Formation of the Kyrgyz People in the IX-XVIII Centuries

Ethnic Processes in Southern Siberia in the IX-XII Centuries

After the defeat of the Uyghur Khaganate by the State of the Yenisei Kyrgyz in 840, a diverse movement of the latter is noted across Central Asia. Their settlement in Northwest Mongolia, Tuva, Altai, and Dzhungaria was primarily due to political reasons, namely the subjugation of the Uyghurs. Pursuing the retreating Uyghurs, the Kyrgyz penetrated into the Baikal region in the east and into Eastern Turkestan in the southwest between 841 and 848.

However, by the early X century, a gradual narrowing of the territory of the Yenisei Kyrgyz state in Central Asia is observed, along with a return of Kyrgyz tribes to their accustomed mountainous-forest areas of Sayan-Altai.

Despite their short-lived dominance, the Yenisei Kyrgyz left characteristic archaeological monuments across their vast settlement area. D. G. Savinov identifies the Minusinsk, Tuva, Krasnoyarsk-Kansk, Baikal, Altai, and East Kazakhstan local variants of their culture in the IX-X centuries (Savinov, 1984, pp. 89-97). These conclusions align with information from written sources, allowing us to state that shortly after its formation, the Kyrgyz Khaganate disintegrated into six separate principalities.

Chronologically closest to the era of "Kyrgyz Great Power," the anonymous geographical work of the X century "Hudud al-alam" (Hudud al-alam...) reports the existence of at least four distinct regions of the Kyrgyz - Kyrgyz, Furi, Kesim, and Karkar(a)khan. The author of another geographical work, "Nuzhat al-mushtak," al-Idrisi (XII century), mentions the Kyrgyz state along with the region of Girgir, which is a somewhat altered version of the name Karkarakh (mentioned in "Hudud al-alam") (Kumekov, 1972, p. 66). The historian of the Mongol era, Ala ad-Din Ata Malik Juvayni, in his work "Tarikh-i Jahangushay" (XIII century), narrates about the land of Kyrgyz and Selenga, corresponding to the region of Furi in "Hudud al-alam" and the region of Bargudzhin-Tokum mentioned in Rashid ad-Din's work.

According to information from Rashid ad-Din (XIV century), by the time of Genghis Khan's rise, the once-powerful state of the Yenisei Kyrgyz no longer existed, and only small politically independent principalities remained, led by sovereign rulers who bore the title "inal" (Rashid ad-Din, 1952, pp. 102, 122, 150, 151). Describing the state of the Kyrgyz country during this period, Rashid ad-Din mentions the names of regions and principalities traditionally associated with this Khaganate: Kyrgyz, Kem-Kemdzhiyut, Alakchin (Alafkhin), and Bargudzhin-Tokum. At the same time, in the Chinese chronicle of the Mongol period "Yuan shi," when describing the land of the Kyrgyz, the regions of Tsilizisi (Kyrgyz), Hanhe, Qianzhou (Qianzhou or Kem-Kemdzhiyut), Yilanzhou, Ankel (Angara or Bargudzhin-Tokum), and Usu are mentioned (Kichanov, 2003, pp. 53-54; Vasary, 1971, pp. 469-482).

Based on the study of archaeological materials, it has been established that in each of the local variants, the complex of material culture of the Kyrgyz was formed differently under the influence of surrounding peoples (Klyashtorny, Savinov, 2005, p. 265). The processes of ethnic consolidation around the Kyrgyz tribes were likely more intense in the western part of the country, where closely related Turkic-speaking tribes of Altai and Priirtysh relatively quickly mixed with the hegemonic tribe.

The rise of the Kyrgyz Khaganate in the mid-IX century is associated with the possibility of the resettlement of part of the Yenisei Kyrgyz to the Tian Shan, which, according to several researchers, played a decisive role in the formation of the ethnicity. However, specialists link the appearance of the Kyrgyz in Eastern Tian Shan at that time with a military campaign rather than the migration of the ethnicity (Klyashtorny, Savinov, 2005, p. 265).

Therefore, in "Divan lugat al-turk" by Mahmud Kashgari, which contains detailed and the most reliable information about the settlement of Turkic tribes in this region in the XI century, we do not find mentions of compact groups of Kyrgyz in Tian Shan and Semirechye. The author localizes them near the Yabaku tribe, which lived on the banks of the Yamar (Katun) river, located within Altai (Mokeev, 2010, pp. 58-67).

A comparison of information from written sources with data from archaeology, ethnography, and linguistics shows that part of the Yenisei Kyrgyz, as a result of the expansion of their Khaganate's territory in the second half of the IX century, settled in Altai and Priirtysh.

Then, over the next two to three centuries, processes of interaction and integration occurred between the incoming tribes of Yenisei Kyrgyz and the Kimak-Kipchak, as well as the Toguz-Oguz population. The results of this are reflected in the work of the XI century author Gardizi. In his work "Zayn al-akhbar," he narrates that the head of the Kyrgyz arrived in a certain area located between the possessions of the Kimaks and the Toguz-Oguz. The Khan of the Toguz-Oguz quarreled with his tribe, so the Guzes gradually began to join this infidel. He treated everyone kindly and showed them favor, so soon many gathered around him. Subsequently, he gave the name Kyrgyz to the tribe that gathered around him (Bartold, 1973, pp. 46, 47).

This legend draws attention to the motives of the formation of the Kyrgyz ethnic community within the Kimak tribal union, as well as the ethnic ties of the Kyrgyz tribes with the Toguz-Oguz. The ethno-political situation in southern Siberia arose in the second half of the IX century when the rise of the Kyrgyz Khaganate occurred, and its borders closely coincided with the limits of the Kimaks and Uyghurs (Toguz-Oguz). According to archaeologists, the western and northern slopes of the Mountain Altai served as political borders of the Khaganate with the Kimak state, as well as an ethnic barrier between the Kyrgyz and Kimaks (Savinov, 1984, p. 106).

Gardizi's account of the origin of the Kyrgyz as a result of their mixing with the Toguz-Oguz (Uyghurs) and Kimaks somewhat reflects the real picture of ethnic processes among the Turkic tribes of southern Siberia and Central Asia that took place after the establishment of the dominance of the Kyrgyz Khaganate over this vast region.

It is evident that in this case, we are talking about the formation of a new ethnic community in Altai and Priirtysh, which emerged as a result of the consolidation of local tribes of Kimak-Kipchak and Toguz-Oguz (Uyghur) origin around the incoming Kyrgyz.

If, after the collapse of the Uyghur Khaganate in 840, there were no serious political obstacles for the integration of the remaining parts of the Toguz-Oguz (Uyghurs) around the Kyrgyz in Northeast Mongolia and Tuva, then at the western borders of the Khaganate, a sufficiently strong Kimak state still existed for some time. According to al-Idrisi, the rivalry of the Kimak king with the Karluks and Kyrgyz, whose rulers also called themselves khans and similarly claimed the "Uyghur heritage," was quite sharp (Klyashtorny, Savinov, 2005, p. 120). However, by the end of the X century or the beginning of the XI century, after the fall of the Kimak state due to another powerful wave of migration of tribes in the Great Steppe, part of the Kimak tribes of Altai and Priirtysh, which had been set in motion due to pressure from the Khitans, also fell under the dependency of the Kyrgyz.

The Era of "Kyrgyz Great Power"