Ethnic Situation in the Tian Shan in the Second Half of the 15th Century to the First Half of the 18th Century

Ethnic Situation in the Tian Shan in the Middle Ages

A comparative analysis of sources and early genealogical traditions of the Kyrgyz allows us to state that the movement of Altai Kyrgyz from remote areas of Moghulistan to the Pre-Tian Shan region dates back to the second half of the 15th century, and the dual ethnopolitical organization of Kyrgyz tribes - the "Right Wing" and the "Left Wing" - was formed by the beginning of the 16th century. As the territory of Tian Shan was developed, this dual organization gradually transformed into a territorial-political system. Therefore, by the mid-18th century, Chinese sources recorded a new format of social and political organization of Kyrgyz tribes - the Northern clan, called Kyrgyz, and the Southern clan - Otuz-Ogul (Mokeev, 2010. P. 117-132).

According to the "Si yuchzhi," the Northern branch mainly occupied the territory of Northern Kyrgyzstan and Eastern Turkestan and included the following tribal unions: Sayak, Sarybagysh, Kytay, Kushchu, Saruu, Monoldor, Solto, Avat, Munduz, Basyz, and Cherik. The Southern branch included tribal unions living in the mountainous regions of Southern Kyrgyzstan and the Fergana Valley, such as Kypchak, Kara-legin, Bagysh, Adigine, Beru, Naiman, Joru, and Telez ("Si yuchzhi").

The Northern branch consisted of a combination of some large tribes from the Right and Left Wings, while the Southern branch encompassed the main part of the tribes from the Right Wing, including the subdivisions of Otuz-Ogul and Ichkilik.

According to reports from sources, the political structure of Kyrgyz society was completely different from the political system of the Moghulistan state. It evidently formed taking into account the peculiarities of the social organization of tribal unions. Each "wing" annually elected from among the senior biys a supreme biy (chon-biy), who was responsible for the overall management of all tribes of the wing (Recueil de Documents. 1881. P. 152). However, in fact, the chon-biy did not have real power over the senior biys - the rulers of the tribal unions.

The institution of the chon-biy was an advisory body; this position was formal and served as a symbol of the unity of all tribes of the given wing. In folk traditions, the names of individual rulers who at different times were the supreme rulers of the dual ethnopolitical union of the Kyrgyz have been preserved (Soltonoev, No. 1057. P. 121, 148, 163, 186, 187, 192-196). According to information from an authentic Chinese source, in the mid-18th century, when Kyrgyz forefathers first established direct contacts with Qing authorities in Eastern Turkestan, the chon-biy of the "Right Wing" was Mamatkulu-biy, and the chon-biy of the "Left Wing" was Karaboto-biy (Pindin Zhonggeer Fanglue. P. 102; Recueil de Documents. 1881. P. 153). Each tribal union, headed by a senior biy (uluk-biy), represented an independent administrative-political unit and necessarily had its own tamga, as well as its battle cry - uraan. It included numerous clans and tribal subdivisions connected not so much by actual kinship as by fictitious kinship. They were governed by akalakchin-biys, who were subordinate to the uluk-biy.

By the beginning of the 16th century, Kyrgyz tribes were widely settled in the northeastern regions of Central Asia, corresponding to the territory of modern Kyrgyzstan and adjacent areas of Eastern Turkestan. Although due to the increasing expansion of the Dzungar Khanate in the second half of the 17th century, a significant part of the Kyrgyz tribes was forced to leave Tian Shan for the Fergana Valley, some groups of Kyrgyz remained in their former pastures. With the fall of the Dzungar Khanate, the return of Kyrgyz tribes to their former territories located in Central and Eastern Tian Shan began in the mid-18th century, which was of great importance for the ethnogenesis of the people. Only after the cessation of large migrations and the final determination of settlement boundaries did the long process of forming the Kyrgyz ethnos come to an end.

Islam played a certain role in the consolidation of incoming and local components into a single nationality. As the information from hagiographic works compiled in Eastern Turkestan and Fergana in the 16th-18th centuries shows, the Islamization of the incoming Kyrgyz tribes was completed no later than the first half of the 17th century due to the active missionary activities of Sufi sheikhs. The changes that occurred in the 16th-17th centuries caused significant shifts in the ideology of the incoming Kyrgyz tribes. Ancient shamanism, which arose in the depths of the tribal structure, could no longer satisfy the needs of not only the ruling elite but also of the entire society in the new conditions. Islam contributed to the overcoming of polytheism and the consolidation of all tribes, the revival of writing based on Arabic script, and the spread of literacy among the population, bringing the Kyrgyz closer to other Muslim peoples.

It was with the active participation of Sufi sheikhs that new editions of the sanjyr (shajere) - genealogies of tribes and national genealogical traditions were compiled, which reflected the essence of the new ideology.

The development of genealogies in the spirit of Islam was driven by the desire to strengthen the positions of Sufi orders and to reinforce the authority of tribal leaders. The political elite supported Islam and promoted it among the masses through a popular and reliable means of communication for nomads - genealogies, the knowledge of which was the duty of every adult male. The new Sufi edition of the genealogies of the tribes, presented in "Majmu at-tawarikh" by Saif ad-Din Akhsikendi, contributed to the consolidation of the people around the idea of Islamic identity, which was relevant in the context of a permanent war with the Kalmyks of Dzungaria for more than two centuries.

Thus, the last, third stage of the formation of the people was completed in the 16th - first half of the 18th centuries in the Tian Shan within the framework of a dual ethnopolitical organization. The Kyrgyz people formed on the basis of the ethnic and cultural development of both local tribes living in the territory of Kyrgyzstan since ancient times and the Kyrgyz tribes that emerged from Southern Siberia in the 15th century, who brought with them the ethnonym "Kyrgyz," which later became their self-name.

Ethnopolitical connections of Altai Kyrgyz in the 13th-15th centuries