown. It is generally believed that the name Türk may have come from the Old Turkic migration-term 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰜, Türük/Törük, which means 'created, born'.
Read more
As a word in Turkic languages, Turk may mean "strong, strength, ripe" or "flourishing, in full strength". It may also mean ripe as for a fruit or "in the prime of life, young, and vigorous" for a person.
The name Gök-türk emerged from the modern Turkish reading of the word Kök as Gök with assumption of equivalence to "sky" in modern Turkish (Gök). The actual meaning of Kök in Kök-türk is debated due to single attestation, with differing opinions as "big, great" or "blue" as a reference to Ashina, the endonym of the ruling clan of the historical ethnic group which was attested in Old Turkic as 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰜, Türük 𐰚𐰇𐰜:𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰜, Kök Türük, or 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰚, Türk.
Their religion was polytheistic. The great god was the sky, Tengri, who dispensed the viaticum for the journey of life (qut) and fortune (ulug) and watched over the cosmic order and the political and social order. People prayed to him and sacrificed to him a white horse as the offering. The khagan, who came from him and derived his authority from him, was raised on a felt saddle to meet him.
Read more
Tengri issued decrees, brought pressure to bear on human beings, and enforced capital punishment, often by striking the offender with lightning. The many secondary powers – sometimes named deities, sometimes spirits or simply said to be sacred, and almost always associated with Tengri were the Earth, the Mountain, Water, the Springs, and the Rivers; the possessors of all objects, particularly of the land and the waters of the nation; trees, cosmic axes, and sources of life; fire.
Flag of the Göktürks KhaganateJelican9 · Public domain · Commons
Wars and Battles
Although the Göktürk Khaganate had once provided support to the Tang dynasty in the early period of the civil war during the collapse of the Sui dynasty, the conflicts between the Göktürks and the Tang broke out whilst the Tang were gradually reunifying China proper. The Göktürks began to attack and raid the northern border of the Tang Empire and once marched their main force of 100,000 soldiers to Chang'an, the capital of the Tang. Emperor Taizong of Tang, in spite of the limited resources at his disposal, managed to turn them back. Later, Taizong sent his troops to Mongolia and defeated the main force of Göktürk army in Battle of Yinshan four years later and captured Illig Qaghan in 630 AD. With the submission of the Turkic tribes, the Tang conquered the Mongolian Plateau. From then on, the Eastern Turks were subjugated to China.
Members of the Turk-led Ashina dynasty also ruled the Basmyls, and the Karluk Yabghu State; and possibly also the Khazars and Karakhanids (if the first Karakhanid ruler Bilge Kul Qadir Khan indeed descended from the Karluk Yabghus). According to some researchers, the Second Bulgarian Empire's Asen dynasty might be descendants of Ashina. The Kyrgyz subgroup of Türkatalar claim to be direct descendants of the Göktürks and to have inherited their name.
587 CE – 660 CE · Capital: Ordu-Baliq · 4,205,976 km²
Ordu-baliq, in the Orkhon Valley Cultural Landscape, Mongolia.James A. Glazier · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons
The Göktürks (Old Turkic: 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰜:𐰉𐰆𐰑𐰣, romanized: Türük Bodun; Chinese: 突厥; pinyin: Tūjué; Wade–Giles: T'u-chüeh), also known as Türks, Celestial Turks or Blue Turks, were a Turkic people in medieval Inner Asia. The Göktürks, under the leadership of Bumin Qaghan (d. 552) and his sons, succeeded the Rouran Khaganate as the main power in the region and established the First Turkic Khaganate, one of several nomadic dynasties that would shape the future geolocation, culture, and dominant beliefs of Turkic peoples.
As an ethnonym, the etymology of Turk is unknown. It is generally believed that the name Türk may have come from the Old Turkic migration-term 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰜, Türük/Törük, which means 'created, born'.
Read more
As a word in Turkic languages, Turk may mean "strong, strength, ripe" or "flourishing, in full strength". It may also mean ripe as for a fruit or "in the prime of life, young, and vigorous" for a person.
The name Gök-türk emerged from the modern Turkish reading of the word Kök as Gök with assumption of equivalence to "sky" in modern Turkish (Gök). The actual meaning of Kök in Kök-türk is debated due to single attestation, with differing opinions as "big, great" or "blue" as a reference to Ashina, the endonym of the ruling clan of the historical ethnic group which was attested in Old Turkic as 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰜, Türük 𐰚𐰇𐰜:𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰜, Kök Türük, or 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰚, Türk.
Their religion was polytheistic. The great god was the sky, Tengri, who dispensed the viaticum for the journey of life (qut) and fortune (ulug) and watched over the cosmic order and the political and social order. People prayed to him and sacrificed to him a white horse as the offering. The khagan, who came from him and derived his authority from him, was raised on a felt saddle to meet him.
Read more
Tengri issued decrees, brought pressure to bear on human beings, and enforced capital punishment, often by striking the offender with lightning. The many secondary powers – sometimes named deities, sometimes spirits or simply said to be sacred, and almost always associated with Tengri were the Earth, the Mountain, Water, the Springs, and the Rivers; the possessors of all objects, particularly of the land and the waters of the nation; trees, cosmic axes, and sources of life; fire.
Flag of the Göktürks KhaganateJelican9 · Public domain · Commons
Wars and Battles
Although the Göktürk Khaganate had once provided support to the Tang dynasty in the early period of the civil war during the collapse of the Sui dynasty, the conflicts between the Göktürks and the Tang broke out whilst the Tang were gradually reunifying China proper. The Göktürks began to attack and raid the northern border of the Tang Empire and once marched their main force of 100,000 soldiers to Chang'an, the capital of the Tang. Emperor Taizong of Tang, in spite of the limited resources at his disposal, managed to turn them back. Later, Taizong sent his troops to Mongolia and defeated the main force of Göktürk army in Battle of Yinshan four years later and captured Illig Qaghan in 630 AD. With the submission of the Turkic tribes, the Tang conquered the Mongolian Plateau. From then on, the Eastern Turks were subjugated to China.
Members of the Turk-led Ashina dynasty also ruled the Basmyls, and the Karluk Yabghu State; and possibly also the Khazars and Karakhanids (if the first Karakhanid ruler Bilge Kul Qadir Khan indeed descended from the Karluk Yabghus). According to some researchers, the Second Bulgarian Empire's Asen dynasty might be descendants of Ashina. The Kyrgyz subgroup of Türkatalar claim to be direct descendants of the Göktürks and to have inherited their name.
Ordu-baliq, in the Orkhon Valley Cultural Landscape, Mongolia.James A. Glazier · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons
The Göktürks (Old Turkic: 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰜:𐰉𐰆𐰑𐰣, romanized: Türük Bodun; Chinese: 突厥; pinyin: Tūjué; Wade–Giles: T'u-chüeh), also known as Türks, Celestial Turks or Blue Turks, were a Turkic people in medieval Inner Asia. The Göktürks, under the leadership of Bumin Qaghan (d. 552) and his sons, succeeded the Rouran Khaganate as the main power in the region and established the First Turkic Khaganate, one of several nomadic dynasties that would shape the future geolocation, culture, and dominant beliefs of Turkic peoples.
As an ethnonym, the etymology of Turk is unknown. It is generally believed that the name Türk may have come from the Old Turkic migration-term 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰜, Türük/Törük, which means 'created, born'.
Read more
As a word in Turkic languages, Turk may mean "strong, strength, ripe" or "flourishing, in full strength". It may also mean ripe as for a fruit or "in the prime of life, young, and vigorous" for a person.
The name Gök-türk emerged from the modern Turkish reading of the word Kök as Gök with assumption of equivalence to "sky" in modern Turkish (Gök). The actual meaning of Kök in Kök-türk is debated due to single attestation, with differing opinions as "big, great" or "blue" as a reference to Ashina, the endonym of the ruling clan of the historical ethnic group which was attested in Old Turkic as 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰜, Türük 𐰚𐰇𐰜:𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰜, Kök Türük, or 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰚, Türk.
Their religion was polytheistic. The great god was the sky, Tengri, who dispensed the viaticum for the journey of life (qut) and fortune (ulug) and watched over the cosmic order and the political and social order. People prayed to him and sacrificed to him a white horse as the offering. The khagan, who came from him and derived his authority from him, was raised on a felt saddle to meet him.
Read more
Tengri issued decrees, brought pressure to bear on human beings, and enforced capital punishment, often by striking the offender with lightning. The many secondary powers – sometimes named deities, sometimes spirits or simply said to be sacred, and almost always associated with Tengri were the Earth, the Mountain, Water, the Springs, and the Rivers; the possessors of all objects, particularly of the land and the waters of the nation; trees, cosmic axes, and sources of life; fire.
Flag of the Göktürks KhaganateJelican9 · Public domain · Commons
Wars and Battles
Although the Göktürk Khaganate had once provided support to the Tang dynasty in the early period of the civil war during the collapse of the Sui dynasty, the conflicts between the Göktürks and the Tang broke out whilst the Tang were gradually reunifying China proper. The Göktürks began to attack and raid the northern border of the Tang Empire and once marched their main force of 100,000 soldiers to Chang'an, the capital of the Tang. Emperor Taizong of Tang, in spite of the limited resources at his disposal, managed to turn them back. Later, Taizong sent his troops to Mongolia and defeated the main force of Göktürk army in Battle of Yinshan four years later and captured Illig Qaghan in 630 AD. With the submission of the Turkic tribes, the Tang conquered the Mongolian Plateau. From then on, the Eastern Turks were subjugated to China.
Members of the Turk-led Ashina dynasty also ruled the Basmyls, and the Karluk Yabghu State; and possibly also the Khazars and Karakhanids (if the first Karakhanid ruler Bilge Kul Qadir Khan indeed descended from the Karluk Yabghus). According to some researchers, the Second Bulgarian Empire's Asen dynasty might be descendants of Ashina. The Kyrgyz subgroup of Türkatalar claim to be direct descendants of the Göktürks and to have inherited their name.
692 CE – 749 CE · Capital: Taraz, Suyab · 4,040,713 km²
The Türgesh or Türgish (Old Turkic: 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰏𐰾:𐰉𐰆𐰑𐰣, romanized: Türügeš budun, lit. 'Türgesh people'; simplified Chinese: 突骑施; traditional Chinese: 突騎施; pinyin: Tūqíshī; Wade–Giles: T'u-ch'i-shih; Old Tibetan: Du-rgyas) were a Turkic tribal confederation. Once belonging to the Duolu wing of the Western Turkic On Oq elites, Türgeshes emerged as an independent power after the demise of the Western Turks and established a khaganate in 699. The Türgesh Khaganate lasted until 766 when the Karluks defeated them. Türgesh and Göktürks were related through marriage.
Tuhsi and Azi might be remnants of the Türgesh, according to Gardizi, as well as Khalaj. The Turgesh-associated tribe Suoge, alongsides Chuyue and Anqing, participated in the ethnogenesis of Shatuo Turks.
Read more
According to Baskakov, the ethnonym Türgesh survives in the name of the seok Tirgesh among Altaians.
750 CE – 1235 CE · Capital: Khakan-Kimak (in winter), Imakia (in summer) · 3,015,095 km²
The Kimak–Kipchak confederation was a medieval Turkic state formed by seven peoples, including the Kimaks and Kipchaks, in the area between the Ob and Irtysh rivers.
Origins and Founding
The 10th century geographical treaty Hudud al-Alam gave a description of the cultures and ways of life of Kimeks and Kipchaks. The Kimaks led a semi-settled life, as the Hudūd mentioned many wandering tribal grazers as well as a town named *Yimäkiya (> Yamakkiyya > ms. Namakiyya); while the Kipchaks, in some customs, resembled the contemporary Oghuzes, who were nomadic herders. The southern neighbors of Kimaks were Karluks, who preserved their independence for another 200 years. The Kimak Khakan's residence was in the city Imakia (Pavlodar, Kazakhstan) on the Irtysh.
Read more
In the middle of the 7th century, one of the future Kimek confederation's constituent tribes, the Yemaks, lived near the Irtysh, north of the Altai, as part of the Western Turkic Khaganate, and were possibly known to the Chinese as 鹽莫 Yánmò (< Middle Chinese *jiäm-mâk).
The most typical and notable feature of Kimak-Kipchak and Cuman culture are the kurgan stelae or balbals, erected at sanctuaries with square fencing of rough stone and gravel. In the 6th through 9th centuries, similar sanctuaries with statues of deceased ancestors were built by the Göktürks and Uyghurs. After the destruction of the Göktürk and Uyghur Kaganates, the Kipchaks and Cumans were one of the few Turkic peoples who preserved this tradition. Cumans and Kipchaks continued the tradition until the loss of their political independence.
Read more
From the end of the 9th century, the construction of small fenced sanctuaries devoted to ancestors, with a statue (or statues) inside, became a distinctive feature of the Cumans and Kipchaks. The obelisks were often simple, rough stelae, frequently with figures without details. Faces were indicated by deeply carved lines, frequently heart-shaped.
Shamanism, Tengrism, Nestorianism, Buddhism, Islam
Economy and Trade
With their settlements and pastures stretching for thousands of kilometers from the Irtysh to the Caspian Sea and from the taiga to the Kazakhstan semi-deserts, the economy of the Kimak confederation varied between the eastern areas and the western areas, and between the northern forest-steppe and the southern foothills of the Tian-Shan mountains. The Persian Anonym emphasized that Kipchaks living in the extreme western areas of the Kaganate led a more primitive way of life than those who lived near the Irtysh, where the city Imak was the center of the Kimak union and summer seat of the Kimak Kagan.
Read more
The Kimak economy was classic Central Asian pastoral nomadism, with the Turkic pattern of widely varying local economic specializations and adaptations. The key animal was the horse and the main subsistence animal was sheep.
The Kimak were literate in the Old Turkic script. Abu Dulaf (c. 940) and Ibn al-Fakikh wrote about the Kimak Kaganate: "They have reeds with which they write". Archeologists found 10th to 11th century bronze mirrors with inscriptions near Urdjar in the Tarbagatai mountains and in the Irtysh region. L. Kimball stipulates that literate Kimak had works of law, religion, history, and epic poetry, none of which have survived. Although the Kimak had copper coins, most trade was done by barter.
Read more
Hunting was a key part of Kimak's life. Large group hunts served as training for war. Pride, prestige, and leadership were associated with the use of falcons, hawks, golden eagles, and hunting dogs, and with the pursuit of beasts of prey, including the now extinct Caspian tiger and the snow leopard.
Kimak Khans wore golden crowns and clothes sewn with gold.
The Kimak federation occupied a huge territory from the Tobol and Irtysh rivers to the Caspian Sea and Syr-Darya. The northern border of the Kimak federation was the Siberian taiga, the eastern border was the Altai Mountains and the southern border was the lifeless steppe of Bet Pak. The borders naturally protecting them from their enemies, the Kimaks lived undisturbed. Their neighbors were Karluks, Oguzes and Kyrgyz. Kimaks, Kipchaks, Oguzes, Petchenegs, Ugrians and other peoples and ethnic groups of the multi-ethnic Kimak Kaganate lived peacefully and prosperously.
Read more
At the beginning of the 11th century, the Kimaks and Kipchaks pushed the Oguzes to the south, the Petchenegs to the west, the Karluks to the southeast and the Ugrians to the north into the Siberian taiga, and became owners of the ancient Kangju.
Музей меморала Коркут-Ата. Посуда с раскопок городища Янгикента.Yuriy75 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons
The Oghuz Yabgu State or Oghuz il (Old Turkic: Oghuz Land) was a Turkic state, founded by Oghuz Turks in 750, located geographically in an area between the coasts of the Caspian and Aral Seas. Oghuz tribes occupied a vast territory in Kazakhstan along the Irgiz, Yaik, Emba, and Uil rivers, the Aral Sea area, the Syr Darya valley, the foothills of the Karatau Mountains in Tien-Shan, and the Chui River valley (see map).
The first reference to the Oghuz State is by the Arab geographer Yaqubi, who mentioned the Oghuz's wars against the Toquz Oghuz, Kimeks, and Karluks; another geographer, Ibn al-Faqih, reported that the Oghuzes along with the Kimeks and Toguz Oghuzes were the "kings" (malik), and were revered among the Turks. In Zhetysu the old Oghuz capital was Guziya.
Read more
The Chinese sources, dated to the 7th and 8th centuries, located the 姑蘇 Gūsū (a Western Turkic tribe not belonging to the "Ten Arrows" Union) consistently in the vicinity of Issyk Kul – Talas; Yury Zuev (1960) links these Gusu to the Oghuz Turks. The center of the Oghuz confederation shifted from the Issyk Kul area to the lower course of the Syr Darya under pressure of the refugees of the Sary Turgesh tribe.
The Oghuz State played an important role in the military and political history of Eurasia. In 965 the Oghuz State allied with Kievan Rus in a war against the Khazar Kaganate. In 985 the alliance with Kievan Rus defeated Volga Bulgaria, which increased the political power of the Oghuz State.
Read more
At the turn of the 10th–11th centuries, popular uprisings broke out against excessive taxation in the state. The revolts became especially strong in the second half of the 10th century, during the rule of Ali Yabgu. The split between the ruling Oghuzes and Seljuk branch of Oghuzes turned out to be detrimental to the state. The upheaval was used by the Seljuk branch, who led an uprising and took Jend, but soon they were forced to leave the Jend area.
During the reign of the last Oghuz Yabgu Shahmalik the state rebounded.
750 CE – 849 CE · Capital: Ordu-Baliq · 3,893,172 km²
Ordu-baliq, in the Orkhon Valley Cultural Landscape, Mongolia.James A. Glazier · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons
The Uyghur Khaganate, self defined as the Toquz Oghuz ("Nine Tribes") and known to the Tang Chinese as the Jiuxing was a Turkic empire that existed for about a century between the mid 8th and 9th centuries. It was a tribal confederation under the Uyghur nobility.
In the mid-5th century, Uyghurs were a tribe of the Tiele, which was under the Turkic Khaganate.
Read more
In 657, the Western Turkic Khaganate was defeated by the Tang dynasty, after which the Uyghurs defected to the Tang. Prior to this the Uyghurs had already shown an inclination towards alliances with the Tang when they fought with them against the Tibetan Empire and Turks in 627.
In 742, the Uyghurs, Karluks, and Basmyls rebelled against the Second Turkic Khaganate.
In 744, the Basmyls captured the Turkic capital of Ötüken and killed the reigning Özmiş Khagan. Later that year, a Uyghur-Karluk alliance formed against the Basmyls and defeated them. Their khagan was killed, and the Basmyls ceased to exist as a people. Hostilities between the Uyghurs and Karluks then forced the Karluks to migrate west into Zhetysu and conflict with the Türgesh, whom they defeated and conquered in 766.
In 779, Bögü Qaghan planned to invade the Tang dynasty based on the advice of his Sogdian courtiers. However, his uncle, Tun Baga Tarkhan, opposed this plan and killed him and "nearly two thousand people from among the Kaghan's family, his clique and the Sogdians." Tun Bagha Tarkhan ascended the throne, and enforced a new set of laws, which he designed to secure the unity of the khaganate. During his reign, Manichaeism was suppressed, but his successors restored it as the official religion.
Read more
In 780, a group of Uyghurs and Sogdians was killed while leaving Chang'an with tribute. Tun demanded 1,800,000 strings of cash in compensation and the Tang agreed to pay this amount in gold and silk. In 789, Tun Bagha Tarkhan died and his son succeeded him as Külüg Qaghan. The Karluks took this opportunity to encroach on Uyghur territory and annexed Futu Valley.
The Mongol Empire conducted several campaigns in Central Asia after the unification of the Mongol and Turkic tribes on the Mongolian Plateau in 1206. Smaller military operations included the destruction of surviving Merkit and Naimans (which involved forays into Cumania) and the conquest of Qara Khitai. These were followed by a major campaign against Khwarazm. Expansion into Central Asia began in 1209 as Genghis Khan sent an expedition to pursue rivals who had fled to the region and threatened his new empire.
850 CE – 1045 CE · Capital: Balasagun · 1,310,698 km²
The making of this document was supported by Wikimedia Polska.w0zny · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons
The Kara-Khanid Khanate (Persian: قراخانیان, romanized: Qarākhāniyān; Chinese: 喀喇汗國; pinyin: Kālā Hánguó), also known as the Karakhanids, Qarakhanids, Ilek Khanids or the Afrasiabids (Persian: آل افراسیاب, romanized: Āl-i Afrāsiyāb, lit. 'House of Afrasiab'), was a Karluk Turkic khanate that ruled Central Asia from the 9th to the early 13th century. The dynastic names of Karakhanids and Ilek Khanids refer to royal titles with Kara Khagan being the most important Turkic title up until the end of the dynasty.
The Karluks were a nomadic people from the western Altai Mountains who moved to Jetisu. In 742, the Karluks were part of an alliance led by the Basmyls and the Uyghur Khaganate that rebelled against the Göktürks, leading to the demise of the Second Turkic Khaganate (682–744). In the realignment of power that followed, the Karluks were elevated from a tribe led by an Elteber to one led by a yabghu, which was one of the highest Turkic dignitaries and also implies membership in the Ashina clan in whom the "heaven-mandated" right to rule resided. The Karluks and Uyghurs later allied themselves against the Basmyl, and within two years, they toppled the Basmyl khagan. The Uyghur yabghu became khagan and the Karluk leader yabghu. This arrangement lasted less than a year. Hostilities between the Uyghur and Karluk forced the Karluk to migrate westward into the western Turgesh lands.
Khaqani Turkic (court, dynastic, literature), Persian (poetry), Arabic (coinage)
Religion
Tengrism
Wars and Battles
The grandson of Satuk Bughra Khan, Hasan b. Sulayman (or Harun) (title: Bughra Khan) attacked the Samanids in the late 10th century. Between 990 and 992, Hasan took Isfijab, Ferghana, Ilaq, Samarkand, and the Samanid capital Bukhara. However, Hasan Bughra Khan died in 992 due to an illness, and the Samanids returned to Bukhara.
Read more
Hasan's cousin Ali b. Musa (title: Kara Khan or Arslan Khan) resumed the campaign against the Samanids, and by 999 Ali's son Nasr had taken Chach, Samarkand, and Bukhara. The Samanid domains were divided between the Ghaznavids, who gained Khorasan and Afghanistan, and the Karakhanids, who received Transoxiana. The Oxus River thus became the boundary between the two rival empires.
The Karakhanid state was divided into appanages (Ülüş system), as was common of Turkic and Mongol nomads.
The takeover by the Karakhanids did not change the essentially Iranian character of Central Asia, though it set into motion a demographic and ethnolinguistic shift. During the Karakhanid era, the local population began using Turkic in speech – initially the shift was linguistic with the local people adopting the Turkic language. While Central Asia became Turkicized over the centuries, culturally the Turks came close to being Persianized or, in certain respects, Arabicized. Nevertheless, the official or court language used in Kashgar and other Karakhanid centers, referred to as "Khaqani" (royal), remained Turkic. The language was partly based on dialects spoken by the Turkic tribes that made up the Karakhanids and possessed qualities of linear descent from Kök and Karluk Turkic.
The decline of the Seljuks following their defeat by the Qara Khitai at the Battle of Qatwan (1141) allowed the Khwarazmian dynasty, then a vassal of the Qara Khitai, to expand into former Seljuk territory, where they became independent rulers circa 1190. In 1207, the citizens of Bukhara revolted against the sadrs (leaders of the religious classes), which the Khwarazmshah 'Ala' ad-Din Muhammad used as a pretext to conquer Bukhara. Muhammad then formed an alliance with the Western Karakhanid ruler Uthman ibn Ibrahim (who later married Muhammad's daughter) against the Qara Khitai. In 1210, the Khwarezm-Shah took Samarkand after the Qara Khitai retreated to deal with the rebellion from the Naiman Kuchlug, who had seized the Qara Khitans' treasury at Uzgen. The Khwarezm-Shah then defeated the Qara Khitai near Talas.
Kara-Khanid is arguably the most enduring cultural heritage among coexisting cultures in Central Asia from the 9th to the 13th centuries. The Karluk-Uyghur dialect spoken by the nomadic tribes and Turkified sedentary populations under Kara-Khanid rule formed two major branches of the Turkic language family, the Chagatay and the Kypchak. The Kara-Khanid cultural model that combined nomadic Turkic culture with Islamic, sedentary institutions spread east into former Kara-Khoja and Tangut territories and west and south into the subcontinent, Khorasan (Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and Northern Iran), Golden Horde territories (Tataristan), and Turkey. The Chagatay, Timurid, and Uzbek states and societies inherited most of the cultures of the Kara-Khanids and the Khwarezmians without much interruption.
Read more
The Kara-Khanids translated the Quran into Middle Turkic.
The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids (SEL-juuk; Old Anatolian Turkish: سلجك Sälcük; Azerbaijani: Səlcuqlular or Səlcuqilər; Turkmen: Seljuklar; Ottoman Turkish: سلچوق Selçuk; Turkish: Selçuklular; Persian: سلجوقیان Saljuqian,) alternatively spelled as Saljuqids or Seljuk Turks, was an Oghuz Turkic, Sunni Muslim dynasty that culturally became Persianate and contributed to Turco-Persian culture.
The founder of the Seljuk dynasty, Seljuk Beg, was a descendant of a royal Khazar chief Tuqaq who served as advisor to the King of the Khazars, in West Asia and Central Asia.
The Seljuks originated from the Kinik branch of the Oghuz Turks, who in the 8th century lived on the periphery of the Muslim world; north of the Caspian Sea and Aral Sea in their Oghuz Yabgu State in the Kazakh Steppe of Turkestan. During the 10th century, Oghuz had come into close contact with Muslim cities. When Seljuk, the leader of the Seljuk clan, had a falling out with Yabghu, the supreme chieftain of the Oghuz, he split his clan from the bulk of the Oghuz Turks and set up camp on the west bank of the lower Syr Darya. Around 985, Seljuk and his clan converted to Islam.
Read more
In the 11th century, the Seljuks migrated from their ancestral homelands into mainland Persia, in the province of Khurasan, where they encountered the Ghaznavids. The Seljuks defeated the Ghaznavids at the Battle of Nasa in 1035.
1046 CE – 1138 CE · Capital: Balasagun · 984,464 km²
The making of this document was supported by Wikimedia Polska.w0zny · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons
The Kara-Khanid Khanate (Persian: قراخانیان, romanized: Qarākhāniyān; Chinese: 喀喇汗國; pinyin: Kālā Hánguó), also known as the Karakhanids, Qarakhanids, Ilek Khanids or the Afrasiabids (Persian: آل افراسیاب, romanized: Āl-i Afrāsiyāb, lit. 'House of Afrasiab'), was a Karluk Turkic khanate that ruled Central Asia from the 9th to the early 13th century. The dynastic names of Karakhanids and Ilek Khanids refer to royal titles with Kara Khagan being the most important Turkic title up until the end of the dynasty.
The Karluks were a nomadic people from the western Altai Mountains who moved to Jetisu. In 742, the Karluks were part of an alliance led by the Basmyls and the Uyghur Khaganate that rebelled against the Göktürks, leading to the demise of the Second Turkic Khaganate (682–744). In the realignment of power that followed, the Karluks were elevated from a tribe led by an Elteber to one led by a yabghu, which was one of the highest Turkic dignitaries and also implies membership in the Ashina clan in whom the "heaven-mandated" right to rule resided. The Karluks and Uyghurs later allied themselves against the Basmyl, and within two years, they toppled the Basmyl khagan. The Uyghur yabghu became khagan and the Karluk leader yabghu. This arrangement lasted less than a year. Hostilities between the Uyghur and Karluk forced the Karluk to migrate westward into the western Turgesh lands.
Khaqani Turkic (court, dynastic, literature), Persian (poetry), Arabic (coinage)
Religion
Tengrism
Wars and Battles
The grandson of Satuk Bughra Khan, Hasan b. Sulayman (or Harun) (title: Bughra Khan) attacked the Samanids in the late 10th century. Between 990 and 992, Hasan took Isfijab, Ferghana, Ilaq, Samarkand, and the Samanid capital Bukhara. However, Hasan Bughra Khan died in 992 due to an illness, and the Samanids returned to Bukhara.
Read more
Hasan's cousin Ali b. Musa (title: Kara Khan or Arslan Khan) resumed the campaign against the Samanids, and by 999 Ali's son Nasr had taken Chach, Samarkand, and Bukhara. The Samanid domains were divided between the Ghaznavids, who gained Khorasan and Afghanistan, and the Karakhanids, who received Transoxiana. The Oxus River thus became the boundary between the two rival empires.
The Karakhanid state was divided into appanages (Ülüş system), as was common of Turkic and Mongol nomads.
The takeover by the Karakhanids did not change the essentially Iranian character of Central Asia, though it set into motion a demographic and ethnolinguistic shift. During the Karakhanid era, the local population began using Turkic in speech – initially the shift was linguistic with the local people adopting the Turkic language. While Central Asia became Turkicized over the centuries, culturally the Turks came close to being Persianized or, in certain respects, Arabicized. Nevertheless, the official or court language used in Kashgar and other Karakhanid centers, referred to as "Khaqani" (royal), remained Turkic. The language was partly based on dialects spoken by the Turkic tribes that made up the Karakhanids and possessed qualities of linear descent from Kök and Karluk Turkic.
The decline of the Seljuks following their defeat by the Qara Khitai at the Battle of Qatwan (1141) allowed the Khwarazmian dynasty, then a vassal of the Qara Khitai, to expand into former Seljuk territory, where they became independent rulers circa 1190. In 1207, the citizens of Bukhara revolted against the sadrs (leaders of the religious classes), which the Khwarazmshah 'Ala' ad-Din Muhammad used as a pretext to conquer Bukhara. Muhammad then formed an alliance with the Western Karakhanid ruler Uthman ibn Ibrahim (who later married Muhammad's daughter) against the Qara Khitai. In 1210, the Khwarezm-Shah took Samarkand after the Qara Khitai retreated to deal with the rebellion from the Naiman Kuchlug, who had seized the Qara Khitans' treasury at Uzgen. The Khwarezm-Shah then defeated the Qara Khitai near Talas.
Kara-Khanid is arguably the most enduring cultural heritage among coexisting cultures in Central Asia from the 9th to the 13th centuries. The Karluk-Uyghur dialect spoken by the nomadic tribes and Turkified sedentary populations under Kara-Khanid rule formed two major branches of the Turkic language family, the Chagatay and the Kypchak. The Kara-Khanid cultural model that combined nomadic Turkic culture with Islamic, sedentary institutions spread east into former Kara-Khoja and Tangut territories and west and south into the subcontinent, Khorasan (Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and Northern Iran), Golden Horde territories (Tataristan), and Turkey. The Chagatay, Timurid, and Uzbek states and societies inherited most of the cultures of the Kara-Khanids and the Khwarezmians without much interruption.
Read more
The Kara-Khanids translated the Quran into Middle Turkic.
1046 CE – 1084 CE · Capital: Balasagun, Kashgar · 382,959 km²
The making of this document was supported by Wikimedia Polska.w0zny · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons
The Kara-Khanid Khanate (Persian: قراخانیان, romanized: Qarākhāniyān; Chinese: 喀喇汗國; pinyin: Kālā Hánguó), also known as the Karakhanids, Qarakhanids, Ilek Khanids or the Afrasiabids (Persian: آل افراسیاب, romanized: Āl-i Afrāsiyāb, lit. 'House of Afrasiab'), was a Karluk Turkic khanate that ruled Central Asia from the 9th to the early 13th century. The dynastic names of Karakhanids and Ilek Khanids refer to royal titles with Kara Khagan being the most important Turkic title up until the end of the dynasty.
The Karluks were a nomadic people from the western Altai Mountains who moved to Jetisu. In 742, the Karluks were part of an alliance led by the Basmyls and the Uyghur Khaganate that rebelled against the Göktürks, leading to the demise of the Second Turkic Khaganate (682–744). In the realignment of power that followed, the Karluks were elevated from a tribe led by an Elteber to one led by a yabghu, which was one of the highest Turkic dignitaries and also implies membership in the Ashina clan in whom the "heaven-mandated" right to rule resided. The Karluks and Uyghurs later allied themselves against the Basmyl, and within two years, they toppled the Basmyl khagan. The Uyghur yabghu became khagan and the Karluk leader yabghu. This arrangement lasted less than a year. Hostilities between the Uyghur and Karluk forced the Karluk to migrate westward into the western Turgesh lands.
Khaqani Turkic (court, dynastic, literature), Persian (poetry), Arabic (coinage)
Religion
Tengrism
Wars and Battles
The grandson of Satuk Bughra Khan, Hasan b. Sulayman (or Harun) (title: Bughra Khan) attacked the Samanids in the late 10th century. Between 990 and 992, Hasan took Isfijab, Ferghana, Ilaq, Samarkand, and the Samanid capital Bukhara. However, Hasan Bughra Khan died in 992 due to an illness, and the Samanids returned to Bukhara.
Read more
Hasan's cousin Ali b. Musa (title: Kara Khan or Arslan Khan) resumed the campaign against the Samanids, and by 999 Ali's son Nasr had taken Chach, Samarkand, and Bukhara. The Samanid domains were divided between the Ghaznavids, who gained Khorasan and Afghanistan, and the Karakhanids, who received Transoxiana. The Oxus River thus became the boundary between the two rival empires.
The Karakhanid state was divided into appanages (Ülüş system), as was common of Turkic and Mongol nomads.
The takeover by the Karakhanids did not change the essentially Iranian character of Central Asia, though it set into motion a demographic and ethnolinguistic shift. During the Karakhanid era, the local population began using Turkic in speech – initially the shift was linguistic with the local people adopting the Turkic language. While Central Asia became Turkicized over the centuries, culturally the Turks came close to being Persianized or, in certain respects, Arabicized. Nevertheless, the official or court language used in Kashgar and other Karakhanid centers, referred to as "Khaqani" (royal), remained Turkic. The language was partly based on dialects spoken by the Turkic tribes that made up the Karakhanids and possessed qualities of linear descent from Kök and Karluk Turkic.
The decline of the Seljuks following their defeat by the Qara Khitai at the Battle of Qatwan (1141) allowed the Khwarazmian dynasty, then a vassal of the Qara Khitai, to expand into former Seljuk territory, where they became independent rulers circa 1190. In 1207, the citizens of Bukhara revolted against the sadrs (leaders of the religious classes), which the Khwarazmshah 'Ala' ad-Din Muhammad used as a pretext to conquer Bukhara. Muhammad then formed an alliance with the Western Karakhanid ruler Uthman ibn Ibrahim (who later married Muhammad's daughter) against the Qara Khitai. In 1210, the Khwarezm-Shah took Samarkand after the Qara Khitai retreated to deal with the rebellion from the Naiman Kuchlug, who had seized the Qara Khitans' treasury at Uzgen. The Khwarezm-Shah then defeated the Qara Khitai near Talas.
Kara-Khanid is arguably the most enduring cultural heritage among coexisting cultures in Central Asia from the 9th to the 13th centuries. The Karluk-Uyghur dialect spoken by the nomadic tribes and Turkified sedentary populations under Kara-Khanid rule formed two major branches of the Turkic language family, the Chagatay and the Kypchak. The Kara-Khanid cultural model that combined nomadic Turkic culture with Islamic, sedentary institutions spread east into former Kara-Khoja and Tangut territories and west and south into the subcontinent, Khorasan (Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and Northern Iran), Golden Horde territories (Tataristan), and Turkey. The Chagatay, Timurid, and Uzbek states and societies inherited most of the cultures of the Kara-Khanids and the Khwarezmians without much interruption.
Read more
The Kara-Khanids translated the Quran into Middle Turkic.
Khwarezmian_Empire_1190_-_1220_(AD).PNGArab League at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons
The Anushtegin dynasty or Anushteginids (English:, Persian: خاندان انوشتکین), also known as the Khwarazmian dynasty (Persian: خوارزمشاهیان) was a Sunni Muslim dynasty of Turkic mamluk origin from the Bekdili clan of the Oghuz Turks. The Anushteginid dynasty ruled the Khwarazmian Empire, consisting in large parts of present-day Central Asia, Afghanistan and Iran in the approximate period of 1077 to 1231, first as vassals of the Seljuks and the Qara Khitai (Western Liao), and later as independent rulers, up until the Mongol conquest of the Khwarazmian Empire in the 13th century.
1126 CE – 1219 CE · Capital: Balasagun · 2,568,396 km²
"A new description of Asia". Note the presence of two Khanbaliqs (Combalich in the land of "Kitaisk" on the Ob River, and Cambalu, in "Cataia") and one Beijing (Paquin, in Xuntien (Shuntian))Jodocus Hondius I · Public domain · Commons
The Qara Khitai or Kara Khitai, officially the Great Liao, also known as the Western Liao, was a dynastic state based in Central Asia, ruled by the Yelü clan of the Khitan people, a Sinicized Para-Mongolic people from modern day eastern Mongolia and Northeast China. The Khitans had ruled the Liao dynasty (907–1125), covering much of Northeast Asia, until they were defeated by the Jurchens. A group of displaced Khitans led by Yelü Dashi fled to Central Asia and continued to rule as a continuation of the Liao dynasty.
In 1124, Yelü Dashi fled northwest and established his headquarter at the military garrison of Kedun (Zhenzhou) on the Orkhon River. Dashi secured the allegiance of the garrison forces numbering 20,000 and set himself up as gurkhan (universal khan). He conquered two Jin tribes in 1129. In 1130, Dashi led his host further west in search of new territory, whereupon he settled a town and his first base by the Emil river. Within a year, he had established himself as suzerain of Qocho and gained a foothold in Transoxiana. In 1131, he attacked the Karakhanids at Kashgar but was repelled. Later though, after being occupied by Yelü Yudu in the east, he returned and strengthened his forces to eventually expand his authority in Qayaliq and Almaliq regions.
The Khitans ruled from their capital at Balasagun (in today's Kyrgyzstan), directly controlling the central region of the empire. The rest of their empire consisted of highly autonomous vassalized states, primarily Khwarezm, the Karluks, the Kingdom of Qocho of the Uyghurs, the Kankalis, and the Western, Eastern, and Fergana Kara-Khanids. The late-arriving Naimans also became vassals, before usurping the empire under Kuchlug.
Read more
The Khitan rulers inherited many administrative elements from the Liao dynasty, including the use of Confucian administration and imperial trappings. The empire also adopted the title of Gurkhan (universal Khan). The Khitans used the Chinese calendar, maintained Chinese imperial and administrative titles, gave its emperors reign names, used Chinese-styled coins, and sent imperial seals to its vassals.
In 1198, Muhammad of Ghor, one of the Ghurid rulers, seized Balkh from the vassal of the Qara Khitai. The Qara Khitai were urged by the Khwarazm Shah Tekish (who was also in conflict with the Ghurids) not to let this slide, as the other Ghurid ruler Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad would seize Khwarazm and Transoxiana. The Qara Khitai invaded Ghurid lands around Kurzuban (around modern Taloqan). At first they were victorious, killing and capturing many Ghurid soldiers, but they were surprised by an attack in the night. When Ghiyath al-Din's reinforcements arrived in the morning, the Qara Khitai army was badly defeated, suffering 12,000 losses. The Qara Khitai turned to Tekish for compensation for the damage incurred and sent Xiao Duolubu to Khwarazm to collect. Tekish in turn asked the Ghurids for help.
In 1208, a Naiman prince, Kuchlug, fled his homeland after being defeated by Mongols. Kuchlug was welcomed by the Qara Khitai, and was allowed to marry Zhilugu's daughter. However, in 1211, Kuchlug revolted, and later captured Yelü Zhilugu while the latter was hunting. Zhilugu was allowed to remain as the nominal ruler but died two years later, and many historians regarded his death as the end of the Qara-Khitai empire. In 1216, Genghis Khan dispatched his general Jebe to pursue Kuchlug; Kuchlug fled, but in 1218, he was finally captured and decapitated. The Mongols fully conquered the former territories of the Qara-Khitai in 1220.
The association of Khitai with China meant that the most enduring trace of the Khitan's power is names that are derived from it, such as Cathay, which is the medieval Latin appellation for China. Names derived from Khitai are still current in modern usage, such as the Russian, Bulgarian, Uzbek and Mongolian names for China. However, the use of the name Khitai to mean "China" or "Chinese" by Turkic speakers within China, such as the Uyghurs, is considered pejorative by the Chinese authorities, who tried to ban it.
1294 CE – 1695 CE · Capital: Sarai (Western wing, later overall), Sighnaq (Eastern wing) · 4,933,986 km²
Golden Horde in the Catalan Atlas (1375)Cresques Abraham · Public domain · Commons
The Golden Horde, or Ulus of Jochi, self-designated as Ulug Ulus (lit. 'Great State' in Turkic), was originally a Mongol and later Turkicized khanate established in the 13th century, originating from the northwestern part of the Mongol Empire. After the division of the empire in 1259, it became a functionally independent khanate. It is also known as the Kipchak Khanate, and replaced the earlier, less organized Cuman–Kipchak confederation.
It originally consisted of the lands bequeathed to Jochi (d. 1225). It grew greatly in size under Batu Khan, the founder of the Blue Horde.
Genghis Khan divided the Mongol Empire amongst his four sons as appanages. Jochi (d. 1225) was given the lands (an ulus) around the Irtysh River. As the eldest son, he was given the lands that were farthest away from his father's native land, according to the Mongol custom. However, the territory was not fixed and Jochi died before he could significantly expand it. Batu Khan was designated as his primary heir. Jochi's eldest son Orda founded a separate power in the east (the eastern wing). Both agreed they could not claim each other's territories and that Batu's descendants had precedence over Orda's descendants.
Read more
In 1229, at Ögödei's enthronement, the kurultai decided to subdue the Kipchaks and Batu was tasked with military operations in the west, having won Ögödei's favor.
The historian Charles Halperin cautioned: "To analyze the Mongols' administration of Russia requires meticulous examination both of the extant sources individually and of the larger picture they present. Many of the references to Mongol officials occur in unreliable texts from later periods, showing obvious signs of interpolation." Although it is evident that the Mongols started collecting taxes in the principalities as early as 1245 (shortly after they subdued them during or after the invasion of 1237), this appears to have been a localised affair with baskaki (singular baskak or basqaq, a Turkic word used in early sources meaning a local Mongol official who was primarily responsible for collecting tribute and conscripting troops), appointed per village, town or city, rather than a simultaneous imposition of a uniform taxation system.
According to Baumer the natural trade route was down the Volga to Serai where it intersected the east–west route north of the Caspian, and then down the west side of the Caspian to Tabriz in Persian Azerbaijan where it met the larger east–west route south of the Caspian. In 1262, Berke began a war with the Il-Khan Hulagu Khan. This led to several battles on the west side of the Caspian which the Horde usually lost. The interruption of trade and conflict with Persia led the Horde to build trading towns along the northern route. They also allied with the Mamluks of Egypt who were the Il-Khan's enemies. Trade between the Horde and Egypt was carried by the Genoese based in Crimea. An important part of this trade was slaves for the Mamluk army. Trade was weakened by a quarrel with the Genoese in 1307 and a Mamluk-Persian peace in 1323.
Some of the Mongols' subjects adopted Mongol military accoutrements. In 1245, Daniel of Galicia's army was dressed in the Mongol fashion after a visit to Batu Khan's camp. Austrian visitors to Daniel's camp remarked that with the exception of Daniel himself, all the horsemen dressed like Mongols. Muscovite cavalrymen were equipped in a similar fashion to the Mongols as late as the 16th century, when they were depicted using a Mongol-style saddle with Mongol stirrups, wearing a Mongol helmet, and armed with a Mongol bow and quiver. European observers mistook them for Ottoman dress. Muscovite armies also deployed in a similar fashion to the Mongols with the right guard ranked above the left (due to a shamanist belief). The emphasis on cavalry declined in the 16th century as warfare increasingly involved sieges in Eastern Europe than on the steppes with nomadic horsemen.
Berdi Beg was killed in a coup by his brother Qulpa in 1359. Qulpa's two sons were Christians and bore the Slavic names Michael and Ivan, which outraged the Muslim populace of the Golden Horde. In 1360, Qulpa's brother Nawruz Beg revolted against the khan and killed him and his sons. In 1361, a descendant of Shiban (5th son of Jochi) was invited by some grandees to seize the throne. Khidr rebelled against Nawruz, whose own lieutenant betrayed him and handed him over to be executed. Khidr was slain by his own son, Timur Khwaja, in the same year. Timur Khwaja reigned for only five weeks before descendants of Öz Beg Khan seized power.
Read more
In 1362, the Golden Horde was divided between Keldi Beg in Sarai, Bulat Temir in Volga Bulgaria, and Abdullah in Crimea.
Aristocratic Russians responded more uniformly to Mongol rule but the same cannot be said with certainty for the peasantry. There is not much evidence for Mongol influence on the Russian peasantry, whose direct contact with the Mongols was mainly through slavery or forced labor. Russian sources generally tend to focus on military encounters with the Mongols but the literary prose betrays a greater Mongol impact on Russian society than accepted at face value. There was a great deal of familiarity with the Mongols among writers, who recorded the name of virtually every Mongol prince, grandee, and official they came into contact with. The Galician–Volhynian Chronicle recounts the words of Tovrul, a captured informant at the Siege of Kiev (1240), who identifies the Mongol captains by name.
The White Horde (Chagatai: آق اۉردو; Kazakh: Ақ Орда, romanized: Aq Orda), or more appropriately, the left wing of the Jochid ulus, was one of the uluses within the Mongol Empire formed around 1225, after the death of Jochi when his son, Orda, inherited his father's appanage by the Jaxartes. It was the eastern constituent part of the Golden Horde (Jochid ulus) alongside the Blue Horde to the west.
The Northern Yuan was a dynastic state ruled by the Mongol Borjigin clan based in the Mongolian Plateau. It existed as a rump state after the collapse of the Yuan dynasty in 1368 and lasted until its conquest by the Jurchen-led Later Jin dynasty in 1635, which was later renamed as the Qing dynasty. The Northern Yuan dynasty began with the retreat of the Yuan imperial court led by Toghon Temür (Emperor Huizong of Yuan) to the Mongolian steppe. This period featured factional struggles and the often only nominal role of the Great Khan.
The Northern Yuan dynasty was the remnant of the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) founded by Kublai Khan. After eliminating the Song dynasty in 1279, the Yuan dynasty ruled all of China proper for about a century. Even prior to the Yuan dynasty, the Mongols had ruled Northern China for more than 40 years, since the time they conquered the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty in 1234.
Read more
Yuan rule in China proper began to collapse in 1344 when the Yellow River flooded and changed course, causing widespread droughts, flooding, and making the Grand Canal impassable. In 1351, the Red Turban Rebellion erupted in the Huai River valley, which saw the rise of Zhu Yuanzhang, a Han peasant, who eventually established the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) in southern China. In 1368, a Ming army advanced on the Yuan capital Khanbaliq or Dadu (present-day Beijing).
By the reign of Ligdan Khan (r. 1604–1634), the Eastern Mongol tumens had ceased to function as a unified entity. Ligdan only controlled the Chahar tumen and the Khalkha and Oirat Mongols no longer obeyed his authority. Ligdan built a new capital in Chahar land known as Chaghan Baishin (White House) and promoted the building of Buddhist monasteries, translation of Tibetan literature, and trade with the Ming dynasty.
Read more
In 1616, the Jurchens rose to the forefront of East Asian powers under the reign of Nurhaci. Although sharing many similar characteristics with the Mongols, the Jurchens were not nomads, but tribal people who had adopted Chinese agricultural practices. Nurhaci had ambitions to conquer the Ming dynasty and sought allies in the Khorchin Mongols, subjects of Ligdan.
The Four Oirats (Written Oirat: ᡑᡈᠷᡋᡈᠨᡆᡕᡅᠷᠠᡑ, Dörbön Oyirad; Mongolian: Дөрвөн Ойрад, romanized: Dörvön Oirad, pronounced [ˈtɵrw̜ʊ̈ɴ ˈɞe̯ɾ(ə)t]; Chinese: 四衛拉特) or Oirat Confederation, formerly known as the Eleuths, was the confederation of the Oirat tribes which marked the rise of the Western Mongols in the history of the Mongolian Plateau.
Despite the universal currency of the term "Four Oirat" among Eastern Mongols, Oirats, and numerous explanations by historians, no consensus has been reached on the identity of the original four tribes.
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.
Read more
After the overthrow of the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), Möngke-Temür, a high official of the Yuan, had placed himself at the head of the Oirats. When he died, three chieftains, Mahamu (Mahmud), Taiping and Batu-bolad, ruled them. They sent envoys with gifts to the Ming dynasty. In 1409, the Yongle Emperor (r. 1402–1424) bestowed upon them the title of wang in return. The Oirats began to challenge the Borjigin Emperors of the Northern Yuan in the reign of Elbeg Khan (c. 1394–1399).
Before 1640, the Oirats had been wavering between the two faiths, Islam and Buddhism.
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.
Read more
The Khoshut Güshi Khan went to Qinghai (Koke Nuur) in 1636. He increased his possessions in Tibet and Amdo.
1429 CE – 1587 CE · Capital: Chimgi-Tura, Qashliq · 4,409,585 km²
A map of Russia (Moscovia) published by Sigismund von Herberstein in 1549. Fragment: NE cornerSigismund von Herberstein · Public domain · Commons
The Khanate of Sibir (Siberian Tatar: Себер ҡанныҡ, romanized: Seber qannïq; Russian: Сибирское ханство, Сибирский юрт, romanized: Sibirskoye khanstvo, Sibirsky yurt) was a Siberian Tatar state in western Siberia. It was founded at the end of the 15th century, following the break-up of the Golden Horde.
Kuchum attempted to convert the Siberian Tatars, who were mostly shamanists, to Islam. His decision to conduct a raid on the Stroganov trading posts resulted in an expedition led by the Cossack Yermak against the Khanate of Sibir. Kuchum's forces were defeated by Yermak at the Battle of Chuvash Cape in 1582 and the Cossacks entered Iskar later that year. Kuchum reorganized his forces, killed Yermak in battle in 1584, and reasserted his authority over Sibir.
Read more
Over the next fourteen years, however, the Russians slowly conquered the Khanate. In 1598 Kuchum was defeated on the banks of the Ob and was forced to flee to the territories of the Nogai, bringing an end to his rule.
Islam was the professed religion of the Sibir Khanate; it was the religion of the ruling Khan of Tyumen and Sibir. Grand mosques, palaces and fortified walls were constructed by the ruling class in both Tyumen and Sibir.
Read more
Islam was professed not only by the Khan but also by the Mirzas, who were often educated in famous Islamic centers in Central Asia like Bukhara and Samarkand. However, shamanism and other traditional beliefs were practiced by much of the masses. Some groups practiced a form of Islam that incorporated elements of shamanism.
The leading Imams and Muftis of the Sibir Khanate are known to have had some influence in Kazan and Samarkand. The Khanate of Sibir was the northernmost Muslim state in recorded history.
The Khanate of Sibir had extensive trading connections with Central Asia and the Khanate of Kazan.
Medieval States of the Steppe and Central Asia: Frequently Asked Questions
Which states existed in the Steppe and Central Asia in this period?
This page maps 20 states of the Steppe and Central Asia founded between 555 CE and 1429 CE: Göktürk Khaganate, Eastern Göktürks, Western Göktürks, Turks, Türgesh, Kimek-Kipchak confederation, Oghuz Turks, Uyghur Khaganate, Qarlugs, Kara-Khanids, Seljuk Dynasty, Eastern Kara-Khanids and 8 more.
Which was the largest of the Medieval States of the Steppe and Central Asia?
Göktürk Khaganate had the largest mapped extent, about 6,419,739 km².
Which of the Medieval States of the Steppe and Central Asia lasted longest?
Kimek-Kipchak confederation lasted longest, 750 CE – 1235 CE.
↑↓ to navigate↵ to open
12,754 Planetary Entities Indexed
We use Google Analytics cookies to understand which pages are useful. Necessary storage only keeps your theme and this choice on your device. Privacy policy
