Kara-Khanid Khanate | |||||||||||||||||||
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| 840–1212 | |||||||||||||||||||
Kara Khanid Khanate,c. 1000.[1] | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Common languages |
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| Religion |
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| Government | Monarchy (diarchy) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Khagan | |||||||||||||||||||
• 840–893 (first) | Bilge Kul Qadir Khan | ||||||||||||||||||
• 1204–1212 (last) | Uthman Ulugh-Sultan | ||||||||||||||||||
| Hajib (chancellor) | |||||||||||||||||||
• 11th century | Yūsuf Balasaguni | ||||||||||||||||||
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• Established | 840 | ||||||||||||||||||
• Disestablished | 1212 | ||||||||||||||||||
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TheKara-Khanid Khanate (Persian:قراخانیان,romanized: Qarākhāniyān;Chinese:喀喇汗國;pinyin:Kālā Hánguó), also known as theKarakhanids,Qarakhanids,Ilek Khanids[10] or theAfrasiabids (Persian:آل افراسیاب,romanized: Āl-i Afrāsiyāb,lit. 'House ofAfrasiab'), was aKarlukTurkickhanate that ruledCentral Asia from the 9th to the early 13th century. The dynastic names of Karakhanids and Ilek Khanids refer to royal titles with KaraKhagan being the most important Turkic title up until the end of the dynasty.[11]
The Khanate conqueredTransoxiana inCentral Asia and ruled it independently between 999 and 1089. Their arrival in Transoxiana signaled a definitive shift from Iranic to Turkic predominance in Central Asia,[12] yet the Kara-khanids gradually assimilated the Perso-ArabMuslim culture, while retaining some of their native Turkic culture.[8] The Khanate split into the Eastern and Western Khanates in the 1040s. In the late 11th century, they came under the suzerainty of theSeljuk Empire followed by theQara Khitai (Western Liao dynasty) who defeated the Seljuks in theBattle of Qatwan in 1141. The Eastern Khanate ended in 1211, and the Western Khanate was extinguished by theKhwarazmian Empire in 1212.[13][14]
The capitals of the Kara-Khanid Khanate includedKashgar,Balasagun,Uzgen andSamarkand. The history of the Kara-Khanid Khanate is reconstructed from fragmentary and often contradictory written sources, as well as studies on theircoinage.[2]
The termKarakhanid was derived fromQara Khan orQara Khaqan (Persian:قراخان,romanized: Qarākhān), the foremost title of the rulers of the dynasty.[15] The word "Kara" means "black" and also "courageous" from Old Turkic (𐰴𐰺𐰀) andkhan means ruler. The term was devised by EuropeanOrientalists in the 19th century to describe both the dynasty and the Turks ruled by it.[12]
The Kara-Khanid Khanate originated from a confederation formed some time in the 9th century byKarluks,Yagmas,Chigils,Tuhsi, and other peoples living inZhetysu, WesternTian Shan (modernKyrgyzstan), and WesternXinjiang aroundKashgar.[12] 10th-century Arab historianAl-Masudi listed two "Khagan of Khagans" of the Karluk horde:[25] Sanah, a possible rendition ofAshina (compare Śaya (also by al-Masudi), Aś(i)nas (al-Tabari), Ānsa (Hudud al-'Alam), and Śaba (Ibn Khordadbeh)[26]), and Afrasiab,[27] whom 11th-century Karakhanid scholarMahmud al-Kashgari identified with Turkic kingAlp Er Tunga, the legendary progenitor of the Karakhanid ruling dynasty.[28] Furthermore, Kara-khanid heads of state claimed the titlekhagan, which indicates that they may have been descended from the Ashina.[29] Even so, the tribal origin of Bilge Kul Qadir Khan, the first Kara-Khan, is still unknown: if Bilge Kul Qadir descended from theKarluk Yabghus,[30] then he indeed belonged to the Ashina dynasty as they did; if Bilge Kul Qadir descended from the Yagma (as suggested byVasily Bartold),[31] then he did not, considering that theHudud al-'Alam stated that "Their [Yagmas'] king is from the family of theToġuzġuz kings",[32] that Ashina tribe was not listed among the Toquz Oghuz (Ch. 九姓Jĭu Xìng "Nine Surnames") in Chinese-language sources[33][34] and that early Uyghur khagans belonged to theYaglakar clan of Toquz Oghuz[35] and later Uyghur khagans belonged to theÄdiz clan.[36] Alternatively, Bilge Kul Qadir might belong to the Eðgiş orChigils.[37]
TheKarluks were a nomadic people from the westernAltai Mountains who moved toZhetysu (Semirechye). In 742, the Karluks were part of an alliance led by theBasmyl andUyghurs that rebelled against theGöktürks and led to the demise of theSecond Turkic Khaganate (682–744).[38] In the realignment of power that followed, the Karluks were elevated from a tribe led by anElteber to one led by ayabghu, which was one of the highest Turkic dignitaries and also implies membership in theAshina 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 westernTurgesh lands.[39]
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By 766 the Karluks had forced the submission of the Turgesh and they established their capital atSuyab on theChu River. The Karluk confederation by now included the Chigil and Tukshi tribes who may have been Türgesh tribes incorporated into the Karluk union. The Karluks converted toNestorian Christianity at the end of the 8th century CE, about 15 years after they established themselves in theSemerich'e region.[9] This was the first time theChurch of the East received such major sponsorship by an eastern power.[41] Remains of a Nestorian church have been found in the Karluk capital ofSuyab, as well as hundreds of tomstones with Nestorian Syriac inscriptions in theSemerich'e region.[42]
By the mid-9th century, the Karluk confederation had gained control of the sacred lands of the Western Türks after the destruction of theUyghur Khaganate by theOld Kirghiz. Control of sacred lands, together with their affiliation with the Ashina clan, allowed the Khaganate to be passed on to the Karluks along with domination of the steppes after the previous Khagan was killed in a revolt.[43]
During the 9th century southern Central Asia was under the rule of theSamanids, while the Central Asian steppe was dominated by Turkic nomads such as thePechenegs, theOghuz Turks, and the Karluks. The domain of the Karluks reached as far north as the Irtysh and theKimek 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. The area to the south and east of the Karluks was inhabited by the Yagma.[44] The Karluk center in the 9th and 10th centuries appears to have been atBalasagun on the Chu River. In the late 9th century the Samanids marched into the steppes and capturedTaraz, one of the headquarters of the Karluk khagan, and a large church was transformed into a mosque.
During the 9th century, the Karluk confederation (including three chief tribes: the Bulaq (Mouluo 謀落 /Moula 謀剌), Taşlïk (Tashili 踏實力), and Sebek (Suofu 娑匐)[note 2], along withChigils,Charuks,Barskhans,Khalajes,Azkishi andTuhsis[47] (the last three being possibly remnants ofTürgesh[48][49][50]) and the Yaghma, possible descendants of theToquz Oghuz, joined forces and formed the first Karluk-Karakhanid khaganate. The Chigils appear to have formed the nucleus of the Karakhanid army. The date of its foundation and the name of its first khan is uncertain, but according to one reconstruction, the first Karakhanid ruler wasBilge Kul Qadir Khan.[51]
The rulers of the Karakhanids were likely to be from the Chigil and Yaghma tribes – the Eastern Khagan bore the titleArslan Qara Khaqan (Arslan "lion" was the totem of the Chigil) and the Western Khagan the titleBughra Qara Khaqan (Bughra "male camel" was the totem of the Yaghma). The names of animals were a regular element in the Turkic titles of the Karakhanids: thus Aslan (lion), Bughra (camel), Toghan (falcon), Böri (wolf), and Toghrul or Toghrïl (a bird of prey).[2] Under the Khagans were four rulers with the titles Arslan Ilig, Bughra Ilig, Arslan Tegin and Bughra Tegin.[51] The titles of the members of thedynasty changed with their position, normally upwards, in the dynastic hierarchy.
In the mid-10th century the Kara-Khanids converted to Islam and adopted Muslim names and honorifics, but retained Turkic regnal titles such as Khan,Khagan, Ilek (Ilig) andTegin.[2][52] Later they adopted the Arab titlessultan andsultān al-salātīn ("Sultan of Sultans"). According to the Ottoman historian known as Munajjim-bashi, a Karakhanid prince namedSultan Satuq Bughra Khan was the first of the khans to convert. After conversion, he obtained afatwa which permitted him in effect to kill his presumably-still-pagan father, after which he conqueredKashgar (of the oldShule Kingdom).[53] Later, in 960, according to Muslim historiansIbn Miskawaih andIbn al-Athir, there was a mass conversion of the Turks (reportedly "200,000 tents of the Turks"), and circumstantial evidence suggests these were the Karakhanids.[53]
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 tookIsfijab,Ferghana,Ilaq,Samarkand, and theSamanid capitalBukhara.[54] However, Hasan Bughra Khan died in 992 due to an illness,[54] and the Samanids returned to Bukhara.
Hasan's cousinAli 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.[2] The Samanid domains were divided between theGhaznavids, who gainedKhorasan andAfghanistan, and the Karakhanids, who received Transoxiana. TheOxus River thus became the boundary between the two rival empires.
The Karakhanid state was divided intoappanages (Ülüş system), as was common of Turkic and Mongol nomads. The Karakhanid appanages were associated with four principal urban centers,Balasagun (then the capital of the Karakhanid state) in Zhetysu, Kashgar in Xinjiang,Uzgen inFergana, and Samarkand in Transoxiana. The dynasty's original domains of Zhetysu and Kasgar and their khans retained an implicit seniority over those who ruled in Transoxiana and Fergana.[12] The four sons of Ali (Ahmad, Nasr, Mansur, Muhammad) each held their own independent appanage within the Karakhanid state. Nasr, the conqueror of Transoxiana, held the large central area of Transoxiana (Samarkand and Bukhara), Fergana (Uzgen) and other areas, although after his death his appanage was further divided. Ahmad heldZhetysu andChach and became the head of the dynasty after the death of Ali. The brothers Ahmad and Nasr conducted different policies towards the Ghaznavids in the south – while Ahmad tried to form an alliance withMahmud of Ghazna, Nasr attempted to expand unsuccessfully into Ghaznavid territory.[2]
Ahmad was succeeded by Mansur, and after the death of Mansur, the Hasan Bughra Khan branch of the Karakhanids became dominant. Hasan's sons Muhammad Toghan Khan II, and Yusuf Kadir Khan who heldKashgar, became in turn the head of the Karakhanid dynasty. The two families,i.e., the descendants of Ali Arslan Khan and Hasan Bughra Khan, would eventually split the Karakhanid Khanate in two.
In 1017–1018, the Karakhanids repelled an attack by a large mass of nomadic Turkic tribes in what was described in Muslim sources as a great victory.[56] Around the same time, the Kara-Khanid ruler Ilig Khan reached an agreement withMahmud of Ghazni, in which they agreed to partition formerSamanid territory along theOxus river.[55]
The Islamic conquest of the Buddhist cities east of Kashgar began when the KarakhanidSultan Satuq Bughra Khan converted to Islam in 934 and then captured Kashgar. He and his son directed endeavors to proselytize Islam among the Turks and engage in military conquests.[57] In the mid-10th century, Satuq's son Musa began to put pressure on Khotan, and a long period of war between Kashgar and theKingdom of Khotan ensued.[58] Satok Bughra Khan's nephew or grandson Ali Arslan was said to have been killed by Buddhists during the war;[59] during the reign of Ahmad b. Ali, the Karakhanids also engaged in wars against non-Muslims to the east and northeast.[60]
Muslim accounts tell the tale of the four imams from Mada'in city (possibly now in Iraq) who travelled to help Yusuf Qadir Khan, the Qarakhanid leader, in his conquest of Khotan, Yarkend, and Kashgar. The "infidels" were said to have been driven towards Khotan, but the four Imams were killed.[61] In 1006, Yusuf Qadir Khan of Kashgar conquered the Kingdom of Khotan, ending Khotan's existence as an independent state.[62]
The conquest of the western Tarim Basin which includes Khotan and Kashgar is significant in the eventualTurkification and Islamification of the Tarim Basin, and modernUyghurs identify with the Karakhanids even though the name Uyghur was taken from theManichaeanUyghur Khaganate and theBuddhist state ofQocho.[63][64]
Early in the 11th century the unity of the Karakhanid dynasty was fractured by frequent internal warfare that eventually resulted in the formation of two independent Karakhanid states. A son of Hasan Bughra Khan,Ali Tegin, seized control of Bukhara and other towns. He expanded his territory further after the death of Mansur. The son of Nasr,Böritigin, later waged war against the sons of Ali Tegin, and won control of a large part of Transoxiana, making Samarkand the capital. In 1041, another son of Nasr b. Ali, Muhammad 'Ayn ad-Dawlah (reigned 1041–52) took over the administration of the western branch of the family that eventually led to a formal separation of the Khara-Khanid Khanate. Ibrahim Tamghach Khan was considered by Muslim historians as a great ruler, and he brought some stability to the Western Karakhanids by limiting the appanage system that caused much of the internal strife in the Kara-Khanid Khanate.[2]
The Hasan family remained in control of the Eastern Khanate. The Eastern Khanate had its capital at Balasaghun and later Kashgar. The Fergana-Zhetysu areas became the border between the two states and were frequently contested. When the two states were formed, Fergana fell into realm of the Eastern Khanate, but was later captured by Ibrahim and became part of the Western Khanate.
In 1040, theSeljuk Empire defeated the Ghaznavids at theBattle of Dandanaqan and entered Iran. Conflict with the Karakhanids broke out, but the Karakhanids were able to withstand attacks by the Seljuks initially, even briefly taking control of Seljuk towns inGreater Khorasan. The Karakhanids, however, developed serious conflicts with the religious classes (theulama), and theulama of Transoxiana then requested the intervention of the Seljuks. In 1089, during the reign of Ibrahim's grandson Ahmad b. Khidr, the Seljuks entered and took control of Samarkand, together with the domains belonging to the Western Khanate. For half a century, the Western Karakhanid Khanate was avassal of the Seljuks, who largely controlled the appointment of the Khanate's rulers in that time. Ahmad b. Khidr was returned to power by the Seljuks, but in 1095, theulama accused Ahmad of heresy and managed to secure his execution.[2]
The Karakhanids of Kashgar also declared their submission following a Seljuk campaign into Talas and Zhetysu, but the Eastern Khanate was a Seljuk vassal for only a short time. At the beginning of the 12th century the Eastern Khanate invaded Transoxiana and briefly occupied the Seljuk town of Termez.[2]
TheQara Khitai (Western Liao dynasty) host which invaded Central Asia was composed of remnants from the defunctLiao dynasty which was annihilated by theJin dynasty in 1125. The Liao nobleYelü Dashi recruited warriors from various tribes and formed a horde that moved westward to rebuild the Liao dynasty. Yelü occupied Balasagun on theChu River, then defeated the Western Karakhanids inKhujand in 1137.[68] In 1141Qara Khitai became the dominant force in the region after they dealt a devastating blow to the Seljuk SultanAhmad Sanjar and the Kara-Khanids at theBattle of Qatwan nearSamarkand.[12] Several military commanders of Karakhanid lineages such as the father of Osman ofKhwarazm fled from Karakhanid lands in the wake of the Qara Khitai invasion.
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Despite losing to the Qara Khitai, the Karakhanid dynasty remained in power as their vassals. The Qara Khitai themselves stayed atZhetysu near Balasagun, and allowed some of the Karakhanids to continue to rule as their tax collectors in Samarkand and Kashgar. Under the Qara Khitai the Karakhanids functioned as administrators for sedentary Muslim populations. While the Qara Khitai were Buddhists ruling over a largely Muslim population, they were considered fair-minded rulers whose reign was marked by religious tolerance.[12] Islamic religious life continued uninterrupted and Islamic authority persevered under the Qara Khitai. Kashgar became aNestorianmetropolitan see and Christian gravestones in the Chu River Valley appeared beginning in this period.[68] However,Kuchlug, aNaiman who usurped the throne of the Qara Khitai dynasty, instituted anti-Islamic policies on the local populations under his rule.[73]
The decline of the Seljuks following their defeat by theQara Khitais at theBattle of Qatwan (1141) allowed theKhwarazmian 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 thesadrs (leaders of the religious classes), which theKhwarazmshah'Ala' ad-Din Muhammad used as a pretext to conquer Bukhara. Muhammad then formed an alliance with the Western Karakhanid rulerUthman 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.[2] The Khwarezm-Shah then defeated the Qara Khitai near Talas. Muhammad and Kuchlug had, apparently, agreed to divide up the Qara Khitan's empire.[74] In 1212, the population of Samarkand staged a revolt against the Khwarezmians, a revolt which Uthman supported, and massacred them. The Khwarezm-Shah returned, recaptured Samarkand and executed Uthman. He demanded the submission of all leading Karakhanids, and finally extinguished the Western Karakhanid state.
In 1204, a rebellion of the Eastern Kara-Khanid in Kashgar was suppressed by the Kara-Khitai who took the prince Yusuf hostage to Balasagun.[75] The prince was later released but he was killed in Kashgar by rebels in 1211, effectively ending the Eastern Kara-Khanid.[75] In 1214, the rebels in Kashgar surrendered toKuchlug, who had usurped the Kara-Khitai throne.[75] In 1218, Kuchlug was killed by theMongol army. Some of the Kara-Khitai's eastern vassals including Eastern Kara-Khanids then joined the Mongol forces to conquer the Khwarezmian Empire.[76]
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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.[78] While Central Asia became Turkicized over the centuries, culturally the Turks came close to being Persianized or, in certain respects, Arabicized.[12] 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 fromKök andKarluk Turkic. TheTurkic script was also used for all documents and correspondence of the khaqans, according toDīwānu l-Luġat al-Turk.[79]
TheDīwānu l-Luġat al-Turk (Dictionary of Languages of the Turks) was written by a prominent Karakhanid historian,Mahmud al-Kashgari, who may have lived for some time in Kashgar at the Karakhanid court. He wrote this first comprehensive dictionary of Turkic languages in Arabic for the Caliphs ofBaghdad in 1072–76. Another famous Karakhanid writer wasYusuf Balasaghuni, who wroteKutadgu Bilig (The Wisdom of Felicity), the only known literary work written inTurkic from the Karakhanid period.[79]Kutadgu Bilig is a form ofadvice literature known asmirrors for princes.[80] The Turkic identity is evident in both of these pieces of work, but they also showed the influences of Persian and Islamic culture.[81] However, the court culture of the Karakhanids remained almost entirely Persian.[81] The two last western khaqans also wrote poetry in Persian.[8]
The Cambridge World History describes the Kara-Khanid state as the first of the IslamicTurco-Iranian states.[82]
Islam and its civilization flourished under the Karakhanids. The earliest example ofmadrasas in Central Asia was founded in Samarkand byIbrahim Tamghach Khan. Ibrahim also founded a hospital to care for the sick as well as providing shelter for the poor.[2] His sonShams al-Mulk Nasr builtribats for thecaravanserais on the route between Bukhara and Samarkand, as well as a palace near Bukhara. Some of the buildings constructed by the Karakhanids still survive today, including theKalyan minaret built by Mohammad Arslan Khan beside the main mosque in Bukhara, and three mausolea in Uzgend. The early Karakhanid rulers, as nomads, lived not in the city but in an army encampment outside the capital, and while by the time of Ibrahim the Karakhanids still maintained a nomadic tradition, their extensive religious and civil constructions showed that they had assimilated the culture and traditions of the settled population of Transoxiana.[2] During the excavations of the citadel of Samarkand, the ruins of the palace of the Karakhanid ruler Ibrahim ibn Hussein (1178–1202) were found. The palace was decorated with wall paintings.[83][84]
![Kara-Khanid band of inscription containing a fragment of poetry reading kām-i dil, Afrasiab, Samarkand, circa 1200 CE.[85]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aKara-Khanid_Band_of_inscription_containing_a_fragment_of_poetry_reading_k%25C4%2581m-i_dil%2c_Afrasiab%2c_circa_1200_CE.jpg)
![Kara-Khanid bands of inscription with running animals, Afrasiab, Samarkand, circa 1200 CE.[85]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aKara-Khanid_bands_of_inscription_with_running_animals%2c_Afrasiab%2c_circa_1200_CE.jpg)
Numerous works of art and decorative objects are also known from the realm of the Kara-Khanids during the time of their rule (840–1212). Samarkand, with its old citadel ofAfrasiab where many works of art have been excavated, was conquered by the Kara-Khanids between 990 and 992, and held until 1212 (11th–12th centuries):
![Bowl with bird. Afrasiab (Samarkand), 11th century.[86]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aBowl_with_bird_-_Uzbekistan%2c_Afrasiab_(Samarkand)_-11th_century_-_Reserve%2c_A_-398-1_%3b_KP_1829.jpg)
![Decorated bowl. Afrasiab (Samarkand), 11th century.[87]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aBol_-_Uzbekistan%2c_Afrasiab_(Samarcand)_-11th_century_-_Reserve_A-49-311_%3b_KP-215.jpg)
![Mirror with figure of a Harpy, 11–12th century, Termez.[86]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aMirror_with_figure_of_a_Harpy%2c_11-12th_century%2c_Termez%2c_Uzbekistan.jpg)
![Lamp with double beak, 11–12th century. Paykend.[86]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aLampe_%25C3%25A0_double_bec_(Paykend).jpg)
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, theChagatay and theKypchak. The Kara-Khanid cultural model that combined nomadic Turkic culture with Islamic, sedentary institutions spread east into formerKara-Khoja andTangut territories and west and south into the subcontinent, Khorasan (Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and Northern Iran),Golden Horde territories (Tataristan), andTurkey. TheChagatay, Timurid, andUzbek states and societies inherited most of the cultures of the Kara-Khanids and the Khwarezmians without much interruption.[citation needed]
The Kara-Khanids translated theQuran intoMiddle Turkic. There are four surviving copies of the Quran translations found in various collections and a Middle Turkic excerpt ofAl-Fatiha, which supposedly belong to the Kara-Khanid period.[88]
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Kara-Khanid monarchs adoptedTamghaj Khan (Turkic for "Khan of China";桃花石汗) orMalik al-Mashriq wa-l’Sin (Arabic for "King of the East and China";東方與秦之主) as their title, and minted coins bearing these titles.[89][90] Another title they used wasSulṭān al-Sharq wa al-Ṣīn (Sultan of the East and China).[91] Early period "proto-Qarakhanid" coinage featured Chinese-style square-holed coins, combined with Arabic writing.[92]
Much of the realm of the Kara-Khanid Khanate, includingTransoxiana and the westernTarim Basin, had been under the rule of theTang dynasty prior to theBattle of Talas in 751, and the Kara-Khanid rulers continued to identify their dynasty with China several centuries later.[89] Yusuf Qadir Khan sent the first Kara-Khanid envoy to the Song dynasty, Boyla Saghun, to request the Song to send an official envoy who would help 'pacify' Khotan, apparently seeking to use the prestige of the Chinese court to strengthen the Kara-Khanids' local status.[93]
The Kara-Khanid rulers also formed marriage relations with the Liao dynasty and addressed the Song emperors as "maternal uncle", in possible imitation of Uyghur and Tibetan rulers who had marital relations with the previous Tang dynasty.[94]
In an account, the Kara-Khanid scholarMahmud al-Kashgari referred to his homeland, aroundKashgar, then part of the Kara-Khanid Khanate, as "Lower China".[95]
A genetic study published inNature in May 2018 examined the remains of three Khara-Khanid individuals.[97] They were found to be carrying the maternal haplogroupsG2a2,A andJ1c.[98] The Kara-Khanid were found to have moreEast Asian ancestry than the precedingGoktürks.[99]
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Western Karakhanids
Eastern Karakhanids
The two last western ḵāqāns, Ebrāhim b. Ḥo-sayn (1178–1203) and ʿOṯmān (1202–12), wrote poetry in Persian
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{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)The conversion of the Karluk Turks by the Church of the East in the eighth century marked an important moment of self-determination for Christians living in early medieval Central Asia: never before had Christianity enjoyed the official backing of such a significant power in the region as the Karluks, who established their kingdom in Zhetysu, the "Land of the Seven Rivers" beneath Lake Balkhash. The Karluks most likely converted to Christianity about fifteen years after they conquered Zhetysu from the Türgesh Khaganate, bridging the identity of the new Karluk state to a religion that had rarely, if ever, been formally associated with the rulers who controlled Central Asia.
An agreement was reached at this point with the Karakhanid Ilig Nasrb. Ali making the Oxus the boundary between the two empires [the Karakhanids and the Ghaznavids], for the shrunken Samanid amirate came to an inglorious end when the Ilig occupied Bukhara definitively in 999
Fig. 181 – Prince en trône flanqué de deux courtisans -Iran- vers 1170–1220 Samarcande, Musée National d'histoire (...) Des vaisselles de typologie iranienne (...) ont été mises à jour à Afrasiab. Des coupes lustrées et des fragments à décor polychrome (...) y ont également été découverts (fig. 181)
'Uthman ibn Brahim (...) très probablement commanditaire des peintures de Samarkand"
The ceramics and monetary finds in the pavilion can be dated to no earlier than to the second half of the twelfth century, and more plausibly towards the end of that century. This is the only pavilion of those excavated that was decorated with paintings, which leave no doubt about the master of the place. (...) The whole artistic project was aimed at exalting the royal figure and the magnificence of his court. (...) the main scenes from the northern wall represents the ruler sitting cross-legged on a throne (see Figs 13, 14) (...) It was undoubtedly a private residence of the Qarakhanid ruler and his family and not a place for solemn receptions.
Peintures murales qui ornaient (...) la résidence privée des derniers souverains qarakhanides de Samarkande (fin du 12ième - début du 13ième siècle (...) le souverain assis, les jambes repliées sur le trône, tient une flèche, symbole du pouvoir (Fig. 171).
We cannot exclude the possibility that this action was related to the dramatic events of the year 1212, when Samarqand was taken by the Khwarazmshah Muḥammad b. Tekish.
Meanwhile, a new type of statehood, the Islamic Turco-Iranian states, emerged in Central Asia and the Middle East. These were states of the conquest-type, in which the nomadic or formerly nomadic elites, who had converted to Islam, ruled over the conquered sedentary countries with the assistance of Iranian bureaucracy. The first such state was the Qarakhanid one, named after the ruling dynasty, which lasted from 992 to 1214
The ceramics and monetary finds in the pavilion can be dated to no earlier than to the second half of the twelfth century, and more plausibly towards the end of that century. This is the only pavilion of those excavated that was decorated with paintings, which leave no doubt about the master of the place. (...) The whole artistic project was aimed at exalting the royal figure and the magnificence of his court. (...) It was undoubtedly a private residence of the Qarakhanid ruler and his family and not a place for solemn receptions.
Figure 1 Qarakhanid Female Image on a Ceramic Fragment. Courtesy of Jambyl Region History Museum, Kazakhstan
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