1

Kara-Khitan Khanate domain, Turks (Uyghurs included), Iranians, Mongols, and a few Han Chinese. While most (Western Liao) of the populace was sedentary and Muslim, there was an appreciable nomadic component MICHAL BIRAN (led by the Khitans themselves) as well as The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel flourishing Buddhist, Nestorian, and Jewish The Kara-Khitan Khanate ruled in Central communities. Asia (1124–1218) up to the Mongol conquest. The most striking characteristic of the The multicultural empire combined Chinese, Kara-Khitans is that they retained their Inner-Asian, and Islamic elements, a blend Chinese trappings (symbols of rulership and that served as a precedent for Mongol rule. vassalage; Chinese language) even in Central Due to the lack of internal sources, the history Asia. These were retained because they of this polity must be culled from a variety of contributed to the legitimation of the dynasty Chinese, Persian, and Arabic sources written among its diverse subjects, including their mainly by its neighbors, combined with very substantial Muslim population, among few archaeological findings. which China was closely associated with The dynasty was established by Liao fugi- notions of grandeur and prestige. Moreover, tives who escaped from north China when the institutional means embedded in the Chi- – the Liao dynasty (907–1125) was overthrown nese Liao tradition, such as the elevated posi- by the Manchurian Jurchens. Led by a Khitan tion of the emperor and the nomination of prince, Yelü Dashi, they chose to migrate successors, helped in overcoming one of the – westwards, hoping to return subsequently most pressing problems in nomadic states and restore the Liao in its former domains. succession struggles. In a little more than a decade Dashi set up Despite the retaining of the dynasty’s name a new empire in Central Asia that was known and the Liao Chinese trappings – as well as there as the Kara-Khitan (Qara Khitai; Khi- the Khitan identity makers, such as language, tan: the Liao Khitans, not the Black Khitans scripts, shamanic rituals, nomadic way of life, as previously thought – see Kane 2015) and and the high position of women (two out of in China as Xi Liao – the Western Liao. the dynasty’s five emperors were women, The dynasty persisted for nearly ninety years, who ruled in their own right!) – Kara-Khitan and was finally vanquished by the Mongols rule was quite different from the original Liao in 1218. version, mainly in its lesser degree of central- At its height, after concluding their con- ism: most of the Kara-Khitan realm was quests in 1142, the Kara-Khitan empire administrated indirectly and in a rather mini- stretched from the Oxus River in Uzbekistan malistic way: the local dynasties – most to the Altai Mountains on the Chinese– important among them the Eastern and Mongolian border, and until 1175, even fur- Western Karakhanids and the Gaochang ther east into the Naiman and the Yenisei Uyghurs – mainly maintained their rulers, Kirghiz territories. The multi-ethnic empire titles, and armies and no permanent Kara- included, besides the Khitans, who consti- Khitan army was stationed in the subject tuted but a small minority in their own territories. The subject kingdoms and tribes

The Encyclopedia of Empire, First Edition. Edited by John M. MacKenzie. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Published 2016 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. DOI: 10.1002/9781118455074.wbeoe157 2 were expected to provide annual taxes and escaped from Chinggis Khan into the Gür- send auxiliary troops when required. In some khan’s court. The latter – threatened by the rise cases the Kara-Khitans stationed commis- of his former vassal the Khwarazm shah and – sioners (Persian: shih˙ na, Chinese: shaojian) the turmoil in Mongolia welcomed Güchü- in the subject territories to supervise the lüg, and gave him his daughter in marriage. tax payments, but other regions (e.g., the In 1211, however, Güchülüg usurped the vassal Khwarazm) were only expected to throne, enforced an anti-Islamic policy, and submit annual tribute to the Kara-Khitan eventually brought the Mongol troops to Cen- emissaries or directly to their court. The tral Asia. In 1218 Chinggis Khan’s generals multi-ethnic and multilingual administration killed Güchülüg and annexed the Kara-Khitan also included Turkic and Persian elements, realm into the Mongol Empire. A scion of the such as the use of Turkic and Persian lan- royal family, Baraq Hajib, later established a guages and titles side by side with Chinese successor Muslim state in Kirman, in southern and Khitan. Even the ruler’s title, Gürkhan Iran. The Kara-Khitan of Kirman persisted for (universal khan), was a hybrid Khitan–Turkic nearly another century (1222–1307), as a title. Despite this, and in sharp contrast to vassal of the Mongols and then the Ilkhans, both their predecessors and their successors who eventually subjugated the province to in Central Asia, throughout their rule the their direct rule. Kara-Khitan subjects, espe- Kara-Khitans did not embrace Islam, the cially Muslims and Uyghurs, played important dominant religion in their new environment. roles in the Mongol Empire, and the shihna Instead they constructed their identity and was a precedent for the Mongol governors legitimacy on the combination of the com- (darughachi). mon nomadic political tradition and the pres- tige of China in Muslim Central Asia. SEE ALSO: Karakhanid Khanate; Khitan (Liao) Most of the Kara-Khitan period was an era Empire; Khwarazmian Empire; Mongol of relative stability and prosperity as well as Empire, Great of growing urbanization in Central Asia, despite the rulers’ nomadism. This, combined REFERENCE with the Kara-Khitans’ broad religious toler- ance, their shrewd use of their Chinese and Kane, D. 2015. “The Great Central Liao Kitan ” nomadic cultural capital, and their mostly State. Journal of Song-Yuan Studies, 43 (special indirect rule, enabled harmonious relations issue). between the Muslim subjects and their infidel rulers and prompted thriving intellectual FURTHER READING activity, both religious and scientific. By the Biran, M. 2005. The Qara Khitai Empire in Eura- late 12th century, however, this balance began sian History: Between China and the Islamic to change due to the weakening of the Western World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Liao royal house and external upheavals. In Wei Liangtao. 2010. Kalahan wang chao shi, Xi 1208 the Naiman prince Güchülüg (Kuchlug) Liao shi. Beijing: Renmin chubanshe.