- This article refers to the Turkic state Kara-Khanid Khanate (also designated as Qarakhanids). For the Khitan
thumb|250px|Khitans [[Eagle hunting|using eagles to hunt]], painted during the Chinese [[Song Dynasty]].The Khitan people , or Khitai, Kitan, or Kidan, were a nomadic Mongolic people, originally located at Mongolia and Manchuria from the 4th century...
Khanate, see Kara-Khitan KhanateThe Kara-Khitan Khanate, or Western Liao was a Khitan empire in Central Asia. The dynasty was founded by Yelü Dashi, who led the remnants of the Liao Dynasty to Central Asia after fleeing from the Jurchen conquest of their homeland in North and Northeast of modern day China...
.
The
Kara-Khanid Khanate was a confederation of
TurkicThe Turkic peoples are peoples residing in northern, central and western Asia, southern Siberia and northwestern China and parts of eastern Europe. They speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family. They share, to varying degrees, certain cultural traits and historical backgrounds...
tribes ruled by a dynasty known in literature as the
Karakhanids or
Ilek Khanids, . Both dynastic names represent titles with Kara
KağanKhagan or qagan , alternatively spelled kagan, khaghan, qaghan, or chagan, is a title of imperial rank in the Mongolian and Turkic languages equal to the status of emperor and someone who rules a khaganate...
being the most important Turkish title up till the end of the dynasty.
The Khanate ruled Transoxania in
Central AsiaCentral Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
from 999-1211. Their capitals included
KashgarKashgar or Kashi is an oasis city with approximately 350,000 residents in the western part of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. Kashgar is the administrative centre of Kashgar Prefecture which has an area of 162,000 km² and a population of approximately...
,
BalasagunBalasagun was an ancient Soghdian city in modern-day Kyrgyzstan, located in the Chui River valley between Bishkek and Issyk-Kul Lake....
, and
UzgenUzgen is a town in Osh Province, Kyrgyzstan. It is the capital of Uzgen District.-Geography:...
.
Early history
The history of the Karakhanids is one of the least studied periods in Central Asia.
In 742CE, The Karluks, were part of an alliance led by the
BasmylThe Basmyls were a 7–8th century Türkic nomadic tribe who mostly inhabited the Dzungaria region in the northwest of the modern day People's Republic of China. According to literary sources, the terms Basmyls and Basmals are readily interchangeable...
and Uyghurs, which rebelled against the Kök Türk rulers. In the realignment of power which followed the Karluks were elevated from a tribe led by an el teber to one led by a yabghu. Yabghu being one of the highest Turkic dignitaries implies belonging to the
AshinaAshina was a tribe and the ruling dynasty of the ancient Turks who rose to prominence in the mid-6th century when their leader, Bumin Khan, revolted against the Rouran...
clan. The Karluks and Uyghurs went on to ally themselves against the Basmyl and within two years the Karluks and Uyghurs 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
Türk-TürgeshThe Türgesh, Turgish or Türgish were a Turkic tribal confederation who emerged from the ruins of the Western Turkic Kaganate...
lands.
Karluks were one of the member of Nine-Oguze tribale union(Uyghurs).
By 766 The Karluks had forced the submission of the Western Türk-Türgesh. The Karluk confederation by now included the Chigil and Tukshi tribes who may have been Türgesh tribes incorporated into the Karluk union. By the mid 9th century the Karluk confederation now controlling the sacred lands of the Western Türks (control of these lands signalled the important mandate of heaven) and being affiliated with the Ashina clan, allowed the Khaganate to be passed on to them along with domination of the steppes.
In the 9th century southern Central Asia was under the rule of the Samanids and the Central Asian steppe was dominated by Turkic nomads. The Volga-Ural region was inhabited by the Turkic
Pechenegs who were in the process of being driven westwards by the Oghuz. The Oghuz tribes extended down from the lower reaches of the Syr Darya and Aral Sea region to an area where present day
ShymkentShymkent , formerly known as Chimkent , is the capital city of South Kazakhstan Province, the most populated region in Kazakhstan. It is the third most populous city in Kazakhstan behind Almaty and Astana with a population of 629,600 . A major railroad junction on the Turkestan-Siberia Railway, the...
is located. This was where they bordered the Karluks. The Karluks reached as far north as the Irtysh and the Kimek confederation, with encampments extending to the Chi and Ili rivers, where the Chigil and Tukshi tribes lived, and east to the Ferghana valley and beyond. South and East of the Karluks was inhabited by the Yaghma.
The coming together of the Karluk confederation (including the Türgesh descended Chigil and Tukshi tribes) and the Yaghma, descendants of the
Toquz-oguzToquz Oghuz is a political alliance of nine Turkic tribes. Toquz Oghuz consolidated within the Turkic Kaganate , and after its fragmentation preserved their union...
kings, appear to have formed the first Karluk-Karakhanid kaghanate. The Eastern Khagan bore the title
Arslan Qara Khaqan (Arslan "lion" was the totem of the Chigil) and the Western Khagan the title
Bughra Qara Khaqan (Bughra "male camel" was the totem of the Yaghma). Under the Khagans were four rulers with the titles Arslan Ilig, Bughra Ilig, Arslan Tegin and Bughra Tegin.
Conquest of Transoxania
In 999 Harun (or Hasan) Bughra Khan, grandson of the paramount tribal chief of the Karluk confederation, occupied
BukharaBukhara , from the Soghdian βuxārak , is the capital of the Bukhara Province of Uzbekistan. The nation's fifth-largest city, it has a population of 263,400 . The region around Bukhara has been inhabited for at least five millennia, and the city has existed for half that time...
, the
SamanidThe Samani dynasty , also known as the Samanid Empire, or simply Samanids was a Persian state and empire in Central Asia and Greater Iran, named after its founder Saman Khuda, who converted to Sunni Islam despite being from Zoroastrian theocratic nobility...
capital. The Samanid domains were split up between the Ghaznavids, who gained
KhorasanGreater Khorasan or Ancient Khorasan is a historical region of Greater Iran mentioned in sources from Sassanid and Islamic eras which "frequently" had a denotation wider than current three provinces of Khorasan in Iran...
and
AfghanistanAfghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, and the Karakhanids, who received Transoxania; the Oxus River thus became the boundary between the two rival empires. During this period the Kara-Khanids were converted to Islam.
Early in the 11th century the unity of the Kara-Khanid dynasty was fractured by constant internal warfare. In 1041 Muhammad 'Ayn ad-Dawlah (reigned 1041–52) took over the administration of the western branch of the family, centred at Bukhara. After the rise of the Seljuks at the end of the 11th century in Iran, the Kara-Khanids became nominal vassals of the Seljuks. Later they would serve the dual suzerainty of both the Kara-Khitans to the north and the Seljuks to the south.
Famous Kara-Khanid rulers
Historically influential Kara-Khanid rulers include Mahmoud Tamgach of
KashgarKashgar or Kashi is an oasis city with approximately 350,000 residents in the western part of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. Kashgar is the administrative centre of Kashgar Prefecture which has an area of 162,000 km² and a population of approximately...
. After the defeat of the Khitan dynasty by the Jin Dynasty (1115–1234) in Northern China, the great Khitan mandarin
Yelu DashiYelü Dashi , or Yeh-Lü Ta-Shih was the founder of the Western Liao dynasty, or the Kara-Khitan Khanate....
escaped from China with a small band of Khitan soldiers, recruited warriors from Tangut,
TibetTibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
an, Karluk, Kara-Khoja, Naiman areas and marched westward in search of asylum.
Yelu Dashi was accommodated by the hospitable Tangut
Western XiaThe Western Xia Dynasty or the Tangut Empire, was known to the Tanguts and the Tibetans as Minyak.The state existed from 1038 to 1227 AD in what are now the northwestern Chinese provinces of Ningxia, Gansu, eastern Qinghai, northern Shaanxi, northeastern Xinjiang, southwest Inner Mongolia, and...
Kingdom and the Buddhist Kara-Khojas. However, he was shut out by the Muslim Kara-Khanids near Gulja and Kashgar. Enraged, he subjugated Karakhanid states one by one and set up the Kara-Khitan suzerainty in
BalasagunBalasagun was an ancient Soghdian city in modern-day Kyrgyzstan, located in the Chui River valley between Bishkek and Issyk-Kul Lake....
on the
Chu River"Chui River" redirects here. For the South American Chuí or Chuy River, on the Brazil-Uruguay border and Brazil's southernmost point, see Chuí River. For the Nam Sam River or Chu River, on the Lao-Vietnam border, see Nam Sam River....
. Several military commanders of Kara-Khanid lineages such as the father of Osman of
KhwarezmKhwarezm, 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...
, escaped from Kara-Khanid lands during the Kara-Khitan invasion. In 1244, upon the invitation of the Egyptian Mamluks, Osman of Khwarezm marched on Jerusalem and liberated the holy city, on behalf of Islam, from the Crusaders.
Kara-Khitan Invasion
With a decline in Seljuk power, the Kara-Khanids in 1140 fell under domination of the Mongol
Kara-Khitan KhanateThe Kara-Khitan Khanate, or Western Liao was a Khitan empire in Central Asia. The dynasty was founded by Yelü Dashi, who led the remnants of the Liao Dynasty to Central Asia after fleeing from the Jurchen conquest of their homeland in North and Northeast of modern day China...
, centred in northern
ChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. Uthman (reigned 1204–11) briefly re-established the independence of the dynasty, but in 1211 the Karakhanids were defeated by the Khwarezm-Shah 'Ala' ad-Din Muhammad and the dynasty was extinguished.
The
Kara-Khitan KhanateThe Kara-Khitan Khanate, or Western Liao was a Khitan empire in Central Asia. The dynasty was founded by Yelü Dashi, who led the remnants of the Liao Dynasty to Central Asia after fleeing from the Jurchen conquest of their homeland in North and Northeast of modern day China...
, though harsh on the Muslim
TurksThe Turkic peoples are peoples residing in northern, central and western Asia, southern Siberia and northwestern China and parts of eastern Europe. They speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family. They share, to varying degrees, certain cultural traits and historical backgrounds...
, did not dispossess all of the Kara-Khanid domains. Instead, the Khitans (most of them were actually
NaimansThe Naimans, also Naiman Turks or Naiman Mongols, was a Mongolian name given to a group of people dwelling on the steppe of Central Asia, having diplomatic relations with the Kara-Khitan, and subservient to them until 1177...
, Tanguts and Karluks speaking the same Turkic language as the Kara-Khanids) retreated to the northern steppes and had the Kara-Khanids act as their tax-collectors and administrators on Muslim sedentary populations (the same practice was adopted by the
Golden HordeThe Golden Horde was a Mongol and later Turkicized khanate that formed the north-western sector of the Mongol Empire...
on the Russian Steppes). The Kara-Khitans even incorporated Kara-Khanid Muslim generals such as Muhammad Tai, who surrendered to the Naiman usurper
KuchlugKuchlug was a member of the Naiman tribe of western Mongolia. He was defeated by Genghis Khan and fled westward to the Kara-Khitan Khanate, where he became an advisor. In 1210, he took control of the khanate...
at the end of the Kara-Khitan Dynasty.
KuchlugKuchlug was a member of the Naiman tribe of western Mongolia. He was defeated by Genghis Khan and fled westward to the Kara-Khitan Khanate, where he became an advisor. In 1210, he took control of the khanate...
, the last ruler of the Kara-Khitan Dynasty, was especially harsh on the Muslim populations under his suzerainty. He went so far as to forcing conversions from Islam to
BuddhismBuddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
, the dominant religion of the ruling Kara-Khitans. The elite Kara-Khitans and their Naiman soldiers, on an interesting note, were very often
NestorianNestorianism is a Christological doctrine advanced by Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople from 428–431. The doctrine, which was informed by Nestorius's studies under Theodore of Mopsuestia at the School of Antioch, emphasizes the disunion between the human and divine natures of Jesus...
Christians, as suggested by the Syriac names of the Gur-Khans (Emperors), who at the same time had Confucian titles and patronized Buddhist establishments. Kuchlug's Naimans were perhaps largely Nestorian Christian. The reason for forced conversions to Buddhism was perhaps the underdevelopment of Nestorian institutions, making Nestorianism unsuitable as a tool for ruling sedentary populations.
Downfall
In the early 13th century Kara-Khitan ruler Kuchlug, a sworn foe of
Genghis KhanGenghis Khan , born Temujin and occasionally known by his temple name Taizu , was the founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his death....
, was crushed by the advancing Mongol army along with his Kara-Khitan military state. His
vassalA vassal or feudatory is a person who has entered into a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. The obligations often included military support and mutual protection, in exchange for certain privileges, usually including the grant of land held...
s, the Kara-Khanids, offered meager resistance to the Mongols. Kuchlug put an end to eastern part of Kara-Khanid state in 1211. Also,
Khwarezmian EmpireThe Khwarazmian dynasty or Khwarezmian dynasty, also known as Khwarezmids, dynasty of Khwarazm Shahs or Khwarezm-Shah dynasty was a Persianate Sunni Muslim dynasty of Turkic mamluk origin.They ruled Greater Iran in the High Middle Ages, in the period of about 1077 to 1231, first as vassals of...
demolished western part of the Kara-Khanid state in 1212.
Culture
It is perhaps because of the similarities between Kara-Khanid and Kara-Khoja cultures that during the
YuanThe Yuan Dynasty , or Great Yuan Empire was a ruling dynasty founded by the Mongol leader Kublai Khan, who ruled most of present-day China, all of modern Mongolia and its surrounding areas, lasting officially from 1271 to 1368. It is considered both as a division of the Mongol Empire and as an...
and
MingThe Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
periods former Kara-Khoja and
XixiaXixia may refer to:*Xixia County, county in Henan, China*Xixia District, in Yinchuan, Ningxia, China*Western Xia kingdom in China, 1038–1227...
lands were populated by converts to Islam indistinguishable from Chagatay and Timurid lands. These Turkic Muslims under Chinese influence later adopted the
Chinese languageThe Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
while still maintaining extensive trade relations with Turkestan. They were designated "Hui" in Chinese, obviously derived from "Huihui" or "Huihu", an archaic transliteration of "Uyghur". The Kara-Khanid culture started as a literate tradition, with a body of Muslim subjects recorded in the vertical
SogdianThe Sogdian language is a Middle Iranian language that was spoken in Sogdiana , located in modern day Uzbekistan and Tajikistan ....
script of the first
Uyghur EmpireThe Uyghur Khaganate, or, Uyghur Empire or Uighur Khaganate or Toquz Oghuz Country was a Turkic empire that existed for about a century between the mid 8th and 9th centuries...
.
The Islamized Karluk princely clan, the Balasaghunlu Ashinalar (the Kara-Khanids) gravitated toward the Persian Islamic cultural zone after their political autonomy and suzerainty over Central Asia was secured during the 9-10th century. As they became increasingly Persianized (to the point of adopting "Afrasiab", a Shahnameh mythical figure as the ancestor of their lineage), they settled in the more Indo-Iranian sedentary centers such as
KashgarKashgar or Kashi is an oasis city with approximately 350,000 residents in the western part of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. Kashgar is the administrative centre of Kashgar Prefecture which has an area of 162,000 km² and a population of approximately...
, and became detached from the nomadic traditions of fellow Karluks, many of whom retained the Nestorian-Mahayana-Manichaean religious mixture of the former Uyghur Khanate.
Legacy
Kara-Khanid legacy is arguably the most enduring cultural heritage among coexisting cultures in Central Asia from the 9th to the 13th century. The Karluk-Uyghur dialect spoken by the nomadic tribes and turkified sedentary populations under Kara-Khanid rule branched out into two major branches of the Turkic language family, the
ChagatayThe Chagatai language is an extinct Turkic language which was once widely spoken in Central Asia, and remained the shared literary language there until the early twentieth century...
and the Kypchak. The Kara-Khanid cultural model that combined nomadic Turkic culture with Islamic, sedentary institutions spread east into former Kara-
KhojaThe Khojas are ethnic group of Shia Muslims. The word Khoja derives from Khwaja, a Persian title .In Pakistan, many Khojas migrated to and settled in the province of Sindh and especially in the city of Karachi. While in India, most Khojas live in the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and...
and Tangut territories and west and south into the subcontinent, Khorasan (Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Northern Iran),
Golden HordeThe Golden Horde was a Mongol and later Turkicized khanate that formed the north-western sector of the Mongol Empire...
territories (Tataristan) and
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
. The
ChagatayThe Chagatai Khanate was a Turko-Mongol khanate that comprised the lands ruled by Chagatai Khan , second son of the Great Khan Genghis Khan, and his descendents and successors...
, Timurid and
UzbekUzbekistan , officially the Republic of Uzbekistan is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia and one of the six independent Turkic states. It shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south....
states and societies inherited most of the cultures of the Kara-Khanids and the Khwarezmians without much interruption.
Kara-Khanid dynasty
- Bilge Kul Qadir Khan (840–893)
- Bazir Arslan Khan (893–920)
- Oghulcak Khan (893–940)
- Satuk Bughra Khan
Satuq Boghra Khan was a Kara-Khanid Khan; in 934, he was one of the first Turks to convert to Islam.According to 12th century historian Jamal Qarshi's History of Kashgar, Satuq was first taught about Islam by Nasr, a wealthy merchant from Bukhara...
920–958, in 932 adopted Islam, in 940 took power over Karluks
- Musa Bughra Khan 956–958
- Suleyman Arslan Khan 958–970
- Ali Arslan Khan – Great Qaghan 970–998
- Ahmad Arslan Qara Khan 998–1017
- Overthrow of Samanids 1005
- Mansur Arslan Khan 1017–1024
- Muhammad Toghan Khan 1024–1026
- Yusuf Qadir Khan 1026–32
- Ali Tigin Bughra Khan – Great Qaghan in Samarkand
Although a Persian-speaking region, it was not united politically with Iran most of the times between the disintegration of the Seleucid Empire and the Arab conquest . In the 6th century it was within the domain of the Turkic kingdom of the Göktürks.At the start of the 8th century Samarkand came...
, c.1020–1034
- Ebu Shuca Sulayman 1034–1042
- Split of Karakhanids to branches of Western and Eastern
Western Karakhanids
- Muhammad Arslan Qara Khan c.1042–c.1052
- Ibrâhîm Tabghach Bughra Khan c.1052–1068
- Nasr Shams al-Mulk 1068–1080
- Khidr 1080–1081
- Ahmad
Ahmad or Ahmed are the principal transliterations of the Arabic given name, . The name comes from the Arabic triconsonantal root of Ḥ-M-D, meaning "highly praised", implying "one who constantly thanks God".-Etymology:...
1081–1089
- Ya'qub Qadir Khan 1089–1095
- Mas'ud 1095–1097
- Sulayman Qadir Tamghach 1097
- Mahmud Arslan Khan 1097–1099
- Jibrail Arslan Khan 1099–1102
- Muhammad Arslan Khan 1102–1129
- Nasr 1129
- Ahmad Qadir Khan 1129–1130
- Hasan Jalal ad-Dunya 1130–1132
- Ibrahim Rukn ad-Dunya 1132
- Mahmud
Mahmud is the main transliteration of the Arabic given name, , , that comes from the Arabic triconsonantal root of Ḥ-M-D "Praise"....
1132–1141
- Defeat of Seljuks, Kara-Khitan Occupation, 1141
- Ibrahim Tabghach Khan 1141–1156
- Ali Chaghri Khan 1156–1161
- Mas'ud Tabghach Khan 1161–1171
- Muhammad Tabghach Khan 1171–1178
- Ibrahim Arslan Khan 1178–1204
- Uthman Ulugh Sultan 1204–1212
- Khwarazm Conquest, 1212
Eastern Karakhanids
- Ebu Shuca Sulayman 1042–1056
- Muhammad bin Yusuph 1056–1057
- İbrahim bin Muhammad Khan 1057–1059
- Mahmud
Mahmud is the main transliteration of the Arabic given name, , , that comes from the Arabic triconsonantal root of Ḥ-M-D "Praise"....
1059–1075
- Umar
`Umar ibn al-Khattāb c. 2 November , was a leading companion and adviser to the Islamic prophet Muhammad who later became the second Muslim Caliph after Muhammad's death....
1075
- Ebu Ali el-Hasan 1075–1102
- Ahmad Khan 1102–1128
- İbrahim bin Ahmad 1128–1158
- Muhammad bin İbrahim 1158–?
- Yusuph bin Muhammad ?–1205
- Ebul Feth Muhammad 1205–1211
- Kara-Khitan Conquest, 1211
See also
- Historic states represented in Turkish presidential seal
16 Great Turkish Empires is a historical discourse that was created in 1969 to explain the meaning of 16 stars of the presidential seal of Turkey. And it was inaugurated in 1985 with the presidential seal today...
- Khanate
Khanate, or Chanat, is a Turco-Mongol-originated word used to describe a political entity ruled by a Khan. In modern Turkish, the word used is kağanlık, and in modern Azeri of the republic of Azerbaijan, xanlıq. In Mongolian the word khanlig is used, as in "Khereidiin Khanlig" meaning the Khanate...
- Göktürks
The Göktürks or Kök Türks, were a nomadic confederation of peoples in medieval Inner Asia. Known in Chinese sources as 突厥 , the Göktürks under the leadership of Bumin Qaghan The Göktürks or Kök Türks, (Old Turkic: Türük or Kök Türük or Türük; Celestial Turks) were a nomadic confederation of...
- Uyghur Khaganate
- Uyghur people
The Uyghur are a Turkic ethnic group living in Eastern and Central Asia. Today, Uyghurs live primarily in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China...
- Karluks
- Chigils
The Chigil were a Turkic tribe known from the 7th century CE as living around Issyk Kul lake area. They were considered to be descended from two of the "Six Chuy tribes" of the Chuban, the Chuyue and Chumi. They are known to have been speakers of the Oghuz group of the Turkic...
- Yaghmas
- List of Sunni Muslim dynasties
- Indented line
External links
- Crusades
- http://www.ttk.gov.tr/yayinlar/karahan.htm
- http://www.enfal.de/starih6.htm
- http://www.ozturkler.com/data_english/0002/0002_10_05.htm
- http://www.ozturkler.com/data_english/0001/0001_09_03.htm