Göktürks

Göktürks
source
Conventional long name	First and Second Göktürk Khaganates
Common name	Göktürks
Era	Early Middle Ages
Government type	Nomadic confederation
Title leader	Khagan
Year leader1	552–552
Leader1	Bumin Qaghan
Year leader2	682–691
Leader2	Ilterish Qaghan
Year leader3	734–741
Leader3	Bilge Khagan
Stat year1	557
Stat area1	6000000
Stat year2	c. 600
Stat area2	3600000

Göktürks. The Göktürks established the first known Turkic political entity to use the name "Turk" as a state designation, founding a nomadic empire that dominated the Central Asian steppes. Their history is divided into the First Turkic Khaganate (552–659), a period of fragmentation under Tang suzerainty, and the Second Turkic Khaganate (682–744), which ultimately collapsed due to internal strife. The Göktürk legacy is profoundly preserved in the Orkhon inscriptions, monumental texts that are the oldest extant records of any Turkic language.

Etymology and nomenclature

The ethnonym "Turk" is first definitively attested in Chinese sources as Tūjué and in the Göktürks' own Orkhon inscriptions. The name "Göktürk" itself, meaning "Celestial Turks" or "Blue Turks," is a modern scholarly convention derived from the combination of the Old Turkic word *kök (sky, blue) and "Turk," reflecting the empire's Tengrist cosmology which venerated the sky god Tengri. Contemporary Byzantine historians, such as Menander Protector, referred to them as the Oghuz, while Sasanian and later Islamic sources often used the term "Türgesh" for western groups. The ruling clan, the Ashina, was considered the divine custodians of the khaganate, a concept central to their political legitimacy across the Eurasian Steppe.

History

The Göktürks rose to power under Bumin Qaghan and his brother Istämi after leading a revolt against their overlords, the Rouran Khaganate, around 552. Following Bumin's death, the empire was traditionally divided into eastern and western wings, governed from the sacred Ötüken forest and the Sui frontier respectively, a system that often led to rivalry. The First Khaganate reached its zenith under Taspar Qaghan, engaging in complex diplomacy with the Byzantine Empire against the Sasanian Empire and controlling segments of the lucrative Silk Road. Internal succession disputes, however, facilitated its conquest and partition between the Tang dynasty and the Tibetan Empire after the 659 defeat of Helu Khan.

The Second Turkic Khaganate was re-established in 682 by Ilterish Qaghan and his strategist brother, the later Tonyukuk, following a series of successful rebellions against Tang authority centered in the Dzungarian Basin. This restoration period saw major military campaigns under Kapagan Khan against the Khitans and the Turgesh, and reached its cultural peak under Bilge Khagan and his chancellor Kül Tigin, commemorated in the Orkhon inscriptions. The final collapse in 744 was precipitated by internal rebellions led by the Uyghur, Karluk, and Basmyl tribes, culminating in the victory of Kutluk Yabgu Khagan at the Battle of Bolchu and the establishment of the Uyghur Khaganate.

Society and culture

Göktürk society was a stratified, militarized nomadic confederation organized around decimal clans and tribes loyal to the Ashina lineage. Their economy was based on transhumant pastoralism, control of Silk Road trade routes, and extracting tribute from settled states like the Tang dynasty and the Sogdian city-states. The state religion was Tengrism, a shamanistic and animistic belief system centered on the sky god Tengri, though there was significant exposure to and tolerance of other faiths including Buddhism, Manichaeism, and Nestorian Christianity, particularly via Sogdian merchants. Their most enduring cultural achievement is the corpus of Old Turkic writings, especially the Orkhon inscriptions erected for Bilge Khagan and Kül Tigin near the Orkhon River, which provide invaluable insight into their political thought, mythology, and historical events.

Legacy and influence

The Göktürk Khaganates established a lasting political and cultural template for subsequent Turkic states, directly influencing the organization of the Uyghur Khaganate, the Khazar Khaganate, and later empires like the Seljuk Empire and the Mongol Empire. Their runic Old Turkic script remained in use for centuries across Siberia and Mongolia, and their genealogical traditions were incorporated into the origin myths of many Turkic groups. Modern scholarship on the Göktürks was revolutionized by the 19th-century decipherment of the Orkhon inscriptions by the Danish linguist Vilhelm Thomsen, while their name and symbol of the wolf have been adopted as potent national symbols in Turkey and among Turkic republics of Central Asia.

Rulers and chronology

The chronology of the Göktürk Khaganates is complex due to the division of authority and overlapping reigns. The First Khaganate's major rulers included its founder Bumin Qaghan (552), followed by his sons Issik Qaghan (552–553) and Muqan Qaghan (553–572), and later Taspar Qaghan (572–581) whose death triggered a major succession crisis. Notable Western Khagans included Istämi (552–575) and Tardu (575–603). The Second Khaganate was founded by Ilterish Qaghan (682–691) and consolidated by his brother Kapagan Khan (691–716). Its final prosperous era was under Bilge Khagan (717–734), after whose death the empire rapidly declined under rulers like Yiran Qaghan (734–739) and Yollıg Khagan (739–744), before falling to the Uyghur Khaganate.

Category:Turkic peoples Category:Former confederations Category:Historical Turkic states Category:6th-century establishments in Asia Category:8th-century disestablishments in Asia