Kangar union

Kangar Odagy
Kangar Odagy
659–750
	Kangar Union after fall of Western Turkic Khaganate, 659-750
Capital	located in Ulutau mountains
Common languages	Old Turkic
Religion	Tengriism
Khan (title)
Legislature	Kurultai (Qurultay)
History
• Established	659
• Disestablished	750
Area
	5,000,000 km2 (1,900,000 sq mi)
Preceded by	Succeeded by
	Turkic Khaganate
Western Turkic Khaganate
Kimak Khanate
Western Kangar State
Oghuz Yabgu State

Kangar union, Kazakh: Қaңғар Oдағy (Qanghar Odaghu) was a Turkic state in the territory of the entire modern Kazakhstan without Zhetysu. The ethnic name Kangar is a medieval name for the Kangly people, who are now part of the Kazakh, Uzbek,^[1] and Karakalpak nations. The capital of the Kangar union was located in the Ulytau mountains. The Pechenegs, three of whose tribes were known as Kangar (Greek: Καγγαρ), after being defeated by the Oghuzes, Karluks, and Kimek-Kypchaks, attacked the Bulgars and established the Pecheneg state in Eastern Europe (840-990 CE).

Etymology

The Kengeres, mentioned in the Orkhon inscriptions, were possibly known in the Islamic world and in the west as Kangar, a collective name for three tribes (of eight Pecheneg tribes).^[2] Byzantine emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus stated that Kangar signified nobleness and bravery.^[3] Ukrainian historian Omeljan Pritsak suggested that Kangar originated from Tocharian A *kânk "stone" and Kengeres combined Kenger with the Iranian ethnonym As, supposedly from *ârs < *âvrs < *Aoruša (Greek: Αορσοι). However, Golden objected that *Aoruša would have yielded Ors/Urs and Pritsak's opinion on the Kengeres-Kangars' ethnonym and mixed Tocharian-Iranian origin remained "highly hypothetical".^[4] Some Orientalists (Marquart, Toltsov, Klyashtorny) attempted to connect the Kangar and Kengeres to the Qanglı, the eastern grouping of the Cuman-Kipchak confederation as well as the Indo-European Kangju in Chinese sources. Axinžanov proposed that the Kipchaks simply assumed the name Qanglı (literally "wagon") after taking over the Kang region.^[5] Nevertheless, all of these connections, if any, remain unclear.

Independence

After the capture of Zhetysu by the Chinese, Kangars become independent from the Turkic Kaganate. They repulsed Chinese from the southern Kazakhstan and Syr Darya cities. The Syr Darya cities retained their autonomy. The Oguzes in the southern Kazakhstan, Kimaks in the Irtysh River valley, Cumans in Mugodjar, and Kypchaks in the northern Kazakhstan became the vassals of the Kangar union.

At the end of the 7th century the Syr Darya cities rebelled and formed an alliance with the Sogdiana. The revolt was successful, but the Moslem Arab armies attacked Sogdiana from the south. The revolt has waned, and Kangars consented to the continued autonomy of the Syr Darya cities.

Fall of the Union

At the beginning of the 8th century the Oghuz confederation and the city of Tashkent seceded from the Kangar union. The Arabs continued raiding Sygnakh, Jend, and other rich Kangar cities.

After the Arabs captured Sogdiana, they attacked the Kangar cities along the Syr Darya. The Arabs captured the southern Kazakhstan, and the Oguz confederation took control over the other Kangar cities along the Syr Darya. The Oguzes formed an alliance with the Kimak Kaganate. The Kangar Union dissolved. The western branch of the Kangars, known in the west under the collective name Pechenegs of their five allied Turkic tribes, captured the lands of the Khazar Kaganate, and created a Kangar successor state in the Eastern Europe.

Kangar migration and North Pontic Kangar state

A mass migration of the Oghuz tribes in the middle of the 8th c. displaced population of the Kangar Union on the eastern borders of the Khazar Kaganate, forcing it to move into Khazarian territories. At first, Kangars settled in the territory between Yaik-Emba (Geeh) and Itil (Volga) rivers, then they advanced into the Khazar domain territories. The forceful influx of Kangars and their allied tribes seriously impacted Khazar populations with destruction of settlements and population, and the population mass escape to safer areas to the north and south, and the Magyars of Lebedia to the west. The Kangar tribal Union, better known in Europe as Pechenegs under a Slavic name of their subject allies, occupied a large swath of Khazaria extending from Don in the east to Pannonia in the west. Between the rivers Yaik and Emba, they controlled the Khazar trading route from Itil to Khorezm, dealing a hard blow to the Khazarian trade. The North Pontic Kangar state eventually established coexistent with Khazaria, while dominating North Pontic area of Khazaria from ca. 750 to ca. 900. Constantine Porphyrogenitus named three Kangar tribes (Chor (Charvat), Ertim, Yula), and four Bechen tribes (Kapan, Karabai, Kulbei, Tolmach), and their respective locations. Gardizi (ca. 1050) reported on the situation around 950: "Bechens are nomads following rain and pasturage. Their territory extends a distance of thirty days in either direction (i.e. about 1,000x1,000 km), bordering Kipchaks in the north, Khazars on southwest, Oguz in the east, and Saqlabs (bilad as-Saqaliba, Bulgars) to the west. All these peoples raid Bechens, who likewise raid them...". At the end, Kangars were displaced further west by the migration of the Kipchak tribes, who ca. 990 embarked on a massive migration into the E.Europe, supplanting Kangars-Pechenegs in the east of the Kangar North Pontic state.

Notes

^ Tolstoi V.P. Origin of the Karakalpak people//KSIE, Moscow, 1947. p.75
^ P.Golubovsky, Pechenegs, Torks, and Polovetses before Tatar invasion, SPb, 1884. p.55, in L.Gumilev, Ancient Türks, Ch.20 (In Russian)
^ Constantine Porphyrogenitus, De Administrando Imperio
^ Golden, Peter B. (1992). An Introduction to the History of the Turkic People. Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden. p. 264–265.
^ Golden 1992, p. 273.

External links

State Kang-kü/Kangju (Kangar) in the history of Kazakhstan

[1] Tolstoi V.P. Origin of the Karakalpak people//KSIE, Moscow, 1947. p.75

[2] P.Golubovsky, Pechenegs, Torks, and Polovetses before Tatar invasion, SPb, 1884. p.55, in L.Gumilev, Ancient Türks, Ch.20 (In Russian)

[3] Constantine Porphyrogenitus, De Administrando Imperio

[Golden_(1992)-4] Golden, Peter B. (1992). An Introduction to the History of the Turkic People. Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden. p. 264–265.

[FOOTNOTEGolden1992273-5] Golden 1992, p. 273.

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