Jankent
Encyclopedia
Jankent was a large trading center on the caravan route from Central Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...

 to Horezm
Khwarezm
Khwarezm, or Chorasmia, is a large oasis region on the Amu Darya river delta in western Central Asia, which borders to the north the Aral Sea, to the east the Kyzylkum desert, to the south the Karakum desert and to the west the Ustyurt Plateau...

 and Itil regions. Jankent ruins are located on the left bank of the lower Syr Darya
Syr Darya
The Syr Darya , also transliterated Syrdarya or Sirdaryo, is a river in Central Asia, sometimes known as the Jaxartes or Yaxartes from its Ancient Greek name . The Greek name is derived from Old Persian, Yakhsha Arta , a reference to the color of the river's water...

, about 25 km southwest from the city Kазалы in the Kазалы district of Kyzyl-Orda province in Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...

.

Archeological excavations found that the initial settlement was established in the first century BCE, written sources mentioned Eni-Kent in the 10 century CE, in the 10-11 centuries it was a capital of the Oguz Yabgu State
Oghuz Yabgu State
Oguz Yabgu State , was a Turkic state, founded by Oguz Turks in 766 CE, located geographically in an area between the east coasts of Hazar Sea and Aral Sea...

. In the 12th c. Jankent was abandoned. Another Turkic people, Kipchaks
Kipchaks
Kipchaks were a Turkic tribal confederation...

 and Kimeks of the Kimek Kaganate
Kimek Khanate
The Kimek Khanate, also spelled Kimäk Khanate and Kimak Kaganate was a prominent medieval Turkic state formed by the Kimek and Kipchak people in the area between the Ob-Irtysh....

 ended the state by the 12th century. By that time, Selçuk Bey
Seljuk
Seljuk was the eponymous hero of the Seljuq Turks. He was the son of a certain Duqaq surnamed Timuryaligh and either the chief or an eminent member from the Kınık tribe of the Oghuz Turks...

 and his Kınık
Kinik
Kınık is a district of İzmir Province of Turkey....

 tribe headed to Persia to found their own Muslim state which in the future would become the Great Seljuq Empire
Great Seljuq Empire
The Great Seljuq Empire was a medieval Persianate, Turko-Persian Sunni Muslim empire, originating from the Qynyq branch of Oghuz Turks. The Seljuq Empire controlled a vast area stretching from the Hindu Kush to eastern Anatolia and from Central Asia to the Persian Gulf...

, and a part of the state population moved eastward to the N.Pontic areas.

Jankent was surveyed in 1867 by P. Lerch, and in 1946 and 1963 by Chorasmian Archaeological-Ethnological Expedition headed by S.P. Tolstov, it collected materials on the city's history, architecture, culture, and occupations.
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