Ethnic Origins and Stages of Formation of the Kyrgyz Nationality
The formation of the Kyrgyz people is connected with ethnic processes in ancient and medieval times across the territory from Sayan-Altai and Mongolia to Eastern Turkestan and Tian Shan, historically spanning more than one and a half millennia and concluding only in the 16th century.
The roots of the formation of the Kyrgyz ethnic group trace back more than two thousand years and are linked to the territory of Central Asia. In the first half of the 1st millennium AD, as a result of the mixing of local (Dinglin) and incoming (Kyrgyz) tribes along the Yenisei River, a new ethnic community was formed - the Yenisei Kyrgyz.
As a result of the mixing of the local population and the Kyrgyz, a number of new sub-ethnic groups emerged. The meaning of the term "Kyrgyz" changed: the Kyrgyz began to refer to themselves as such, including tribes of non-Kyrgyz origin that were dependent on the Yenisei Kyrgyz.
One of these Kyrgyz sub-ethnic groups formed in the 9th-10th centuries in Altai, in the region of the Irtysh River and Eastern Tian Shan.
At the turn of the 15th-16th centuries, the Altai-Eastern Tian Shan Kyrgyz, who were part of the state of Moghulistan, occupied the present territory of settlement. They assimilated the local Turkic-Mongolian tribes and became the main core of the new ethnic formation - the Kyrgyz people in Tian Shan. The final stage of the formation of the Kyrgyz people was the establishment in the early 16th century of a dual ethnopolitical organization of the right and left wings, along with the group of Ichkilik.
The completion of the process of forming the Kyrgyz people in the late 15th - early 16th century.
At the turn of the 15th-16th centuries, the state structure of Moghulistan declined due to constant internal conflicts. Taking advantage of this, the Kyrgyz gradually began to occupy these territories. Local Turkic tribes also merged into the Kyrgyz. The subjugation and protection of new territories required ethnic unity, which led the Kyrgyz to create an ethnopolitical system of "right and left wings" inherited from ancient times. The group of tribes "Ichkilik" joined them. This important act in the ethnic history of the Kyrgyz occurred in the early 16th century and marked the final stage of the formation of the Kyrgyz people in Tian Shan. According to the work "Majmu at-Tavarikh," the right wing ("on kanat") in the 16th century included the tribes of Solto, Jediger, Bughu, Sarybagysh, Sayak, and a group of tribes whose "ancestor" was Karachoro. According to Kyrgyz legends, the legendary ancestor of all the listed tribes was Tagai. The main tribes of the right wing were joined by the descendants of Tagai's "relatives," which are considered to be Adigine, Mongoldor, Mungush, and Kara Bagysh. The tribes of Cherik and possibly Azyk were also included in this subdivision. The group of Karachoro, according to 19th-century sources, consisted of the tribes of Bagysh, Suumurun, Keldike, and Baaryn. The common ancestor of all Kyrgyz tribal unions of the right wing was considered to be Ak-Uul. The left wing ("sol kanat") of the Kyrgyz union in the 16th century consisted of the tribes of Basma, Munduz, Chong Bagysh, Soruu, Kytai, Kushchu (Kutchi), and Jetigen. The common ancestor of the left wing union was considered to be Kuu-Uul. In the early 16th century, the group of tribes "Ichkilik" included Bostan, Teiit, Joo-Kesek, Doolos, Kydyrsha, and Kandy (Kangdy). 19th-century sources include the tribes of Kese, Avavt, Orgu, Noygut, and Kypchak here. The common ancestor of all Ichkilik tribes was Salavasbiy Bulgachi.
