Nationalist Uygurs, at http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/1730/buh.html, stated that "after 210 B.C., the Uygurs played important roles in the Hun (220 B.C. - 386 A.D.), Tabgach (To'pa) (386-554 A.D.), and Kok Turk (552-744 A.D.) empires which were established in Central Asia". This statement would be erroneous in its lumping together different groups of people.
In China, the 16 Nations (AD 304-420) were comprised of various nomadic groups of people: the Huns, the Jie-hu, the Xianbei (including the Wuhuan & Tuoba), the Qiang, & the Di. Ultimately, the Tuoba (To'pa), who were of Xianbei heritage, took over northern China. Leftover Huns were absorbed by the Ruruan, and the Ruruan were subsequently defeated and exterminated by the Turks.
The Tuoba would deal with the onslaughts by the Ruruans first and then the Turks. The Tuoba got sinicized in northern China. Ultimately, Tuoba Wei Dynasty would be usurped by two generals of the Xianbei heritage. Northern Qi and Northern Zhou replaced the two Tuoba Wei dynasties. Sui China would be built on Northern Zhou Dynasty of the Yuwen clan.
The Turks, specifically called Tujüe or Tujue (Turks) at the time of North Dynasties (AD 386-581) and Sui/Tang Dynasties, asserted themselves in late time period of Tuoba Northern Wei Dynasty (A.D. 386-533). Tuoba Wei split into Eastern and Western Wei Dynasties in A.D. 534. The Turks rebelled against the Ruruans in A.D. 546-553.
He took advantage of this success and requested a Rouran princess in marriage. But the qaghan of Rouran
Anagui refused this request and sent to Bumin a mission and message:
You are my blacksmith slave. How dare you utter these words?. Bumin got angry and killed Anagui's mission and cut all relationship with Rouran Khaganate.
[10][12][13][14]
Anagui's "blacksmith" (
鍛奴 / 锻奴, Pinyin: duàn nú, Wade–Giles: tuan-nu) insult was recorded in Chinese chronicles and historians accepted that the Kök Türks were indeed blacksmith servants for the Rouran elite,
[4][5][6][7] and that "blacksmith slavery" may indicate a kind of vassalage system prevailed in Rouran society.
[15] Nevertheless, after this incident Bumin emerged as the leader of the revolt against Rouran.
Anagui's "blacksmith" (鍛奴 / 锻奴, Pinyin: duàn nú, Wade–Giles: tuan-nu) insult was recorded in Chinese chronicles and historians accepted that the Kök Türks were indeed blacksmith servants for the Rouran elite,[4][5][6][7] and that "blacksmith slavery" may indicate a kind of vassalage system prevailed in Rouran society.[15] Nevertheless, after this incident Bumin emerged as the leader of the revolt against Rouran.
Bumin died within several months after proclaiming himself Illig Qaghan. He was succeeded by his younger brother
Istemi in the western part and by his son
Issik Qaghan in the eastern part. In less than one century, his khaganate expanded to comprise most of
Central Asia.
Turkic Empire was a vast empire in Asia and parts of East Europe. Up to 603, while the east part of the empire was considered as the main empire, the western part (roughly west of Altai and Tengri Mountains) was considered as the dependency of the main empire. Western part was ruled by a yabgu (Yabgu was the title of a co-khagan who was tasked to rule the western territories in behalf of the main khagan)
Turkic Khaganate was a vast khaganate (empire); from Manchuria and Chinese wall to Black sea.[4] It was impossible to govern the whole khaganate from a certain capital. So while the eastern part was directly ruled by the khagan (emperor), the western part was governed by yabgu (vassal) in behalf of the khagan. The capital of the west wasOrdukent (Suyab) (present day Kyrgyzistan). Istemi who was the khagan's brother was the first and Tardu (İstemi's son) was the second yabgu.
Istämi (553 - 575AD) was the ruler of the western part of the Göktürks, the Western Turkic Khaganate and dominated the Sogdians.[1] He was the yabgu (vassal) of his brother Bumin Qaghan in 553 AD. His son was Tardu. During his rule Istami established diplomatic relations with the Persian and Byzantine Empires, defeated the Hepthalites (Yeda)
, and acted as an elder statesman during the disintegration of the eastern half of the empire. We know a great deal about him from the diplomatic missions of the Byzantine Empire.
As the brother of Tuman he ruled the far-western region of their khanate. His son was Tardu. As a Yabghu, he was autonomous and had de facto sovereignty while officially recognizing the authority of the qaghan. After Khushu’s death he arranged the division of the territory into three realms east, central, and west and distributed them between Jotan, Arslan, and Shetu, respectively.
Tamgan’s father was
İstemi yabgu who was the younger brother of
Bumin, the founder of the empire. İstemi died in 576 and he was succeeded by Tamgan and Tamgan's elder brother
Tardu. Although most of the western territories were ruled by Tardu,
Volga River region was under Tamgan's rule. According to Cambridge History of Inner Asia, Tardu was Tamgan's superior.
[2] (Cambridge History also questions whether or not Tardu and Tamgan were brothers.)
Relations with the Byzantine Empire
Because of the geographic position of his region, Tamgan was responsible in diplomatic relations with
Byzantine Empire. (Hence, the historical sources about Tamgan are mostly the reports of Byzantine envoys). Inıtially Turkic and Byzantine Empires were allies against
Sassanid Iran and
Eurasian Avars. However, according to Byzantine historian
Menander Protector, a Byzantine envoy named Valentinos visited Tamgan's headquarters where Tamgan accused Byzantines for the recently signed treaty between the Byzantine Empire and the Avars. He said that the Byzantines were liars and had ten tongues, meaning they were unreliable as allies. He also threatened the Byzantine side mentioning the rivers Danapr, Istr and Evr. (Former names of
Dnieper,
Danube and
Maritsa.)
[3] Following this accusation, Turks began to capture Byzantine possessions around north east
Black Sea coasts and even
Crimea. Briefly, a part of
Bosporan Kingdom in Crimea, a vassal of Byzantine Empire fell to Turks.
[4] Tardu effectively fought in this area, but left his gains to Tamgan. (About half a century later Byzantine Turkic relations recovered and Turks collaborated with
Heraclius in the invasion of North Caucasus.)
[Ashina Shidianmi (Istemi Kagan), i.e., Tumen Khan's brother and Muchu Khan's uncle, who stayed behind while Tumen was campaigning east against the Ruruans, conducted a western campaign in A.D. 552. Ashina Shidianmi allied with Khosrau I of the Sassanid Empire in attacking the Ye-da, and by A.D. 558, defeated the Yeda and divided the Yeda land at the River Amu Darya. Then, Ashina Shidianmi expelled the Avars to the Volga, for which he was promoted to be khan. In A.D. 567, Ashina Shidianmi crossed the River Amu Darya to take over the area in today's Afghanistan in an alliance with the East Romans against the Sassanids. (In A.D. 576, Datou, i.e., Ashina Shidianmi's son, succeeded the Western Turkic Khanate.) Hence, the Turks controlled the vast territories extending from Central Asia, today's Chinese Turkistan to Manchuria. The Turks were recorded to have about 28 levels of officials, including Yehu, She(4), Teqin, Silifa, Tudunfa etc. They had the same customs as the Scandinavian pirates in that they would burn the dead body of their chieftan together with the belongings like horses and clothes. Tents were always opened towards the east where the sun rose.]
Issik Qaghan was the second ruler of the Turkic Khaganate;
[1] (
Old Turkic:
, Muqan qaγan,
[2] Chinese:木桿可汗/木杆可汗,
Pinyin: mùgǎn kěhàn,
Wade-Giles: mu-kan k'o-han or 木汗可汗, mùhàn kěhàn, mu-han k'o-han, personal name: 阿史那燕都, āshǐnà yàndōu, a-shih-na yen-to) was the second son of
Bumin Qaghan and the third
khagan of the
Göktürks who expanded their khagan and secured the borders against the
Hephthalites.
