Nomadic turkic tribes and their role in political history of Transoxiana in XII century: on the example of Qarluks

Abstract

The migration of the nomadic Turkic tribes of the eastern Desht-i Kipchak and their participation in various political processes in the lands of Transoxiana and adjacent regions in the XII century remains quite an urgent scientific problem for a number of reasons. Muslim geographers of this time on this issue often broadcast information from earlier monuments in their writings and rarely provide up-to-date information. And in the historical writings proper, nomadic Turkic tribes are mentioned, in most cases, only when they take part in military clashes on the territory of the mentioned regions. Muslim historians rarely note other forms of interaction between representatives of settled cultures and nomads in this historical period, and they often provide extremely scant information about the migration routes of the latter in general. In this article, using the example of a specific tribal association, which are the Karluks, we will try to reconstruct their migration routes throughout the twelfth century, as well as analyze their participation in the political history of Transoxiana during this period. In this article we will try to link not only these two historical events, but also highlight other facts related to the history of the Karluks and their participation in the political life of Transoxiana in the XII century.