9th and 10th century After the breakup of the
Uyghur Khaganate in 840, the Central Asian tribes found themselves unattached. Portions of the Turkic Eymür, Bayandur, and
Shiwei Tatar tribes joined the core of the Kimak tribes. The Tatar tribes were already members of the Kimak confederation — some had already participated in the initial formation of the Kimak Kaganate. The Kipchaks also had their Khanlyk, but politically they were dependent on the Kimaks. The dominating Kimak tribe mostly lived on the banks of the 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
Yuanshi, these mountains are named Yùlǐbólǐ (玉里伯里), and the Kipchaks are called
Qīnchá 欽察. North of the Kipchaks and the Kimaks lay endless forest. The Kimaks were originally
Tengrians, with possibly some
Nestorian Christian communities. In the 11th century,
Islam made some inroads.
Arab and
Persian geographers, travelers, and historians provide an abundance of information about the Kimaks. In the 9th century, the Kimaks allied with the Oguz. At the end of the 10th century, not only were the
Caliphate writers and scientists 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). Later they appear to have been ruled by the Ilbari 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 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 and the southern border was the lifeless steppe of Bet Pak. The borders naturally protecting them from their enemies, the Kimaks lived undisturbed. Their neighbors were Karluks, Oguzes and Kyrgyz. Kimaks, Kipchaks, Oguzes, Petchenegs,
Ugrians and other peoples and ethnic groups of the multi-ethnic Kimak Kaganate lived peacefully and prosperously. At the beginning of the 11th century, the Kimaks and Kipchaks pushed the Oguzes to the south, the Petchenegs to the west, the 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, and 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 the Oguz lands, the Kipchaks grew considerably stronger, and the Kimaks became their dependents. 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 the 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
Volga Finns 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 Pechenegs 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 the year 1054 record an appearance near
Kyiv of the Oguz people, who were pushed by Kipchaks, a branch of the middle
Irtysh and
Ob Kimaks. and "the People of the Snake" should be interpreted as "People of the chieftain named Snake-Dragon" and identified with an anti-Karakhanid tribal coalition (including the Qays among others) led by Budrach, a
Yabaku chieftain whose epithet was
Böke "Great Dragon / Great Snake", following Klyashtorny. 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 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, and many of the city dwellers were craftsmen. In the northern parts of the Kimek territory were underground towns of tunnel networks and chambers to escape the cold. 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 for some years after the Mongols conquered the region. == Economy ==