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| Gokturks | |
|---|---|
| Name | Gokturks |
| Era | Early Middle Ages |
| Government | Khaganate |
| Year start | 552 |
| Year end | 744 |
| Capital | Ötüken |
| Common languages | Old Turkic |
| Religion | Tengrism, shamanism, Buddhism, Nestorian Christianity |
Gokturks were a confederation of Turkic peoples who established imperial polities in Central Asia during the Early Middle Ages, founding the First and Second Khaganates that reshaped steppe geopolitics and Eurasian trade. Their elites issued the earliest attested Old Turkic inscriptions, fostered contacts with Byzantine Empire, Tang dynasty, Sasanian Empire, Umayyad Caliphate, and influenced successor polities such as the Uyghur Khaganate, Karakhanids, and Seljuk Empire.
Scholars debate the ethnonym attested in Chinese chronicles like the Book of Zhou and New Book of Tang and in Byzantine and Persian accounts, comparing transcriptions found in Old Chinese reconstructions, Pahlavi texts, and Greek sources such as Procopius. Early medieval Tibetan sources and Khazar and Bactrian references complicate identification, while modern historians reference works by Mikhail Artamonov, Louis Bazin, Denis Sinor, Omeljan Pritsak, and Peter B. Golden to reconcile phonetic and semantic readings. Nominal parallels are examined alongside inscriptions discovered at Orkhon and Talas regions and in material culture from Altai Mountains and Tien Shan contexts.
Archaeological cultures linked to the group include material from the Khuriltai-period cemeteries, burial mounds in Altai and graves near Sayan Mountains, correlating with horned helmets and horse gear comparable to finds at Pazyryk, Afanasevo, and Andronovo sites described in publications by S. I. Rudenko and V. A. Alekseyev. Genetic studies comparing samples from Siberian and Central Asian remains cite data from labs associated with Max Planck Institute, Harvard Medical School, and Pääbo's teams, while historians map migrations against the backdrop of refugees from the collapse of Rouran Khaganate, incursions by Hephthalites, and pressures from Xianbei-descended polities. Contacts with Sogdia and Khotan via the Silk Road shaped demographic shifts documented in accounts by Ibn Fadlan and Al-Masudi.
The First Khaganate (552–630) rose under leaders recorded in Chinese sources like Bumin Qaghan and Istämi, confronting Rouran remnants and negotiating with Byzantium and Sassanids; later fractures involved princely houses noted alongside Köl Tigin and Bilge Khagan in Orkhon inscriptions. The Second Khaganate (682–744) reconstituted authority under figures appearing in Zhou and Tang chronicles, while tributary relations and conflicts with the Tang dynasty included campaigns led by generals such as Li Jing and policies by emperors like Emperor Taizong of Tang and Emperor Gaozong of Tang. Rebellions, internal rivalries, and defeats by Uyghur-centered federations and alliances with Karluks, Pechenegs, and Khazars are recorded in annals and in diplomatic letters exchanged with envoys from Constantinople, Ctesiphon, and Samarkand.
Elite burial assemblages and steppe artisanal traditions display parallels with objects from Sogdiana, Tang capital Chang'an, Karakorum precursors, and nomadic accoutrements described by Marco Polo much later, while textile fragments compare to finds from Bactria and Fergana Valley. Trade networks integrated caravan routes through Tashkent, Bukhara, Samarkand, and Kashgar, facilitating exchange with Gupta India, Arab Caliphates, and Tang merchants; economic ties are attested in Sogdian letters and Chinese tribute records. Social structure involved aristocratic clans, tribal confederacies, and servile classes mentioned alongside terms found in inscriptions and in Persian and Chinese administrative records; crafts included horse harness manufacture, metallurgy akin to Yenisei workshops, and felt production comparable to later Mongol practices.
The Old Turkic language is attested in runiform inscriptions such as those at Orkhon and Tonyukuk, analyzed by philologists including Vilhelm Thomsen and Vilhelm Thomsen's successors, with editions by Johan P. Musto and studies by Basil D. Galdan. Scripts show parallels with Sogdian and Pahlavi epigraphic practices and reflect bilingualism evident in Chinese transcriptions; comparative linguistics connects Old Turkic to contemporary languages like Kyrgyz, Kazakh, Chuvash, and early forms influencing Turkish language evolution studied by scholars such as Nihal Atsız and Zeki Velidi Togan.
Religious life combined Tengrism and shamanic rites documented in Orkhon inscriptions alongside evidence of Buddhism from contacts with Khotan and Dunhuang manuscripts, as well as Nestorian Christian presence attested in Church of the East sources and Syriac chronicles. Ritual items and sky-blue symbolic motifs mirror cosmologies discussed by Mircea Eliade and ethnographers like Lev Gumilyov; later conversions among successor elites to Manichaeism and Buddhist schools are noted in records tied to the Uyghur Khaganate and Karahanid dynasties.
Steppe warfare relied on mounted archery, lances, and composite bows paralleling equipment depicted in Sassanid and Byzantine manuals, and tactics resembling accounts in De re militari-era treatises; elites formed cavalry retinues comparable to later Mongol tumen structures. Diplomacy included envoys to Tang court, marriage alliances with Sogdian merchant-princes, and exchange of ambassadors with Constantinople and Ctesiphon; treaties and tributary arrangements appear in Chinese historical annals and in Arabic geographies by writers such as al-Tabari and Ibn Khordadbeh.
Their political institutions, steppe diplomacy, and script influenced the Uyghur Khaganate, Karluk confederation, Khanate of Khazaria, and the medieval Anatolian Seljuk and Ottoman traditions via cultural transmission documented in medieval chronicles and modern syntheses by Denis Sinor, Peter Golden, and Thomas Barfield. Place-names across Central Asia, military customs retained in Mongol Empire sources, and the diffusion of Old Turkic lexicon into Persian, Arabic, and Chinese testify to long-term impact seen in studies by R. G. S. Baker and teams at institutions like British Museum and Hermitage Museum.
Category:Turkic peoples Category:Central Asian history Category:Medieval empires