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Gokturks Wikipedia

The Gokturks or Kokturks (G?k-Turks or K?k-Turks, with the meaning Celestial Turks), known as Tujue (突厥 tu2 jue2) in medieval China|Chinese sources, established the first known Turkic peoples|Turkic state around 552 under the leadership of Bumin Khan|Bumin/Tuman Khan/Khaghan (died 552) and his sons, and expanded rapidly to rule wide territories in Central Asia.

The Gokturks, who originated from the Ashina tribe who were natives of today's Xiang Uygur, were the first Turkic tribe to use the name "Turk" as a political name.

The state's most famous personalities other than its founder Bumin are princes Kul Tigin and Bilge and the vizier Tonyukuk, whose life stories were carved on the famous Orkhon inscriptions.

With the collapse of Hunnish power in Asia, leadership of the Turkic peoples|Turks was taken over by the Gokturks, who inherited their traditions and administrative experience. From 552 to 745, Gokturkish leadership bound together the nomadic Turkish tribes into an empire, which finally fell to internal conflicts and to defeats by China. The kingdom received missionaries from the Buddhists, Manicheans, and Nestorian Christians, but remained primarily Shamanism|shamanistic.

The great difference between the Gokturkish empire and its Hunnish predecessor was that the Gokturks' temporary Khans (lords) were subordinate to a sovereignty|sovereign authority that was left in the hands of a dynasty of tribal chiefs.

The Gokturks wrote Uighur language|their language in a rune|runic script. See Orkhon script.

In 552, Tuman defeated the last Rouran Khan, A-na-kuei. Tuman's brother Ist?mi († 576) collaborated with the Persian Sassanids to defeat and destroy the White Huns, which drove the Avars into Europe. Both rival state in north China paid large tributes to the Gokturks from 581.

This first Gokturkish empire split in two after the death of the last of Tuman's sons (circa 584). These were successfully played off against each other by Sui Dynasty|Sui and Tang Dynasty China. The Eastern Khanate became formally subordinate to the Chinese Emperor; the Western Khan of that time was Ist?mi's son Tardu, who almost succeeded in reuniting the Gokturkish empire around 600. However, Chinese diplomacy incited a revolt of his vassals, and Tardu's life and reign were cut short in 603.

New attacks on China by the Turks of the Eastern Khanate failed, and its Khan Hsien was brought down by a revolt of his vassals (626-630), instigated by Emperor Taizong of Tang China|Emperor Tanng Taizong, who took him prisoner. The Western Khan Tung Sche-hu was murdered in 630 despite strong support by the Byzantine Empire against the Persians. By 659 the Tang Emperor of China could claim to rule the entire Silk Road as far as Po-sse (Persia). The Turks now carried Chinese titles and fought by their side in their wars.

Nonetheless, Ilteris Sad|Ilteriş Şad (Idat) and his brother Qapagan Khan|B?k?or Qapağan Khan (Mo-ch'o) managed to found a new realm of "wild" Turks, which in a series of wars from 681 onward gained control of the steppes beyond the Great Wall of China, extending by 705 to threaten Arab control of Transoxiana. Their power centered at the Changai Mountains (then: ?t?k?n). The son of Ilteriş, Bilge, was also a strong leader, but at his death in 734, the empire declined. They ultimately fell to a series of internal crises and renewed Chinese campaigns. After Kutluk Khan|Kutluk (Ko-lo) Khan's military victory in 744, the successors to the Gokturks became their more China-friendly junior partners, known as the Uighurs.

Rulers (khağan)

First Gokturk Empire:

• Bumin Khan|Bumin/Tuman Khan 534 - 552

• Kelou Khan (Irksi, Kolo a.k.a. "K?k-Khan") 552 - 553

• Muhan Khan 553 - 572

• Ist?mi Khan 553 - 573 (Western Khan; brother of Bumin)

• Yandu Muchu Khan -563

• Toubo Khan 563 - ca 580

• Taspar Khan 572 - 581

• Datou Khan 573 - 603

Period between the unified empires:

• Shabol?e Khan 580 - 581 (?)

• Shetu E'fu Khan 580s

• Rudan Buli Khan 580s

• Chuluo-hou Khan 580s

• Yongyulu Duolan Khan 581 - 601

• Nili Khan 603

• Qiren (Tuli) Khan 603 - before 618

• Tujieli Shibi Khan 618 (?)

• Chuluo (Hesana) Khan 618-

• Xieli Khan -630

• Yiwu Khan 630

• Simo Khan 641-644

• Chebi Khan 644-649

• Baz Khan (chief of the Oghuz, self-proclaimed Gokturk) -682

• Muchuo Khan 681 (or 682) -712

Second Gokturk Empire:

• Ilteris Sad (Idat) 680 - 691 (or 692)

• Qapagan Khan (Mo-ch'o) 691 - 716 (murdered)

• Inal Khan 716

• Bilge Khan 716 - 734 (murdered)

• Kul Tigin Khan 716 - 731 (co-ruler with Bilge)

• Yollug Khan 735-

• Icen Khan -744

• Etimis Khan 744-747 (in exile)

Last Modified:   2005-04-13