Origins ancestry (Mongolia_N_North and
Ashina, ), as well as Chinese Central Plain millet farmers (YR_LN, ) and West Eurasian‐related ancestry (
Russia_Sintashta_MLBA, ). The origins of the Turkic peoples has been a topic of much discussion.
Peter Benjamin Golden proposes two locations for the Proto-Turkic Urheimat: the southern
Altai-Sayan region, and Southern
Siberia, from
Lake Baikal to eastern
Mongolia. Other studies suggested an early presence of Turkic peoples in Mongolia, The proto-Turkic-speakers may be linked to
Neolithic East Asian agricultural societies in
Northeastern China, which is to be associated with the
Xinglongwa culture and the succeeding
Hongshan culture, based on varying degrees of specific East Asian genetic substratum among modern Turkic speakers. According to historians, "the Proto-Turkic subsistence strategy included an agricultural component, a tradition that ultimately went back to the origin of millet agriculture in Northeast China". This view is however questioned by other geneticists, who found no evidence for a shared "Neolithic Hongshan ancestry", but in contrary primary
Ancient Northeast Asian (ANA) Neolithic ancestry from the
Amur region, supporting an origin from Northeast Asia rather than Manchuria. Around 2,200 BC, the (agricultural) ancestors of the Turkic peoples probably migrated westwards into
Mongolia, where they adopted a pastoral lifestyle, in part borrowed from
Iranian peoples. Given nomadic peoples such as
Xiongnu,
Rouran and
Xianbei share underlying genetic ancestry "that falls into or close to the northeast Asian gene pool", the proto-Turkic language likely originated in northeastern Asia. Genetic data found that almost all modern Turkic peoples retained at least some shared ancestry associated with populations in "South Siberia and Mongolia" (SSM), supporting this region as the "Inner Asian Homeland (IAH) of the pioneer carriers of Turkic languages" which subsequently expanded into Central Asia. The main
Turkic expansion took place during the 5th–16th centuries, partially overlapping with the
Mongol Empire period. Based on single-path IBD tracts, the common Turkic ancestral population lived prior to these migration events, and likely stem from a similar source population as
Mongolic peoples further East. Historical data suggests that the Mongol Empire period acted as secondary force of "turkification", as the Mongol conquest "did not involve massive re-settlements of Mongols over the conquered territories. Instead, the Mongol war machine was progressively augmented by various Turkic tribes as they expanded, and in this way Turkic peoples eventually reinforced their expansion over the Eurasian steppe and beyond." Turkic-speaking Central Asians can be described as having formed from mixture between
Scythian-like groups, displaying their highest genetic affinity to modern day
Tajiks, and "Eastern Steppe Xiongnu" groups during the
Iron Age. A 2022 report suggested that Turkic and Mongolic populations in Central Asia formed via admixture events during the Iron Age between "local
Indo-Iranian and a South-Siberian or Mongolian group with a high East-Asian ancestry (around 60%)". Modern day
Turkmens form an outlier among Central Asian Turkic-speakers with a lower frequency of the Baikal component (c. 22%) and a lack of the Han-like component, being closer to other Indo-Iranian groups. A subsequent study in 2022 also found that the spread of Turkic-speaking populations into Central Asia happened after the spread of Indo-European speakers into the area. Another 2022 study found that all Altaic‐speaking (Turkic, Tungusic, and Mongolic) populations "were a mixture of dominant Siberian Neolithic ancestry and non-negligible YRB ancestry", suggesting their origins were somewhere in Northeast Asia, most likely the
Amur river basin. Except Eastern and Southern Mongolic-speakers, all "possessed a high proportion of West Eurasian-related ancestry, in accordance with the linguistically documented language borrowing in Turkic languages". The authors determined that Empress Ashina belonged to the North-East Asian
mtDNA haplogroup
F1d, and that approximately 96-98% of her autosomal ancestry was of
Ancient Northeast Asian origin, while roughly 2-4% was of West Eurasian origin, indicating ancient admixture. and historic Central Steppe Türk samples were also an admixture of West Eurasian and Ancient Northeast Asian ancestry, while historic Karakhanid, Kipchak and the Turkic Karluk samples had 50.6%-61.1% West Eurasian ancestry and 38.9%–49.4% Iron Age
Yellow River farmer ancestry. A 2020 study also found "high genetic heterogeneity and diversity during the Türkic and Uyghur periods" in the early medieval period in
Eastern Eurasian Steppe.
Early historical attestation The earliest separate Turkic peoples, such as the
Gekun (鬲昆) and
Xinli (薪犁), appeared on the peripheries of the late
Xiongnu confederation about 200 BCE and later among the Turkic-speaking
Tiele as
Hegu (紇骨) and
Xue (薛). may be related to the
Xiongnu and the
Dingling. According to the
Book of Wei, the Tiele people were the remnants of the Chidi (赤狄), the red
Di people competing with the
Jin in the
Spring and Autumn period. Historically they were established after the 6th century BCE. The Tiele were first mentioned in Chinese literature from the 6th to 8th centuries. Some scholars (Haneda, Onogawa, Geng, etc.) proposed that
Tiele,
Dili,
Dingling,
Chile,
Tele, &
Tujue all transliterated underlying
Türk; however,
Golden proposed that
Dili,
Dingling,
Chile,
Tele, and
Tiele transliterated
Tegrek while Tujue transliterated
Türküt, plural of
Türk. The appellation
Türük (
Old Turkic: 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰰) ~
Türk (OT: 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰚) (whence
Middle Chinese 突厥 *
dwət-kuɑt > *
tɦut-kyat >
standard Chinese:
Tūjué) was initially reserved exclusively for the
Göktürks by Chinese, Tibetans, and even the Turkic-speaking
Uyghurs. In contrast, medieval Muslim writers, including Turkic speakers like Ottoman historian
Mustafa Âlî and explorer
Evliya Çelebi as well as
Timurid scientist
Ulugh Beg, often viewed Inner Asian tribes, "as forming a single entity regardless of their linguistic affiliation" commonly used Turk as a generic name for Inner Asians (whether Turkic- or Mongolic-speaking). Only in modern era do modern historians use Turks to refer to all peoples speaking
Turkic languages, differentiated from non-Turkic speakers. According to some researchers (Duan, Xue, Tang, Lung, Onogawa, etc.) the later
Ashina tribe descended from the
Tiele confederation. The Tiele however were probably one of many early Turkic groups, ancestral to later Turkic populations. However, according to Lee & Kuang (2017), Chinese histories do not describe the Ashina and the Göktürks as descending from the Dingling or the Tiele confederation.
Xiongnu (3rd c. BCE – 1st c. CE) , Western
Manchuria,
Xinjiang, East
Kazakhstan, East
Kyrgyzstan,
Inner Mongolia, and
Gansu. It has even been suggested that the Xiongnu themselves, who were mentioned in Han dynasty records, were
Proto-Turkic speakers. The Turks may ultimately have been of Xiongnu descent. Although little is known for certain about the Xiongnu language(s), it seems likely that at least a considerable part of Xiongnu tribes spoke a Turkic language. Some scholars believe they were probably a confederation of various ethnic and linguistic groups. According to a study by Alexander Savelyev and Choongwon Jeong, published in 2020 in the journal
Evolutionary Human Sciences by Cambridge University Press, "the predominant part of the Xiongnu population is likely to have spoken Turkic". However, genetic studies found a mixture of western and eastern Eurasian ancestries, suggesting a large genetic diversity within the Xiongnu. The Turkic-related component may be brought by eastern Eurasian genetic substratum. Using the only extant possibly Xiongnu writings, the rock art of the
Yinshan and
Helan Mountains, some scholars argue that the older Xiongnu writings are precursors to the earliest known
Turkic alphabet, the
Orkhon script. Petroglyphs of this region dates from the
9th millennium BCE to the 19th century, and consists mainly of engraved signs (petroglyphs) and few painted images. Excavations done during 1924–1925 in
Noin-Ula kurgans located in the
Selenga River in the northern
Mongolian hills north of
Ulaanbaatar produced objects with over 20 carved characters, which were either identical or very similar to the
runic letters of the Turkic Orkhon script discovered in the
Orkhon Valley.
Steppe expansions Göktürks – Turkic Khaganate (5th–8th c.) The earliest certain mentioning of the politonym "Turk" was in the Chinese
Book of Zhou. In the 540s AD, this text mentions that the Turks came to China's border seeking silk goods and a trade relationship. A Sogdian diplomat represented China in a series of embassies between the
Western Wei dynasty and the Turks in the years 545 and 546. According to the
Book of Sui and the
Tongdian, they were "mixed barbarians" (;
záhú) who migrated from
Pingliang (now in modern
Gansu province,
China) to the
Rourans seeking inclusion in their confederacy and protection from the prevailing dynasty. Alternatively, according to the
Book of Zhou,
History of the Northern Dynasties, and
New Book of Tang, the Ashina clan was a component of the
Xiongnu confederation. Göktürks were also posited as having originated from an obscure Suo state (索國), north of the Xiongnu. The Ashina tribe were famed
metalsmiths and were granted land south of the
Altai Mountains (金山
Jinshan), which looked like a
helmet, from which they were said to have gotten their name 突厥 (
Tūjué), Unlike its Xiongnu predecessor, the Göktürk Khaganate had its temporary
Khagans from the
Ashina clan, who were
subordinate to a
sovereign authority controlled by a council of tribal chiefs. The
Khaganate retained elements of its original
animistic- shamanistic religion, that later evolved into
Tengriism, although it received missionaries of
Buddhist monks and practiced a syncretic religion. The Göktürks were the first Turkic people to write
Old Turkic in a runic script, the
Orkhon script. The Khaganate was also the first state known as "Turk". It eventually collapsed due to a series of dynastic conflicts, but many states and peoples later used the name "Turk". The Göktürks (
First Turkic Kaganate) quickly spread west to the Caspian Sea. Between 581 and 603 the
Western Turkic Khaganate in Kazakhstan separated from the
Eastern Turkic Khaganate in Mongolia and
Manchuria during a civil war. The Han-Chinese successfully overthrew the Eastern Turks in 630 and created a military Protectorate until 682. After that time the
Second Turkic Khaganate ruled large parts of the former Göktürk area. After several wars between Turks, Chinese and Tibetans, the weakened Second Turkic Khaganate was replaced by the
Uyghur Khaganate in the year 744.
Bulgars, Golden Horde and the Siberian Khanate in the 7th century The
Bulgars established themselves in between the Caspian and Black Seas in the 5th and 6th centuries, followed by their conquerors, the
Khazars who converted to Judaism in the 8th or 9th century. After them came the
Pechenegs who created a large confederacy, which was subsequently taken over by the
Cumans and the
Kipchaks. One group of Bulgars settled in the Volga region and mixed with local
Volga Finns to become the
Volga Bulgars in what is today
Tatarstan. These Bulgars were conquered by the Mongols following their westward sweep under
Ogedei Khan in the 13th century. Other Bulgars settled in Southeastern Europe in the 7th and 8th centuries, and mixed with the
Slavic population, adopting what eventually became the Slavic
Bulgarian language. Everywhere, Turkic groups mixed with the local populations to varying degrees. In Siberia, the
Siberian Khanate was established in the 1490s by fleeing Tatar aristocrats of the disintegrating
Golden Horde who established Islam as the official religion in western Siberia over the partly Islamized native
Siberian Tatars and indigenous Uralic peoples. It was the northernmost Islamic state in recorded history and it survived up until 1598 when it was conquered by Russia.
Uyghur Khaganate (8th–9th c.) The
Uyghur Khaganate had established itself by the year 744 AD. Through trade relations established with China, its capital city of
Ordu Baliq in central Mongolia's
Orkhon Valley became a wealthy center of commerce, and a significant portion of the Uyghur population abandoned their nomadic lifestyle for a
sedentary one. The Uyghur Khaganate produced extensive literature, and a relatively high number of its inhabitants were literate. The official state religion of the early Uyghur Khaganate was
Manichaeism, which was introduced through the conversion of
Bögü Qaghan by the
Sogdians after the
An Lushan rebellion. The Uyghur Khaganate was tolerant of religious diversity and practiced variety of religions including Buddhism, Christianity, shamanism and Manichaeism. During the same time period, the
Shatuo Turks emerged as power factor in Northern and Central China and were recognized by the Tang Empire as allied power. In 808, 30,000 Shatuo under Zhuye Jinzhong defected from the Tibetans to Tang China and the Tibetans punished them by killing Zhuye Jinzhong as they were chasing them. The Uyghurs also fought against an alliance of Shatuo and Tibetans at Beshbalik. The Shatuo Turks under Zhuye Chixin (
Li Guochang) served the Tang dynasty in fighting against their fellow Turkic people in the
Uyghur Khaganate. In 839, when the Uyghur khaganate (Huigu) general Jueluowu (掘羅勿) rose against the rule of then-reigning
Zhangxin Khan, he elicited the help from Zhuye Chixin by giving Zhuye 300 horses, and together, they defeated Zhangxin Khan, who then committed suicide, precipitating the subsequent collapse of the Uyghur Khaganate. In the next few years, when Uyghur Khaganate remnants tried to raid Tang borders, the Shatuo participated extensively in counterattacking the Uyghur Khaganate with other tribes loyal to Tang. In 843, Zhuye Chixin, under the command of the Han Chinese officer
Shi Xiong with Tuyuhun, Tangut and Han Chinese troops, participated in a raid against the Uyghur khaganate that led to the slaughter of Uyghur forces at Shahu mountain. The
Shatuo Turks had founded several short-lived
sinicized dynasties in northern China during the
Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period starting with Later Tang. The Shatuo chief Zhuye Chixin's family was adopted by the Tang dynasty and given the title prince of Jin and the Tang dynasty imperial surname of Li, which is why the Shatuo of Later Tang claimed to be restoring the Tang dynasty and not founding a new one. The official language of these dynasties was Chinese and they used Chinese titles and names. Some Shaotuo Turk emperors (of the Later Jin, Later Han and Northern Han) also claimed patrilineal Han Chinese ancestry. After the fall of the Tang dynasty in 907, the Shatuo Turks replaced them and created the
Later Tang dynasty in 923. The Shatuo Turks ruled over a large part of northern China, including
Beijing. They adopted Chinese names and united Turkic and Chinese traditions. Later Tang fell in 937 but the Shatuo rose to become a powerful faction of northern China. They created two other dynasties, including the
Later Jin and
Later Han and
Northern Han (Later Han and Northern Han were ruled by the same family, with the latter being a rump state of the former). The Shatuo Liu Zhiyuan was a Buddhist and he worshipped the
Mengshan Giant Buddha in 945. The Shatuo dynasties were replaced by the Han Chinese
Song dynasty. The Shatuo became the
Ongud Turks living in Inner Mongolia after the Song dynasty conquered the last Shatuo dynasty of Northern Han. The Ongud assimilated to the Mongols. From the
Yenisei River, the Kyrgyz pushed south and eastward in to Xinjiang and the
Orkhon Valley in central Mongolia, leaving much of the Uyghur civilization in ruins. Much of the Uyghur population relocated to the southwest of Mongolia, establishing the
Ganzhou Uyghur Kingdom in Gansu where their descendants are the modern day
Yugurs and
Qocho Kingdom in Turpan, Xinjiang.
Central Asia Kangar union (659–750) The Kangar Union (
Qanghar Odaghu) was a
Turkic state in the former territory of the Western Turkic Khaganate (the entire present-day state of
Kazakhstan, without
Zhetysu). The capital of the Kangar union was located in the Ulytau mountains. Among the Pechenegs, the
Kangar formed the elite of the Pecheneg tribes. After being defeated by the
Kipchaks,
Oghuz Turks, and the
Khazars, they migrated west and defeated
Magyars, and after forming an alliance with the
Bulgars, they defeated the
Byzantine Army. The Pecheneg state was established by the 11th century and at its peak carried a population of over 2.5 million, composed of many different ethnic groups. The elite of the Kangar tribes are believed to have had an
Iranian origin, and they likely spoke an Iranian language, while most of the Pecheneg population spoke a Turkic language, with a significant percentage speaking
Hunno-Bulgar dialects. The Yatuks, a tribe within the Kangar state who could not accompany the Kangars as they migrated West, remained in the old lands, where they are known as the
Kangly people, who are now part of the
Uzbek,
Kazakh, and
Karakalpak tribes.
Oghuz Yabgu State (766–1055) The Oguz Yabgu State (
Oguz il, meaning "Oguz Land", "Oguz Country")(750–1055) was a
Turkic state, founded by
Oghuz Turks in 766, located geographically in an area between the coasts of the
Caspian and
Aral Seas. Oguz tribes occupied a vast territory in
Kazakhstan along the
Irgiz,
Yaik,
Emba, and
Uil rivers, the Aral Sea area, the
Syr Darya valley, the foothills of the
Karatau Mountains in
Tien-Shan, and the
Chui River valley (see map). The Oguz political association developed in the 9th and 10th centuries in the Syr Darya basin.
Salar Oghuz migration The
Salars are descended from Turkmen who migrated from Central Asia and settled in a Tibetan area of Qinghai under Ming Chinese rule. The Salar ethnicity formed and underwent ethnogenesis from a process of male Turkmen migrants from Central Asia marrying
Amdo Tibetan women during the early Ming dynasty.
Iranian, Indian, Arabic, and Anatolian expansion Turkic peoples and related groups migrated west from present-day
Northeastern China,
Mongolia,
Siberia and the
Turkestan-region towards the
Iranian plateau, South Asia, and
Anatolia (modern Turkey) in many waves. The date of the initial expansion remains unknown.
Persia Ghaznavid dynasty (977–1186) The
Ghaznavid dynasty (
ġaznaviyān) was a
Persianate Muslim dynasty of Turkic
mamluk origin, at their greatest extent ruling large parts of
Iran,
Afghanistan, much of
Transoxiana and the northwest
Indian subcontinent (part of
Pakistan) from 977 to 1186. The dynasty was founded by
Sabuktigin upon his succession to rule of the region of
Ghazna after the death of his father-in-law,
Alp Tigin, who was a breakaway ex-general of the
Samanid Empire from
Balkh, north of the
Hindu Kush in
Greater Khorasan. Although the dynasty was of
Central Asian Turkic origin, it was thoroughly
Persianised in terms of language, culture, literature and habits and hence is regarded by some as a "Persian dynasty".
Seljuk Empire (1037–1194) The
Seljuk Empire () or the
Great Seljuq Empire was a
high medieval Turko-Persian Sunni Muslim empire, originating from the
Qiniq branch of
Oghuz Turks. At its greatest extent, the Seljuk Empire controlled a vast area stretching from western
Anatolia and the
Levant to the
Hindu Kush in the east, and from
Central Asia to the
Persian Gulf in the south. The Seljuk empire was founded by
Tughril Beg (1016–1063) and his brother
Chaghri Beg (989–1060) in 1037. From their homelands near the
Aral Sea, the Seljuks advanced first into
Khorasan and then into mainland
Persia, before eventually conquering eastern Anatolia. Here the Seljuks won the
battle of Manzikert in 1071 and conquered most of Anatolia from the
Byzantine Empire, which became one of the reasons for the
First Crusade (1095–1099). From c. 1150–1250, the Seljuk empire declined, and was invaded by the
Mongols around 1260. The Mongols divided Anatolia into
emirates. Eventually one of these, the
Ottoman, would conquer the rest.
Timurid Empire (1370–1507) The
Timurid Empire was a Turko-Mongol empire founded in the late 14th century through military conquests led by
Timurlane. The establishment of a cosmopolitan empire was followed by the
Timurid Renaissance, a period of local enrichment in
mathematics,
astronomy,
architecture, as well as newfound economic growth. The cultural progress of the Timurid period ended as soon as the empire collapsed in the early 16th century, leaving many intellecuals and artists to turn elsewhere in search of employment.
Central Asian khanates (1501–1920) The
Bukhara Khanate was an Uzbek state that existed from 1501 to 1785. The khanate was ruled by three dynasties of the
Shaybanids, Janids and the Uzbek dynasty of Mangits. In 1785,
Shahmurad, formalized the family's dynastic rule (
Manghit dynasty), and the khanate became the
Emirate of Bukhara (1785–1920). In 1710, the Kokand Khanate (1710–1876) separated from the Bukhara Khanate. In 1511–1920,
Khwarazm (Khiva Khanate) was ruled by the Arabshahid dynasty and the Uzbek dynasty of Kungrats.
Afsharid dynasty (1736–1796) The
Afsharid dynasty was named after the Turkic Afshar tribe to which they belonged. The Afshars had migrated from
Turkestan to
Azerbaijan in the 13th century. The dynasty was founded in 1736 by the military commander
Nader Shah who deposed the last member of the
Safavid dynasty and proclaimed himself King of
Iran. Nader belonged to the Qereqlu branch of the Afshars. During Nader's reign, Iran reached its greatest extent since the
Sassanid Empire.
Qajar dynasty (1789–1925) The Qajar dynasty was created by the Turkic
Qajar tribe, ruling over Iran from 1789 to 1925. The Qajar family took full control of Iran in 1794, deposing
Lotf 'Ali Khan, the last
Shah of the
Zand dynasty, and re-asserted Iranian sovereignty over large parts of the
Caucasus. In 1796,
Mohammad Khan Qajar seized
Mashhad with ease, putting an end to the
Afsharid dynasty, and Mohammad Khan was formally crowned as Shah after his
punitive campaign against Iran's Georgian subjects. In the Caucasus, the Qajar dynasty permanently lost many of Iran's integral areas to the
Russians over the course of the 19th century, comprising modern-day
Georgia,
Dagestan,
Azerbaijan and
Armenia. The dynasty was founded by
Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar and continued until
Ahmad Shah Qajar.
South Asia The
Delhi Sultanate is a term used to cover five short-lived,
Delhi-based kingdoms, two of which were of Turkic origins: the
Mamluk dynasty (1206–1290) and the
Tughlaq dynasty (1320–1414).
Southern India saw rise of the
Qutb Shahi dynasty, one of the
Deccan sultanates. The
Mughal Empire was a Turko-Mongol empire that, at its greatest territorial extent, ruled most of South Asia, including
Afghanistan, Pakistan, India,
Bangladesh and parts of
Uzbekistan from the early 16th to the early 18th centuries. The Mughal dynasty was founded by a
Turko-Mongol prince named
Babur (reigned 1526–1530), who was descended from
Timur (Tamerlane) on his father's side and from Chagatai, second son of the
Mongol ruler
Genghis Khan, on his mother's side. A further distinction was the attempt of the Mughals to integrate Hindus and Muslims into a united Indian state.
Arab world '' of
AH 329 (940/941 CE), with the names of Caliph
al-Muttaqi and Amir al-umara
Bajkam (de facto ruler of the country) The Arab Muslim
Umayyads and
Abbasids fought against the pagan Turks in the
Türgesh Khaganate in the
Muslim conquest of Transoxiana. Turkic soldiers in the army of the
Abbasid caliphs emerged as the de facto rulers of most of the Muslim Middle East (apart from
Syria and
Egypt), particularly after the 10th century. Examples of regional de facto independent states include the short lived
Tulunids and
Ikhshidids in Egypt. The
Oghuz and other tribes captured and dominated various countries under the leadership of the
Seljuk dynasty and eventually captured the territories of the Abbasid dynasty and the
Byzantine Empire. They also took part in the military encounters of the
Crusades. In 1090–91, the Turkic Pechenegs reached the walls of
Constantinople, where Emperor
Alexius I with the aid of the Kipchaks annihilated their army. As the
Seljuk Empire declined following the
Mongol invasion, the
Ottoman Empire emerged as the new important Turkic state, that came to dominate not only the Middle East, but even southeastern Europe, parts of southwestern Russia, and northern Africa. In 1991, after the disintegration of the
Soviet Union, five Turkic states gained their independence. These were
Azerbaijan,
Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan,
Turkmenistan, and
Uzbekistan. Other Turkic regions such as
Tatarstan,
Tuva, and
Yakutia remained in the
Russian Federation.
Chinese Turkestan remained part of the
People's Republic of China. Immediately after the independence of the Turkic states, Turkey began seeking diplomatic relations with them. Over time political meetings between the Turkic countries increased and led to the establishment of
TÜRKSOY in 1993 and the
Turkic Council in 2009, which later was renamed
Organization of Turkic States in 2021. ==Physiognomy==