Kimek Khanate
Encyclopedia
The Kimek Khanate, also spelled Kimäk Khanate and Kimak Kaganate was a prominent medieval Turkic
state formed by the Kimek
and Kipchak
people in the area between the Ob
-Irtysh.
From approximately 743 to 1050 AD it existed as the Kimak Kaganate, and as the Kimak Khanate until the Mongol conquest in the early thirteenth century.
mountain ranges.
During the Göktürk Kaganate
(552-743), the Chuüe, Chumi, Chumuhun and Chuban, called Chuban or "Weak Huns" by Chinese historians, played a major role as part of the Shato Türk and Kimak tribal unions. Chinese historians located the Chuban west of the Tarbagatai
and Altai.
After the destruction of the Göktürk Kaganate its heritage was carried on by many peoples, including Kipchaks
, Kimek, Uyghurs
, Bajanaks, Oguz
, Karluks, Kyrgyz, Türgeshes
, Khazars
, Bulgars
and others.
From the 7th to the 12th c. Kimak and Kipchak culture was identical. The southern neighbors of Kimaks were Karluks, who preserved their independence for another 200 years. Kimak Khakan's residence was in the city Imakia on the Irtysh.
In the middle of the 7th century the Kimaks lived near the Irtysh
, north of the Altai, as part of the Western Turkic Khaganate
. After the disintegration in 743 AD of the Western Türkic Kaganate, a part of the Kimaks remained in its successor, the Uyghur Kaganate (740-840), and another part retained their independence. During that period a nucleus of the Kimak tribes was consolidated. The head of the Kimak confederation had the title "Shad Tutuk", i.e. "Prince Governing, or Ruling”. The Imak (Yemak, Kimak) tribe became the head of the union, and later of the Kimak Kaganate. In another transcription the tribal name sounds like "Kai", which in Mongolian means "snake". Possibly during the consolidation of the seven tribes appeared the expression: "A snake has seven heads".
on the south, and the Yenisei Kyrgyz on the east. After the 743 AD dissolution of the Western Turkic Khaganate the main body of the Kimaks remained in the Irtysh area. Late 8th – early 9th c. part of the Kimak tribes migrated in two directions, northwest to the Urals and southwest to the northern Zhetysu. The migration changed the ethnic composition of the Middle Volga and Lower Kama
areas in the west. Spreading from the Irtysh area, Kimaks occupied territory between the rivers Yaik and Emba
, and the Aral
and Caspian
steppes, to the Zhetysu area.
, and influenced events from China to Persia and Europe, on a par with the Scythians and Mongols. The Kimak polity can now be seen for what it was: one of the great pastoral nomadic empires of all time.
After the 840 AD breakup of the Uyghur Kaganate, the Central Asian tribes found themselves unattached. Portions of the Turkic Eymür, Bayandur and Tatar tribes joined the core of the Kimak tribes. The Tatar tribes already were members of the Kimak confederation, some of them had already participated in the initial formation of the Kimak Kaganate. The Kipchaks also had their Khanlyk, but politically they were dependent from Kimaks. The dominating Kimak tribe mostly lived on the banks of Irtysh. The Kipchaks, described by Hudud al-Alam, occupied a separate territory located to the west, approximately in the southeastern part of the Southern Urals. Chinese chroniclers wrote about the mountains of the Kipchak land, in the chronicle Üan-shi these mountains are named Üyli-Boli, and the Kipchaks are called "Tsyn-cha". North of Kipchaks and Kimaks lay endless forest.
Of all the numerous tribes, the Kimaks were ready to head a new political tribal union. They created a new Kimak Kaganate state, a federation of seven tribes, seven Khanlyks. Abu Said Gardezi (d. 1061) wrote that the Kimak state incorporated seven related tribes: Kimaks, Yamak, Kipchaks, Tatar, Bayandur
, Lanikaz
, and Ajlad
. At its height, the Kimak Kaganate had 12 nuclear tribes, and extended from the Irtysh river and Altai mountains in the east to the Black Sea steppe in the west, into the taiga fringes in the north, and southward it reached into the desert-steppe. After their decline, the Jeti-Su Kimaks retreated back to the upper Irtysh region, and the western Kipchak-Kimaks settled in the North Pontic steppes. The Kimaks were originally Tengrians
, with some Buddhist and Christian
communities. In the eleventh century Islam
made some inroads.
The Tatars are first mentioned in connection with the events in middle of the 6th c. in the Kül-Tegin and Bilge-Kagan inscriptions in Kosho-Tsaydam. Tatar tribes participated in the creation of Kimak state and the ethnogenesis of the Kimaks.
Arab
and Persian
geographers, travelers and historians provide an abundance of information about the Kimaks. The name Kimaks was not known to medieval Chinese geographers, just as the name Chumuhun
was not known by Arabian and Persian geographers. Both names referred to the same Kimak tribe. In 821 the Arab Tamim ibn Bahr traveled to Tokuz-Oguzes
through Kimak and Kipchak lands. His descriptions were later used by other authors. The Persian traveler Gardezi recorded the Kimaks, noting their location was previously on record as the territory of the people called by the Chinese authors "Chumuhun".
In the 9th c. the Kimaks allied with the Oguzes. In the second half of the 9 c. the reinforced Kimaks began drifting westwards. They occupied the lands of the Petcheneg (Besenyo, Badjinak, Patsinak, Petcheneg, called by the Arabs “Badjnaks”, and by the Byzantines “Patsinaks”), nomadic cattle breeders, whose nucleus were the tribes of the Kangar
political union. The Petcheneg position worsened, their union was defeated by an alliance of Oguzes, Kimaks and Karluks. Kimaks, together with Oguzes, seized Kangar Petcheneg lands along Seyhun (Syr-Darya), and in the Aral area, taking over the pastures in the Southern Urals.
Under pressure of Kimaks, the Petcheneg moved from the Aral
to the Lower Itil
steppes, and from there on to the Don-Dnieper interfluvial, pushing the Magyars westward. At the end of the 9th c. in the south of the Eastern European steppes formed a new nomadic union of Petcheneg. Their neighbors were stronger and better known people: Oguzes, Kipchaks, Magyars and the Khazar Kaganate
. Under pressure from joined assaults by Cuman/Kipchaks and their linguistic Oguz cousins of the Kimak Kaganate, and using the weakness of the Khazar Kaganate, the Pecheneg moved through its territory to the west, bringing destruction to the settled populations of Bulgars and Alans
in the N.Caucasus.
In the 10th c. the Kimaks were allied with the Oguzes. In his 10th century work, Ibn Haukal drew a map showing that Kipchak-Kimak tribes together with Oguzes pastured in the steppes north of the Aral Sea, and al-Masudi
at approximately the same time wrote that all of them were coaching along Emba and Yaik. In Middle East, the Cuman/Kipchak country began to be called Desht-i-Kipchak and Cumania
. Biruni noted that Oguzes quite often pastured in the country of Kimaks. Some clans of Kimak tribes quite often coached along the coast of the Caspian Sea: "Shahname" even calls that sea as Kimak Sea". The main western neighbors of Kimak-Kipchaks in the 10th c. were Bashkirs
, with whom at that time the westernmost Kipchak clans established very close contacts.
At the end of the 10th century, not only the Caliphate
writers and scientists were knowledgeable about them, but in the Central Asian states journeys to the Kimak country were well known and discussed in the markets and chaihanas (tea houses).
In the 12th century the territory of the khanate included the southern Urals, the eastern Volga area, the Mangyshlak Peninsula
, and the region northwest of the Aral Sea. Their centers included Kimäk and Sangir
. Most of the population was semi-nomadic, a minority were sedentary farmers, many of the city dwellers were craftsmen. In the northern parts of Kimek territory were underground towns of tunnel networks and chambers to escape the cold.
The Kimeks were ruled by a "Kagan
, alco called "Khakan" in the eastern records, not of the Ashina
dynasty. In the 10th and 11th centuries the ruling clan was Tatar Kimek. Later they appear to have been ruled by the Ilbari (Ilburi) clan.
During the 10th century the Kipchaks became independent within the Kaganate (if they were ever dependent in the first place), and began migrating westward. The zenith of Kimak power came under the Ilburi rulers near the end of the 12th century. In 1183, the Kimaks attacked Volga Bulgaria
, and they twice sacked Khwarezm
, in the 1152 and 1197.
and other peoples and ethnic groups of the multi-ethnic Kimak Kaganate lived peacefully and prosperous.
In the beginning of the 11th century the Kimaks and Kipchaks pushed the Oguzes to the south, Petchenegs to the west, Karluks to the southeast, and the Ugrians to the north into the Siberian taiga, and became owners of the ancient Kangju
. Individual Khanlyks of the Kimak Kaganate grew stronger, separatist forces increased, undermining central authority. The Khakan became only a militia leader, there was no central army, each subject Khan had his small army.
The Kimaks and then Khitay pressed the Kipchaks to move west, occupying lands that earlier belonged to Oguzes. After seizing Oguz lands, the Kipchaks grew considerably stronger, and the Kimaks became dependents of them. The Kipchak migration was a planned invasion, a capture of richer pastures. Part of the Kimaks remained in the ancient land along the Irtysh, and a part left with the Kipchaks to the west. A larger portion of the Kimak Kaganate tribes, the Kimaks, Kipchaks, Pechenegs, and the Oguzes migrated to the west, to beyond Ural, Volga, Don and Dniepr, changing the ethnic map of Eastern Europe. The southern Karluks joined the Karakhanid state.
A significant mass of Kipchaks and Kimaks remained in the Irtysh territories with the ancient Uralic peoples of western Siberia. Subsequently, they formed the Siberian Tatars
and other Turkic peoples. In the west, the Kipchaks followed the path taken previously by the Petchenegs under pressure of the Oguzes, and later the Oguzes under pressure of the Kimaks and Kipchaks. They crossed the Volga, Don, Dniestr, and Dniepr, and reached the Danube. On their way the Kipchaks were joined by the remains of the Petchenegs and Oguzes. The Rus chronicles under year 1054 records an appearance near Kiev
of the Oguz people, who were pushed by Kipchaks, a branch of middle Irtysh and Ob
Kimaks.
A court doctor of the Seljuk Sultans, Al-Marvazi tells that "Kais" (snakes) and "Kuns" pressed the "Shars" tribe (Turkic ‘sary = pale, yellow’), and those, in turn, occupied the lands of the Turkmen, Oguzes and Petchenegs. Matthew of Edessa
tells that the "people of snakes" pressed the "red-haired" (i.e.yellow), and the "red-haired" moved on the Oguzes, who together with the Petchenegs attacked Byzantium. The "Kais" are Kimaks, and "Shars" are Kipchaks, which Slavic peoples translated as Polovtsy (Slav. "polovye", meaning light yellow). Besides the Sharys, i.e. the yellow Kipchaks, participated other Kimak hordes (Kais, Kuns), and other members of the Kaganate in the advance to the West.
In this general migration to the fecund western pastures the Kipchaks were the most active participants, a number of sources calls them "yellow". Many researchers believe that Kipchaks were blonds and blue-eyed, descended from the Dingling
, who lived in the steppes of Southern Siberia in the end of the 1st millennium BC, and who were, according to the Chinese chroniclers, blonds. Certainly among Kipchaks were some blond individuals, however a great bulk of the Turkic-speaking people had a Mongoloid admixture (according to anthropologists), generally the Kimak-Kipchaks were dark-haired and brown-eyed. Possibly the color characteristic was a symbolical definition of a part of the Kipchaks.
The Kimak Kaganate's fall in the mid-11th century was caused by external factors. The migration of the Central Asian Mongolic
-speaking nomads pushed by the Mongolic Khitay state Lyao formed in Northern China in 916 AD. The Khitay nomads occupied the Kimak and Kipchak lands west of the Irtysh. The Kaganate thereafter declined, and the Kimeks were probably at times subjected to Kyrgyz and Kara-Khitai overlordship. In the 11th-12th centuries the Mongolic-speaking Naiman tribe in its westward move displaced the Kimaks-Kipchaks from the Mongolian Altai and Upper Irtysh. From the middle of the 12th century the Mongolic tribes predominated almost in all the territory of modern Mongolia.
In the 13th century the remnant of the Kimak Khanate was conquered by the Mongols
and its lands were assigned to the Ulus of Jochi
. See Golden Horde
for the area's subsequent history. A significant part of the population in the Kipchak Khanate state, created by the Mongols, was from the Kimak Kaganate lands. The Kimak leader Bachman Khan
resisted some years after the Mongols conquered the region.
to the Kazakhstan semi-deserts, the economy of the Kimak confederation, varied between the eastern areas and the western areas, and between the northern forest-steppe and the southern foothills of the Tian-Shan mountains. The Persian Anonym emphasized that Kipchaks living in the extreme western areas of the Kaganate lead a more primitive way of life than those who lived near the Irtysh, where the city Imak was the center of the Kimak union and summer seat of the Kimak Kagan.
The Kimak economy was classic Central Asian pastoral nomadism, with the Turkic pattern of widely varying local economic specializations and adaptations. The key animal was horse and the main subsistence animal was sheep. As a subsistence animal, fatty-tailed sheep provided meat for food, oil for cooking, and tallow for light. The poorest Kimaks herded cattle. They wintered in the steppe between the Emba
and Ural rivers, but summered near the Irtysh. The summer home of the Kimak Khakans was in the town of Imak, in the middle Irtysh, the winter capital was Tamim on the southern shore of lake Balkhash
. Archeology confirms that te Kimaks in the Irtysh area were semi-settled, Al-Idrisi in the 12th century wrote about Kimak cultivated lands as a well-known fact, with wheat crops, millet, barley, legumes, and even rice. The Kimaks also raised grapes and were beekeepers. They left remains of irrigation systems and ruins of castles. Al-Idrisi describes in detail the Kimak cities, emphasizing that all of them were well fortified. In the Kagan’s city, with its concentration of Kimak aristocracy, were markets and temples. Sedentary life led to construction of more stable dwellings, in the settlements and cities clay-walled semi-dugouts were widely used alongside felt yurts
. Typically, both type of dwellings had a hearth in the center.
The Kipchaks of both written sources and archeological evidence combined pastoral cattle breeding with some elements of sedentary life. The "Desht-i-Kipchak" or Kiptchak steppes were well organized for prosperous nomadic cattle breeding. The steppe was subdivided into locations with certain pasture routes, yaylak
summer settlements and kishlak
winter settlements. Near permanent yaylak and kishlak settlements were kurgan
cemeteries. In the settlements and along the steppe shlyakhs ('roads') and coaching routes Kipchaks erected ancestor sanctuaries with stone statues representing the deceased. The favorite animal was the horse, used for riding and draught in agriculture, and horse meat was considered the best. Among the crafts were leather processing, felt manufacturing, clothing and footwear, horse harnesses of leather and felt. The Kimaks and other tribes of the Kaganate produced weapons, implements, and agricultural tools. In the forest-steppe areas woodworking was widespread. Utensils, yurt parts, etc. were made of wood. Iron, gold, and silver were mined and processed. Kimak cities were mostly located along the trading ways. Trade was mostly barter, farmers exchanged grain and flour for lambs and leather, but monetary trade was active as well.
Under the influence of trading relations with Muslim Arabs, the Kimak Kaganate was drawn into the slave-trading business. "Objectionable people" and even relatives were sold into slavery. Slavery became the fate of multitudes, sold by Khitay running endless manhunt attacks and roundups. This tragedy lasted for 200 years, ca 850-1050.
Hunting was a key part of Kimak life. Large group hunts served as training for war. Pride, prestige, and leadership were associated with the use of falcons, hawks, golden eagles, and hunting dogs, and with the pursuit of beasts of prey, including tiger and snow-leopard.
Kimak Khans wore golden crowns and clothes sewn with gold. Al Idrisi relayed that Kimaks extract gold with mercury and float it in dung.
Kimak towns were a symbiosis of local predominantly Turkic Kimak populations, pre-existing autochthonous culture, and people from elsewhere in Central Asia. A characteristic feature was that all towns were well-fortified, and in each a prince-chieftain headed a garrison. Towns were situated on lake shores, river banks, in border areas, and in impregnable mountain areas. A fortified wall with an iron gate surrounded the largest capital town Tamim of the Khakan, where also lived aristocrats. In the hills stood castle-forts surrounded by moats.
Kimaks on the of the Seihun steppe traded in sheep. Kimak presence on the Volga enabled them to use local major trade routes, and put them in contact with the Byzantine and Viking worlds.
Kimaks made cheese and beverages from fermented mare's milk, some of which probably were distilled to high potency, and beverages from rice, millet, barley, and honey.
. The Kimaks also worshipped rocks with images (apparently ancient petroglyphs) and images of human feet. Al-Idrisi spoke about belief in various spirits, and about acceptance by some Kimaks of Manichaeism and Islam. Apparently, the last two religions started penetrating the Kimaks in the 10th century but became widely accepted much later, and then only in the central Irtysh and Balkhash areas.
The most typical and notable feature of Kimak-Kipchak and Cuman culture are the kurgan stelae
or balbals, erected at sanctuaries with square fencing of rough stone and gravel. In the 6th-9th centuries similar sanctuaries with statues of deceased ancestors were built by the Göktürks and Uyghurs. After destruction of the Göktürk and Uyghur Kaganates, Kipchaks and Cumans were one of the few Turkic peoples who preserved this tradition. Cumans and Kipchaks continued the tradition until the loss of their political independence.
From the end of the 9th century the construction of small fenced sanctuaries devoted to ancestors, with a statue (or statues) inside became a distinctive feature of the Cumans and Kipchaks. The obelisks were often simple rough stelae, frequently with figures without details. Faces were indicated by deeply carved lines, frequently heart-shaped. Female statues differed from mens by round breasts. The sanctuaries were built only for rich and noble nomads.
Nizami
described Kimak reverence to their ancestors. Kimaks and Cumans/Kipchaks erected many statues, believed to have special power and honored accordingly: "All Cumans/Kipchak tribes, when they happen to pass there, bow down twice in front of this obelisk. Mounted or on foot, they bow to it as to a Creator. A horseman takes an arrow from his quiver in honor of it, shepherds with flocks leave a sheep behind".
Some Kimaks cremated their dead: near the Irtysh cremation burials have been found.
S.A.Pletneva developed a comparative description of Middle Age N. Pontic burials customs including Kimaks, Cumans and Kipchaks. The grave gifts are those necessary for a nomad during a trip to the next world: horse harnesses, weapons, less frequently personal decorations and vessels with ritual food. Next to the diseased was laid his true comrade (‘tovarich’), a horse. The belief in need to supply the diseased with the things necessary on the road and at least for initial life in the other world is described by the 10th c. Ibn Fadlan, describing not a Kimak-Kipchak but an Oguz funeral ceremony. However, from nomad kurgan
excavations we know that the funeral ceremonies of the Turkic peoples was generally similar, meaning the general provisions for the construction of funeral complexes were identical.
The nomads were always accompanied into the other world by slaughtered horses, and sometimes by others animals, and enemies killed by him represented by simple stelae or rough human images of stone or wood. The horses were necessary for speedy crossing, for coaching from one world to another, the more of them the better. Among Oguzes the images of the deceased were neither installed over the tombs nor in special sanctuaries. That custom was only among the population of the Kimak Kaganate, and mainly among the Kipchaks.
Turkic peoples
The 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...
state formed by the Kimek
Kimek
The Kimek or Kimak were one of the Turkic tribes known from Arab and Persian medieval geographers as one of the seven tribes in the Kimek Khanate in the period of 743-1050 AD. The other six constituent tribes, according to Abu Said Gardizi The Kimek or Kimak (Yemek, Yamak, Djamuk) were one of the...
and Kipchak
Kipchaks
Kipchaks were a Turkic tribal confederation...
people in the area between the Ob
Ob River
The Ob River , also Obi, is a major river in western Siberia, Russia and is the world's seventh longest river. It is the westernmost of the three great Siberian rivers that flow into the Arctic Ocean .The Gulf of Ob is the world's longest estuary.-Names:The Ob is known to the Khanty people as the...
-Irtysh.
From approximately 743 to 1050 AD it existed as the Kimak Kaganate, and as the Kimak Khanate until the Mongol conquest in the early thirteenth century.
Early history
Originally, the Kimaks lived along Irtysh between the Altai and TarbagataiTarbagatai
Tarbagatai or Tarbagatay may refer to:Mountain ranges:*The Tarbagatai Mountains between Xinjiang, China and Kazakhstan*In Mongolia, a part of the Khangai range along the border of Zavkhan, Arkhangai, and Khövsgöl Province aimags is called Tarvagatai...
mountain ranges.
During the Göktürk Kaganate
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...
(552-743), the Chuüe, Chumi, Chumuhun and Chuban, called Chuban or "Weak Huns" by Chinese historians, played a major role as part of the Shato Türk and Kimak tribal unions. Chinese historians located the Chuban west of the Tarbagatai
Tarbagatai
Tarbagatai or Tarbagatay may refer to:Mountain ranges:*The Tarbagatai Mountains between Xinjiang, China and Kazakhstan*In Mongolia, a part of the Khangai range along the border of Zavkhan, Arkhangai, and Khövsgöl Province aimags is called Tarvagatai...
and Altai.
After the destruction of the Göktürk Kaganate its heritage was carried on by many peoples, including Kipchaks
Kipchaks
Kipchaks were a Turkic tribal confederation...
, Kimek, Uyghurs
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...
, Bajanaks, Oguz
Oghuz Turks
The Turkomen also known as Oghuz Turks were a historical Turkic tribal confederation in Central Asia during the early medieval Turkic expansion....
, Karluks, Kyrgyz, Türgeshes
Turgesh
The Türgesh, Turgish or Türgish were a Turkic tribal confederation who emerged from the ruins of the Western Turkic Kaganate...
, Khazars
Khazars
The Khazars were semi-nomadic Turkic people who established one of the largest polities of medieval Eurasia, with the capital of Atil and territory comprising much of modern-day European Russia, western Kazakhstan, eastern Ukraine, Azerbaijan, large portions of the northern Caucasus , parts of...
, Bulgars
Bulgars
The Bulgars were a semi-nomadic who flourished in the Pontic Steppe and the Volga basin in the 7th century.The Bulgars emerge after the collapse of the Hunnic Empire in the 5th century....
and others.
From the 7th to the 12th c. Kimak and Kipchak culture was identical. The southern neighbors of Kimaks were Karluks, who preserved their independence for another 200 years. Kimak Khakan's residence was in the city Imakia on the Irtysh.
In the middle of the 7th century the Kimaks lived near the Irtysh
Irtysh
The Irtysh River is a river in Siberia and is the chief tributary of the Ob River. Its name means White River. Irtysh's main affluent is the Tobol River...
, north of the Altai, as part of the Western Turkic Khaganate
Western Turkic Khaganate
The Western Turkic Khaganate was formed as a result of the internecine wars in the beginning of the 7th century after the Göktürk Khaganate had splintered into two politiesEastern and Western.The Western Turks initially sought friendly relations with the Byzantine Empire in order to expand their...
. After the disintegration in 743 AD of the Western Türkic Kaganate, a part of the Kimaks remained in its successor, the Uyghur Kaganate (740-840), and another part retained their independence. During that period a nucleus of the Kimak tribes was consolidated. The head of the Kimak confederation had the title "Shad Tutuk", i.e. "Prince Governing, or Ruling”. The Imak (Yemak, Kimak) tribe became the head of the union, and later of the Kimak Kaganate. In another transcription the tribal name sounds like "Kai", which in Mongolian means "snake". Possibly during the consolidation of the seven tribes appeared the expression: "A snake has seven heads".
Initial Period
Before the middle of the 8th c. the Kimaks bordered the Karluks and Tokuz-OguzesTokuz-Oguzes
Toquz Oghuz is a political alliance of nine Turkic tribes. Toquz Oghuz consolidated within the Turkic Kaganate , and after its fragmentation preserved their union...
on the south, and the Yenisei Kyrgyz on the east. After the 743 AD dissolution of the Western Turkic Khaganate the main body of the Kimaks remained in the Irtysh area. Late 8th – early 9th c. part of the Kimak tribes migrated in two directions, northwest to the Urals and southwest to the northern Zhetysu. The migration changed the ethnic composition of the Middle Volga and Lower Kama
Kama
Kāma is often translated from Sanskrit as sexual desire, sexual pleasure, sensual gratification, sexual fulfillment, or eros54654564+more broadly mean desire, wish, passion, longing, pleasure of the senses, the aesthetic enjoyment of life, affection, or love, without sexual connotations.-Kama in...
areas in the west. Spreading from the Irtysh area, Kimaks occupied territory between the rivers Yaik and Emba
Emba
Emba is one of the largest villages in Paphos, Cyprus. It is spread over a wide area and not only borders Paphos but also the villages of Chlorakas, Kissonerga, Tala, Tremithousa and Mesogi. It has a population of 4,500 people....
, and the Aral
Aral
Aral, also known as Aralsk or Aral'sk, is a small city in south-western Kazakhstan, located in the oblast of Kyzylorda. It serves as the administrative center of Aral District. Population roughly 39,000...
and Caspian
Caspian Sea
The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. The sea has a surface area of and a volume of...
steppes, to the Zhetysu area.
Middle Period
From 840 to 916 the Kimak Kaganate dominated the heartland of Asia, controlled a key central portion of the Silk RoadSilk Road
The Silk Road or Silk Route refers to a historical network of interlinking trade routes across the Afro-Eurasian landmass that connected East, South, and Western Asia with the Mediterranean and European world, as well as parts of North and East Africa...
, and influenced events from China to Persia and Europe, on a par with the Scythians and Mongols. The Kimak polity can now be seen for what it was: one of the great pastoral nomadic empires of all time.
After the 840 AD breakup of the Uyghur Kaganate, the Central Asian tribes found themselves unattached. Portions of the Turkic Eymür, Bayandur and Tatar tribes joined the core of the Kimak tribes. The Tatar tribes already were members of the Kimak confederation, some of them had already participated in the initial formation of the Kimak Kaganate. The Kipchaks also had their Khanlyk, but politically they were dependent from Kimaks. The dominating Kimak tribe mostly lived on the banks of Irtysh. The Kipchaks, described by Hudud al-Alam, occupied a separate territory located to the west, approximately in the southeastern part of the Southern Urals. Chinese chroniclers wrote about the mountains of the Kipchak land, in the chronicle Üan-shi these mountains are named Üyli-Boli, and the Kipchaks are called "Tsyn-cha". North of Kipchaks and Kimaks lay endless forest.
Of all the numerous tribes, the Kimaks were ready to head a new political tribal union. They created a new Kimak Kaganate state, a federation of seven tribes, seven Khanlyks. Abu Said Gardezi (d. 1061) wrote that the Kimak state incorporated seven related tribes: Kimaks, Yamak, Kipchaks, Tatar, Bayandur
Bayandur
Bayandur is one of Turkic tribes known from Arab and Persian Middle Age geographers and writers as being one of the seven tribes in the Kimak Kaganate in the period of 743-1050 AD. The other six constituent tribes per Abu Said Gardizi were Kimaks, Yamaks, Kipchaks, Tatars, Lanikaz, and Ajlad...
, Lanikaz
Lanikaz
Lanikaz is one of supposedly Turkic tribes known from Arab and Persian Middle Age geographers and writers as being one of the seven tribes in the Kimak Kaganate in the period of 743-1050 AD...
, and Ajlad
Ajlad
Ajlad is one of supposedly Turkic tribes known from Arab and Persian Middle Age geographers and writers as being one of the seven tribes in the Kimak Kaganate in the period of 743-1050 AD. The other six constituent tribes per Abu Said Gardizi were Kimaks, Yamak, Kipchaks, Tatars, Bayandur, and...
. At its height, the Kimak Kaganate had 12 nuclear tribes, and extended from the Irtysh river and Altai mountains in the east to the Black Sea steppe in the west, into the taiga fringes in the north, and southward it reached into the desert-steppe. After their decline, the Jeti-Su Kimaks retreated back to the upper Irtysh region, and the western Kipchak-Kimaks settled in the North Pontic steppes. The Kimaks were originally Tengrians
Tengriism
Tengriism is a Central Asian religion that incorporates elements of shamanism, animism, totemism and ancestor worship. Despite still being active in some minorities, it was, in old times, the major belief of Turkic peoples , Bulgars, Hungarians and Mongols...
, with some Buddhist and Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
communities. In the eleventh century Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
made some inroads.
The Tatars are first mentioned in connection with the events in middle of the 6th c. in the Kül-Tegin and Bilge-Kagan inscriptions in Kosho-Tsaydam. Tatar tribes participated in the creation of Kimak state and the ethnogenesis of the Kimaks.
Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
and Persian
Persian people
The Persian people are part of the Iranian peoples who speak the modern Persian language and closely akin Iranian dialects and languages. The origin of the ethnic Iranian/Persian peoples are traced to the Ancient Iranian peoples, who were part of the ancient Indo-Iranians and themselves part of...
geographers, travelers and historians provide an abundance of information about the Kimaks. The name Kimaks was not known to medieval Chinese geographers, just as the name Chumuhun
Chumuhun
Chuban "Weak Huns" was the name used by Chinese historians for the Chuy tribes: Chuyue, Chumi, Chumuhun, and Chuban. They were also collectively named Chuyue . The present endoethnonym of the Chuy descendents is Chuy Kiji, Turkic for "Chuy People"...
was not known by Arabian and Persian geographers. Both names referred to the same Kimak tribe. In 821 the Arab Tamim ibn Bahr traveled to Tokuz-Oguzes
Tokuz-Oguzes
Toquz Oghuz is a political alliance of nine Turkic tribes. Toquz Oghuz consolidated within the Turkic Kaganate , and after its fragmentation preserved their union...
through Kimak and Kipchak lands. His descriptions were later used by other authors. The Persian traveler Gardezi recorded the Kimaks, noting their location was previously on record as the territory of the people called by the Chinese authors "Chumuhun".
In the 9th c. the Kimaks allied with the Oguzes. In the second half of the 9 c. the reinforced Kimaks began drifting westwards. They occupied the lands of the Petcheneg (Besenyo, Badjinak, Patsinak, Petcheneg, called by the Arabs “Badjnaks”, and by the Byzantines “Patsinaks”), nomadic cattle breeders, whose nucleus were the tribes of the Kangar
Kangar
Kangar is the state capital of Perlis, Malaysia. It has a population of 48,898 and an area of 2,619.4 ha. It is located in the northern most point of Peninsular Malaysia and is situated by the Perlis River. The center of Kangar is Sena Province, which is referred to by few locals as 'Uptown Sena'...
political union. The Petcheneg position worsened, their union was defeated by an alliance of Oguzes, Kimaks and Karluks. Kimaks, together with Oguzes, seized Kangar Petcheneg lands along Seyhun (Syr-Darya), and in the Aral area, taking over the pastures in the Southern Urals.
Under pressure of Kimaks, the Petcheneg moved from the Aral
Aral
Aral, also known as Aralsk or Aral'sk, is a small city in south-western Kazakhstan, located in the oblast of Kyzylorda. It serves as the administrative center of Aral District. Population roughly 39,000...
to the Lower Itil
Atil
Atil , literally meaning "Big River", was the capital of Khazaria from the middle of the 8th century until the end of the 10th century. The word is also a Turkic name for the Volga River.-History:...
steppes, and from there on to the Don-Dnieper interfluvial, pushing the Magyars westward. At the end of the 9th c. in the south of the Eastern European steppes formed a new nomadic union of Petcheneg. Their neighbors were stronger and better known people: Oguzes, Kipchaks, Magyars and the Khazar Kaganate
Khazars
The Khazars were semi-nomadic Turkic people who established one of the largest polities of medieval Eurasia, with the capital of Atil and territory comprising much of modern-day European Russia, western Kazakhstan, eastern Ukraine, Azerbaijan, large portions of the northern Caucasus , parts of...
. Under pressure from joined assaults by Cuman/Kipchaks and their linguistic Oguz cousins of the Kimak Kaganate, and using the weakness of the Khazar Kaganate, the Pecheneg moved through its territory to the west, bringing destruction to the settled populations of Bulgars and Alans
Alans
The Alans, or the Alani, occasionally termed Alauni or Halani, were a group of Sarmatian tribes, nomadic pastoralists of the 1st millennium AD who spoke an Eastern Iranian language which derived from Scytho-Sarmatian and which in turn evolved into modern Ossetian.-Name:The various forms of Alan —...
in the N.Caucasus.
In the 10th c. the Kimaks were allied with the Oguzes. In his 10th century work, Ibn Haukal drew a map showing that Kipchak-Kimak tribes together with Oguzes pastured in the steppes north of the Aral Sea, and al-Masudi
Al-Masudi
Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn al-Husayn ibn Ali al-Mas'udi , was an Arab historian and geographer, known as the "Herodotus of the Arabs." Al-Masudi was one of the first to combine history and scientific geography in a large-scale work, Muruj adh-dhahab...
at approximately the same time wrote that all of them were coaching along Emba and Yaik. In Middle East, the Cuman/Kipchak country began to be called Desht-i-Kipchak and Cumania
Cumania
Cumania is a name formerly used to designate several distinct lands in Eastern Europe inhabited by and under the military dominance of the Cumans, a nomadic tribe who, with the Kipchaks, created a confederation. The Cumans were also known as the Polovtsians, or Folban...
. Biruni noted that Oguzes quite often pastured in the country of Kimaks. Some clans of Kimak tribes quite often coached along the coast of the Caspian Sea: "Shahname" even calls that sea as Kimak Sea". The main western neighbors of Kimak-Kipchaks in the 10th c. were Bashkirs
Bashkirs
The Bashkirs are a Turkic people indigenous to Bashkortostan extending on both parts of the Ural mountains, on the place where Europe meets Asia. Groups of Bashkirs also live in the republic of Tatarstan, Perm Krai, Chelyabinsk, Orenburg, Tyumen, Sverdlovsk, Kurgan, Samara and Saratov Oblasts of...
, with whom at that time the westernmost Kipchak clans established very close contacts.
At the end of the 10th century, not only the Caliphate
Caliphate
The term caliphate, "dominion of a caliph " , refers to the first system of government established in Islam and represented the political unity of the Muslim Ummah...
writers and scientists were knowledgeable about them, but in the Central Asian states journeys to the Kimak country were well known and discussed in the markets and chaihanas (tea houses).
In the 12th century the territory of the khanate included the southern Urals, the eastern Volga area, the Mangyshlak Peninsula
Mangyshlak Peninsula
Mangyshlak or Mangghyshlaq Peninsula is located in westernKazakhstan. It borders on the Caspian Sea in the north and west.Administratively, the peninsula is in Kazakhstan's Mangystau Province. The largest city,and the capital of the province,...
, and the region northwest of the Aral Sea. Their centers included Kimäk and Sangir
Sangir
Sangir Besar, commonly called Sangir Island , is an island in the Sangir Islands group. Its Indonesian name literally means "Great Sangir", in reference to the fact that it is the archipelago's main island. It is part of the North Sulawesi province...
. Most of the population was semi-nomadic, a minority were sedentary farmers, many of the city dwellers were craftsmen. In the northern parts of Kimek territory were underground towns of tunnel networks and chambers to escape the cold.
The Kimeks were ruled by a "Kagan
Kagan
- People :* Daryn Kagan , former American newscaster* Donald Kagan , Yale historian specializing in ancient Greece* Elena Kagan, dean of Harvard Law School, U.S. Solicitor General , and Associate Justice of the U.S...
, alco called "Khakan" in the eastern records, not of the Ashina
Ashina
Ashina 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...
dynasty. In the 10th and 11th centuries the ruling clan was Tatar Kimek. Later they appear to have been ruled by the Ilbari (Ilburi) clan.
During the 10th century the Kipchaks became independent within the Kaganate (if they were ever dependent in the first place), and began migrating westward. The zenith of Kimak power came under the Ilburi rulers near the end of the 12th century. In 1183, the Kimaks attacked Volga Bulgaria
Volga Bulgaria
Volga Bulgaria, or Volga–Kama Bolghar, is a historic Bulgar state that existed between the seventh and thirteenth centuries around the confluence of the Volga and Kama rivers in what is now Russia.-Origin:...
, and they twice sacked Khwarezm
Khwarezm
Khwarezm, 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...
, in the 1152 and 1197.
Decline
The Kimak federation occupied a huge territory from the Tobol and Irtysh rivers to the Caspian Sea and Syr-Darya. The northern border of the Kimak federation was the Siberian taiga, the eastern border was the Altai Mountains, the southern border was the lifeless steppe Bet Pak. The borders naturally protecting them from their enemies, the Kimaks lived undisturbed. Their neighbors were Karluks, Oguzes and Kyrgyzes. Kimaks, Kipchaks, Oguzes, Petchenegs, UgriansUgrians
The Ugrians were the ancestors of the present Hungarians of Hungary, the country being then known as Etelköz or Atelkuzu. In the 9th century, they moved into the Bessarabia region....
and other peoples and ethnic groups of the multi-ethnic Kimak Kaganate lived peacefully and prosperous.
In the beginning of the 11th century the Kimaks and Kipchaks pushed the Oguzes to the south, Petchenegs to the west, Karluks to the southeast, and the Ugrians to the north into the Siberian taiga, and became owners of the ancient Kangju
Kangju
Kangju was the name of an ancient people and kingdom in Central Asia. It was a nomadic federation of unknown ethnic and linguistic origin which became for a couple of centuries the second greatest power in Transoxiana after the Yuezhi....
. Individual Khanlyks of the Kimak Kaganate grew stronger, separatist forces increased, undermining central authority. The Khakan became only a militia leader, there was no central army, each subject Khan had his small army.
The Kimaks and then Khitay pressed the Kipchaks to move west, occupying lands that earlier belonged to Oguzes. After seizing Oguz lands, the Kipchaks grew considerably stronger, and the Kimaks became dependents of them. The Kipchak migration was a planned invasion, a capture of richer pastures. Part of the Kimaks remained in the ancient land along the Irtysh, and a part left with the Kipchaks to the west. A larger portion of the Kimak Kaganate tribes, the Kimaks, Kipchaks, Pechenegs, and the Oguzes migrated to the west, to beyond Ural, Volga, Don and Dniepr, changing the ethnic map of Eastern Europe. The southern Karluks joined the Karakhanid state.
A significant mass of Kipchaks and Kimaks remained in the Irtysh territories with the ancient Uralic peoples of western Siberia. Subsequently, they formed the Siberian Tatars
Siberian Tatars
Siberian Tatars refers to the indigenous Siberian population of the forests and steppes of South Siberia stretching from somewhat east of the Ural Mountains to the Yenisey river...
and other Turkic peoples. In the west, the Kipchaks followed the path taken previously by the Petchenegs under pressure of the Oguzes, and later the Oguzes under pressure of the Kimaks and Kipchaks. They crossed the Volga, Don, Dniestr, and Dniepr, and reached the Danube. On their way the Kipchaks were joined by the remains of the Petchenegs and Oguzes. The Rus chronicles under year 1054 records an appearance near Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
of the Oguz people, who were pushed by Kipchaks, a branch of middle Irtysh and Ob
Ob River
The Ob River , also Obi, is a major river in western Siberia, Russia and is the world's seventh longest river. It is the westernmost of the three great Siberian rivers that flow into the Arctic Ocean .The Gulf of Ob is the world's longest estuary.-Names:The Ob is known to the Khanty people as the...
Kimaks.
A court doctor of the Seljuk Sultans, Al-Marvazi tells that "Kais" (snakes) and "Kuns" pressed the "Shars" tribe (Turkic ‘sary = pale, yellow’), and those, in turn, occupied the lands of the Turkmen, Oguzes and Petchenegs. Matthew of Edessa
Matthew of Edessa
Matthew of Edessa was an Armenian historian in the 12th century from the city of Edessa . Matthew was the superior abbot of Karmir Vank' , near the town of Kessoun, east of Marash , the former seat of Baldwin of Boulogne...
tells that the "people of snakes" pressed the "red-haired" (i.e.yellow), and the "red-haired" moved on the Oguzes, who together with the Petchenegs attacked Byzantium. The "Kais" are Kimaks, and "Shars" are Kipchaks, which Slavic peoples translated as Polovtsy (Slav. "polovye", meaning light yellow). Besides the Sharys, i.e. the yellow Kipchaks, participated other Kimak hordes (Kais, Kuns), and other members of the Kaganate in the advance to the West.
In this general migration to the fecund western pastures the Kipchaks were the most active participants, a number of sources calls them "yellow". Many researchers believe that Kipchaks were blonds and blue-eyed, descended from the Dingling
Dingling
The Dingling were an ancient Siberian people. They originally lived on the bank of the Lena River in the area west of Lake Baikal, gradually moving southward to Mongolia and northern China...
, who lived in the steppes of Southern Siberia in the end of the 1st millennium BC, and who were, according to the Chinese chroniclers, blonds. Certainly among Kipchaks were some blond individuals, however a great bulk of the Turkic-speaking people had a Mongoloid admixture (according to anthropologists), generally the Kimak-Kipchaks were dark-haired and brown-eyed. Possibly the color characteristic was a symbolical definition of a part of the Kipchaks.
The Kimak Kaganate's fall in the mid-11th century was caused by external factors. The migration of the Central Asian Mongolic
Mongolic languages
The Mongolic languages are a group of languages spoken in East-Central Asia, mostly in Mongolia and surrounding areas plus in Kalmykia. The best-known member of this language family, Mongolian, is the primary language of most of the residents of Mongolia and the Mongolian residents of Inner...
-speaking nomads pushed by the Mongolic Khitay state Lyao formed in Northern China in 916 AD. The Khitay nomads occupied the Kimak and Kipchak lands west of the Irtysh. The Kaganate thereafter declined, and the Kimeks were probably at times subjected to Kyrgyz and Kara-Khitai overlordship. In the 11th-12th centuries the Mongolic-speaking Naiman tribe in its westward move displaced the Kimaks-Kipchaks from the Mongolian Altai and Upper Irtysh. From the middle of the 12th century the Mongolic tribes predominated almost in all the territory of modern Mongolia.
In the 13th century the remnant of the Kimak Khanate was conquered by the Mongols
Mongols
Mongols ) are a Central-East Asian ethnic group that lives mainly in the countries of Mongolia, China, and Russia. In China, ethnic Mongols can be found mainly in the central north region of China such as Inner Mongolia...
and its lands were assigned to the Ulus of Jochi
Jochi
Jochi was the eldest of the Mongol chieftain Genghis Khan's four sons by his principal wife Börte. An accomplished military leader, he participated in his father's conquest of Central Asia, along with his brothers and uncles.-Early life:...
. See Golden Horde
Golden Horde
The Golden Horde was a Mongol and later Turkicized khanate that formed the north-western sector of the Mongol Empire...
for the area's subsequent history. A significant part of the population in the Kipchak Khanate state, created by the Mongols, was from the Kimak Kaganate lands. The Kimak leader Bachman Khan
Bachman Khan
Bachman Khan was a ruler of Kimak Khanate. After his land was conquered by Batu, he led a rebellion against the Mongols . The rebellion was unsuccessful; Bachman Khan was captured by the Mongols and executed later.Bachman Khan is mentioned in several Tatar and Nogay legends, some nomad clans...
resisted some years after the Mongols conquered the region.
Economy
With their settlements and pastures stretching for thousands of kilometers from the Irtysh to the Caspian Sea and from the taigaTaiga
Taiga , also known as the boreal forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests.Taiga is the world's largest terrestrial biome. In North America it covers most of inland Canada and Alaska as well as parts of the extreme northern continental United States and is known as the Northwoods...
to the Kazakhstan semi-deserts, the economy of the Kimak confederation, varied between the eastern areas and the western areas, and between the northern forest-steppe and the southern foothills of the Tian-Shan mountains. The Persian Anonym emphasized that Kipchaks living in the extreme western areas of the Kaganate lead a more primitive way of life than those who lived near the Irtysh, where the city Imak was the center of the Kimak union and summer seat of the Kimak Kagan.
The Kimak economy was classic Central Asian pastoral nomadism, with the Turkic pattern of widely varying local economic specializations and adaptations. The key animal was horse and the main subsistence animal was sheep. As a subsistence animal, fatty-tailed sheep provided meat for food, oil for cooking, and tallow for light. The poorest Kimaks herded cattle. They wintered in the steppe between the Emba
Emba River
The Emba River in west Kazakhstan rises in the Mugodzhar Hills and flows some 400 miles southwest into the Caspian Sea. It flows through the north of the Ust-Urt plateau, and reaches the Caspian by a series of shallow lagoons, which were navigable in the 18th century. The lower course traverses...
and Ural rivers, but summered near the Irtysh. The summer home of the Kimak Khakans was in the town of Imak, in the middle Irtysh, the winter capital was Tamim on the southern shore of lake Balkhash
Balkhash
Balkhash may refer to * Balkhash , a city at Lake Balkhash, Kazakhstan* Balkhash Lake, a lake in Kazakhstan* Balkhash perch, a species of perch found in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and China...
. Archeology confirms that te Kimaks in the Irtysh area were semi-settled, Al-Idrisi in the 12th century wrote about Kimak cultivated lands as a well-known fact, with wheat crops, millet, barley, legumes, and even rice. The Kimaks also raised grapes and were beekeepers. They left remains of irrigation systems and ruins of castles. Al-Idrisi describes in detail the Kimak cities, emphasizing that all of them were well fortified. In the Kagan’s city, with its concentration of Kimak aristocracy, were markets and temples. Sedentary life led to construction of more stable dwellings, in the settlements and cities clay-walled semi-dugouts were widely used alongside felt yurts
Yurt
A yurt is a portable, bent wood-framed dwelling structure traditionally used by Turkic nomads in the steppes of Central Asia. The structure comprises a crown or compression wheel usually steam bent, supported by roof ribs which are bent down at the end where they meet the lattice wall...
. Typically, both type of dwellings had a hearth in the center.
The Kipchaks of both written sources and archeological evidence combined pastoral cattle breeding with some elements of sedentary life. The "Desht-i-Kipchak" or Kiptchak steppes were well organized for prosperous nomadic cattle breeding. The steppe was subdivided into locations with certain pasture routes, yaylak
Yaylak
Yaylag , yaylak , ailoq, jaylaw , or jayloo , yeilâq is a Turkic term, meaning summer highland pasture...
summer settlements and kishlak
Kishlak
Kishlak or qishlaq is a rural settlement of semi-nomadis Turkic peoples of Central Asia , in Afghanistan, and in other places...
winter settlements. Near permanent yaylak and kishlak settlements were kurgan
Kurgan
Kurgan is the Turkic term for a tumulus; mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves, originating with its use in Soviet archaeology, now widely used for tumuli in the context of Eastern European and Central Asian archaeology....
cemeteries. In the settlements and along the steppe shlyakhs ('roads') and coaching routes Kipchaks erected ancestor sanctuaries with stone statues representing the deceased. The favorite animal was the horse, used for riding and draught in agriculture, and horse meat was considered the best. Among the crafts were leather processing, felt manufacturing, clothing and footwear, horse harnesses of leather and felt. The Kimaks and other tribes of the Kaganate produced weapons, implements, and agricultural tools. In the forest-steppe areas woodworking was widespread. Utensils, yurt parts, etc. were made of wood. Iron, gold, and silver were mined and processed. Kimak cities were mostly located along the trading ways. Trade was mostly barter, farmers exchanged grain and flour for lambs and leather, but monetary trade was active as well.
Under the influence of trading relations with Muslim Arabs, the Kimak Kaganate was drawn into the slave-trading business. "Objectionable people" and even relatives were sold into slavery. Slavery became the fate of multitudes, sold by Khitay running endless manhunt attacks and roundups. This tragedy lasted for 200 years, ca 850-1050.
Culture
The Kimak were literate in the Old Turkic script. Abu Dulaf (ca 940), and Ibn al-Fakikh wrote about the Kimak Kaganate: "They have reeds with which they write". Archeologists found 10th-11th c. bronze mirrors with inscriptions near Urdjar in the Tarbagatai mountains, and in the Irtysh region. L. Kimball stipulates that literate Kimak had works of law, religion, history, and epic poetry, none of which have survived. Although the Kimak had copper coins, most trade was done by barter.Hunting was a key part of Kimak life. Large group hunts served as training for war. Pride, prestige, and leadership were associated with the use of falcons, hawks, golden eagles, and hunting dogs, and with the pursuit of beasts of prey, including tiger and snow-leopard.
Kimak Khans wore golden crowns and clothes sewn with gold. Al Idrisi relayed that Kimaks extract gold with mercury and float it in dung.
Kimak towns were a symbiosis of local predominantly Turkic Kimak populations, pre-existing autochthonous culture, and people from elsewhere in Central Asia. A characteristic feature was that all towns were well-fortified, and in each a prince-chieftain headed a garrison. Towns were situated on lake shores, river banks, in border areas, and in impregnable mountain areas. A fortified wall with an iron gate surrounded the largest capital town Tamim of the Khakan, where also lived aristocrats. In the hills stood castle-forts surrounded by moats.
Kimaks on the of the Seihun steppe traded in sheep. Kimak presence on the Volga enabled them to use local major trade routes, and put them in contact with the Byzantine and Viking worlds.
Kimaks made cheese and beverages from fermented mare's milk, some of which probably were distilled to high potency, and beverages from rice, millet, barley, and honey.
Religion
The Kimak religion was the same as the majority of Turks. In the steppes from the Baikal to the Danube the Turks believed in Tengri. The western neighbors of the Kyrgyzes (Kimaks, Kipchaks, Cumans, Oguzes, Pechenegs, Karluks, etc.), who were located closer to the Muslim lands, still professed Tengrianism in the 9th century. The Kimaks had a tradition of ancestor reverence. On the border with the Uyghurs, Kimaks adopted ManichaeismManichaeism
Manichaeism in Modern Persian Āyin e Māni; ) was one of the major Iranian Gnostic religions, originating in Sassanid Persia.Although most of the original writings of the founding prophet Mani have been lost, numerous translations and fragmentary texts have survived...
. The Kimaks also worshipped rocks with images (apparently ancient petroglyphs) and images of human feet. Al-Idrisi spoke about belief in various spirits, and about acceptance by some Kimaks of Manichaeism and Islam. Apparently, the last two religions started penetrating the Kimaks in the 10th century but became widely accepted much later, and then only in the central Irtysh and Balkhash areas.
Sanctuaries and Burial customs
Kurgan stelae
Kurgan stelae or Balbals are anthropomorphic stone stelae, images cut from stone, installed atop, within or around kurgans , in kurgan cemeteries, or in a double line extending from a kurgan...
or balbals, erected at sanctuaries with square fencing of rough stone and gravel. In the 6th-9th centuries similar sanctuaries with statues of deceased ancestors were built by the Göktürks and Uyghurs. After destruction of the Göktürk and Uyghur Kaganates, Kipchaks and Cumans were one of the few Turkic peoples who preserved this tradition. Cumans and Kipchaks continued the tradition until the loss of their political independence.
From the end of the 9th century the construction of small fenced sanctuaries devoted to ancestors, with a statue (or statues) inside became a distinctive feature of the Cumans and Kipchaks. The obelisks were often simple rough stelae, frequently with figures without details. Faces were indicated by deeply carved lines, frequently heart-shaped. Female statues differed from mens by round breasts. The sanctuaries were built only for rich and noble nomads.
Nizami
Nizami
-Toponyms:* Nizami raion, a settlement and rayon in Baku, Azerbaijan* Nizami, Goranboy, a village and municipality in the Goranboy Rayon of Azerbaijan* Nizami, Sabirabad, a village and municipality in the Sabirabad Rayon of Azerbaijan...
described Kimak reverence to their ancestors. Kimaks and Cumans/Kipchaks erected many statues, believed to have special power and honored accordingly: "All Cumans/Kipchak tribes, when they happen to pass there, bow down twice in front of this obelisk. Mounted or on foot, they bow to it as to a Creator. A horseman takes an arrow from his quiver in honor of it, shepherds with flocks leave a sheep behind".
Some Kimaks cremated their dead: near the Irtysh cremation burials have been found.
S.A.Pletneva developed a comparative description of Middle Age N. Pontic burials customs including Kimaks, Cumans and Kipchaks. The grave gifts are those necessary for a nomad during a trip to the next world: horse harnesses, weapons, less frequently personal decorations and vessels with ritual food. Next to the diseased was laid his true comrade (‘tovarich’), a horse. The belief in need to supply the diseased with the things necessary on the road and at least for initial life in the other world is described by the 10th c. Ibn Fadlan, describing not a Kimak-Kipchak but an Oguz funeral ceremony. However, from nomad kurgan
Kurgan
Kurgan is the Turkic term for a tumulus; mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves, originating with its use in Soviet archaeology, now widely used for tumuli in the context of Eastern European and Central Asian archaeology....
excavations we know that the funeral ceremonies of the Turkic peoples was generally similar, meaning the general provisions for the construction of funeral complexes were identical.
The nomads were always accompanied into the other world by slaughtered horses, and sometimes by others animals, and enemies killed by him represented by simple stelae or rough human images of stone or wood. The horses were necessary for speedy crossing, for coaching from one world to another, the more of them the better. Among Oguzes the images of the deceased were neither installed over the tombs nor in special sanctuaries. That custom was only among the population of the Kimak Kaganate, and mainly among the Kipchaks.
Khan-Priests
Turkic khans, including the Kimak Khan, had a special role as High Priest and bearer of prophecy. Shabib al-Karani left a probably distorted description of such a ritual:List of known rulers
- Alip Qara Uran
- Alip Derek
- Inalchiq
- Abarkhan
- Bachman KhanBachman KhanBachman Khan was a ruler of Kimak Khanate. After his land was conquered by Batu, he led a rebellion against the Mongols . The rebellion was unsuccessful; Bachman Khan was captured by the Mongols and executed later.Bachman Khan is mentioned in several Tatar and Nogay legends, some nomad clans...
Literature
- Ahinjanov S.M. "Kipchaks in history of medieval Kazakhstan", Alma-Ata, 1989, ISBN 5-628-00146-5
- Faizrakhmanov G., "Ancient Turks in Sibiria and Central Asia" Kazan, 'Master Lain', 2000, ISBN 5-93139-069-3
- Gumilev L.N., "Ancient Turks", Moscow, 'Science', 1967
- Kimball L., "The Vanished Kimak Empire", Western Washington U., 1994
- Kumenkov B. E., "Kimak State if the 9-11th centuries according to Arabic sources", Alma-Ata, 'Science', 1972
- Pletneva S.A., "Kipchaks", Moscow, , 1990, ISBN 5-02-009542-7