The settlement of
Sogdian merchants sprang up along the
Silk Road in the 5th or 6th century. The name of the city derives the
Suyab River, whose origin is Iranian (in
Persian:
suy means "toward"+
ab for "water", "rivers"). It was first recorded by Chinese pilgrim
Xuanzang who traveled in the area in 629:
Traveling 500 li to the north west of Great Qing Lake, we arrive at the city of the Suye River. The city is 6 or 7 li in circuit; various Hu ("barbarian") merchants here came from surrounding nations congregate and dwell. The soil is favorable for red millet and for grapes; the woods are not thick, the climate is windy and cold; the people wear garments of twilled wool. Traveling from Suye westward, there are a great number of isolated towns; in each there is a chieftain; these are not dependent on one another, but all are in submission to the Tujue. During the reign of
Tong Yabghu Qaghan, Suyab was the principal capital of the
Western Turkic Khaganate. The
khagan also had a summer capital in
Navekat near the springs north of
Tashkent in the
Talas Valley. There was a sort of
symbiosis, with the Sogdians responsible for economical prosperity and the
Göktürks in charge of the city's military security. Following the downfall of the khaganate, Suyab was absorbed into the
Tang dynasty and was a military outpost between 648 and 719. A Chinese fortress was built there in 679, and
Buddhism flourished. According to some accounts, the great poet
Li Bai was born in Suyab. The Chinese traveler
Du Huan, who visited Suyab in 751, found among the ruins a still-functioning Buddhist monastery, where
Princess Jiaohe, daughter of
Ashina Huaidao, used to live. Suyab was one of the Four Garrisons of the
Anxi Protectorate until 719, when it was handed over to
Suluk of the
Türgesh, appointed by the Tang court as the "Loyal and Obedient Qaghan". After Suluk's murder in 738, the town was promptly retaken by Tang Chinese forces, along with
Talas. The fort was strategically important during the wars between the Tang dynasty and the
Tibetan Empire. In 766, the city fell to a
Karluk ruler, allied with the nascent
Uyghur Khaganate. Of the subsequent history of Suyab there is little record, especially after the Chinese evacuated the Four Garrisons in 787.
David Nicolle states that Suyab provided 80,000 warriors for the Karluk army and that it was governed by a man known as "King of Heroes".
Hudud al-Alam, completed in 983, lists Suyab as a city of 20,000 inhabitants. It is believed to have been supplanted by
Balasagun in the early 11th century and was abandoned soon after. The area around Suyab briefly returned to China under the
Qing dynasty during the 18th century, but was ceded to the
Russian Empire in the
Treaty of Tarbagatai in 1864, along with
Lake Balkhash. It became part of the Russian Empire's
Semirechye Oblast; following the completion of
national delimitation in Soviet Central Asia in 1936, Suyab was put into the
Kyrgyz Soviet Socialist Republic. == Archaeological site ==