Karakhanid Khanate Karakhanids Took Over Transoxania in 999 and Completed Their Conquest of Khotan MICHAL BIRAN Seven Years Later

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Karakhanid Khanate Karakhanids took over Transoxania in 999 and completed their conquest of Khotan MICHAL BIRAN seven years later. Being orthodox Sunni The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel Hanafi Muslims, the Karakhanids met with little opposition in Transoxania, and they The Karakhanid Khanate was the first Muslim stressed their loyalty to the Abbasid caliph Turkic dynasty that ruled in Central Asia, in Baghdad as a major component in their c.955–1213. The designations Karakhanids legitimacy. From the outset, however, the (Qarakhanids; Chinese: Halahan, the black empire was bifurcated, and the western khan, or prestigious khans) or Ilak-khanid (prince- entitled Boghra (camel) Kara Khaqan and khans) are modern constructions derived ruling from Samarqand, was answerable to from the titulature on the dynasty’s coins. his eastern counterpart, who bore the title Contemporaneous literary sources usually Arslan (lion) Kara Khaqan, and ruled from refer to the Karakhanids as al-Khaqaniya Balasaghun (in Kirgizstan) and Kashgar. Var- (the Khaqan, or supreme ruler, house), al- ious other members of the ruling clan held muluk al-khaniyya al-atrak (the khanal kings lesser titles and appanages. The Karakhanid of the Turks) or Al-i Afrasiyab (the house of hierarchy was akin to a game of “musical Afrāsiyāb, the king of Turan in the Persian chairs,” as aspirants moved up the ranks while epos, the Shahnama), and as Heihan or Dashi changing their honorifics and sometimes in Chinese. even their fiefs. In consequence, tracking Historical information on the Karakhanids the careers of the dynasty’s rulers is a rather is extremely sketchy due to the lack or non- daunting task. survival of internal sources. It is mainly culled In 1040, the Karakhanids’ realm was offi- from chronicles of the khanate’s neighbors, cially divided into eastern and western kha- augmented by the abundance of Karakhanid nates. By the end of the century, first the coins, and a few documents and monuments. western and then the eastern polity became a The early history of the Karakhanids is still vassal of the rising Seljuqs (c.1055–1194). a matter for conjecture. They began as a loose Within the next fifty years, both khanates – confederation of Qarluq, Uighur, Cigil, and the eastern followed by the western – fell under Yaghma elements; the identity of its leader Kara Khitan rule (1124–1218). The decline of (Qarluq, Uighur, or other) is still debated. the latter coincided with the demise of the Kar- Satuq Bughra Khan, the first Karakhanid to akhanids. Owing to an unsuccessful mutiny in embrace Islam, allegedly died in 955, near Khotan and Kashgar against the Kara Khitan, Kashgar (in Xinjiang, China), and from this the eastern khanate was rendered toothless in point on, we can talk of a Karakhanid 1204. After the western Karakhanids switched dynasty. The Khanate’s historical record allegiances from the Kara Khitan to the comes into focus over the last decades of Khwarazm Shah, another rebellious vassal of the 10th century, when it was immersed the former, the Khwarazm Shah Muhammad in a two-front war against the Muslim had the last Karakhanid ruler, his son-in-law Samanids in Transoxania and the Buddhist ’Uthman, executed in 1213, thereby extin- Khotan kingdom in the Tarim basin. The guishing the dynasty.

The Karakhanid age was a time of eco- population in Transoxania, Semirechye, and nomic growth and relative prosperity in Cen- the Tarim basin and a major expansion of tral Asia, despite the decentralization of Islam eastwards. The Khanate also had a spe- Karakhanid rule. Archaeological records attest cial connection to China, its rulers often titled to growing urbanization, craftsmanship, and as Tamghaj Khan (Turkic: the Khan of trade especially in Semirechye and south China) or Malik al-Mashriq wa-l’Sin Kazakhstan. Trade with the Sinitic states, (Arabic: the king of the east and China), especially the Northern Song (960–1127) and taking pride in the prestige enjoyed by and the Liao (907–1125), flourished, especially China in Central Asia. in Khotan, and in the 12th century Transoxa- Today the Karakhanids are considered a nian merchants reached even to Mongolia. Chinese dynasty and the Uighurs’ forefathers While their nomadic subjects often challenged in Xinjiang, and are fondly remembered in the dynasty, the Karakhanids retained certain Muslim Central Asia, especially Kirghizstan. nomadic characteristics, as attested by the story of the khan who ordered his troops to SEE ALSO: China, imperial: 5. Song dynasty camp outside of Bukhara in their tents, and period 960–1279; Kara-Khitan Khanate the allocation of special royal hunting (Western Liao); Khitan (Liao) Empire; grounds. Yet their era was generally one of Khwarazmian Empire; Seljuk Empire, Great intense sedentarization which resulted in urban and agricultural growth. FURTHER READING The Karakhanids certainly assimilated into the Arabo-Persian Muslim culture of their Biran, M. 2004. “Ilak-khanids.” Encyclopedia Ira- realm: under their rule Transoxania and Far- nica, Volume 12, Fasc. 6: 621–628. Accessed ghana became a stronghold of Hanafi law and May 11, 2015 at www.iranicaonline.org/arti- theology, producing works that became cles/ilak-khanids. Biran, M. 2015. “Qarakhanid Eastern Trade: standard in the whole Islamic world. They Preliminary Notes on the Silk Roads in the are also famous for their monumental build- 11th–12th centuries.” In J. Bemmann and M. ing, especially minarets (surviving examples Schmauder (Eds.), The Complexity of Interac- are in Bukhara, Uzgand, and Balasaghun), tion along the Eurasian Steppe Zone in the and left palaces in Samarqand and Ribat al- first Millennium CE. Empires, Cities, Nomads Mulk (between Bukhara and Samarqand). and Farmers. Bonn Contributions to Asian – The Karakhanids also retained many aspects Archaeology 7: 575 595. Bonn: Vor- und Frühgeschichtliche Archäologie, Rheinische of their Turkishness. Their age was famous Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn. for producing the first Turkish Islamic litera- Fourniau, V. (Ed.) 2001. Études Karakhanides. ture. Notable works include the Diwan Cahiers d’Asia Centrale 9. Tashkent-Aix-en- Lughat al-Turk (Compendium of Turkic dia- Provence: Édisud. lects) of Mahmud Kashghari, compiled in Golden, P. B. 1990. “The Karakhanids and Early 1074 at Baghdad, which is a mine of informa- Islam.” In D. Sinor (Ed.), The Cambridge History – tion on tribal, folk, and court traditions of the of Early Inner Asia: 343 370. Cambridge: Cam- Karakhanids; and the Qutadgu Bilig (Wisdom bridge University Press. Kochnev, B. D. 2006. Numizmaticheskaia istoriia of royal glory), a mirror of princes compiled Karakhanidskogo kaganata, 991–1209 gg. Mos- by Yusuf Khass Hajib in Balasaghun in cow: Sofiia. 1069–1070. Karakhanid rule saw the begin- Wei Liangtao. 2010. Kalahan wang chao shi, Xi ning of the Turkification of the Iranian Liao shi. Beijing: Renmin chubanshe.