The Orkhon Valley lies either side of the Orkhon River, in north-central Mongolia. Between the 740s and the 840s, this region was controlled by the Uighur khaganate, notably one of only two polities ever to adopt Manichaeism as the official state cult.
[1]
The Uighur khaganate was relatively centralized, and included a tax collection system, but leaders often served both civil and military functions, and local rulers often enjoyed considerable autonomy.
[2]
No population estimates specific to this polity could be found in the literature, though, according to McEvedy and Jones, at that time Mongolia and Siberia together likely had a population of no more than 500,000.
[3]
[1]: Werner Sundermann, "MANICHEISM i. GENERAL SURVEY," Encyclopædia Iranica, online edition, 2009, available at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/manicheism-1-general-survey (accessed on 25 August 2016).
[2]: (Rogers 2012, 226)
[3]: (McEvedy and Jones 1978) McEvedy, Colin. Jones, Richard. 1978. Atlas of World Population History. Penguin Books Ltd. London.
| alliance with [---] | |
| personal union with [---] |
| Turko-Sogdian |
| Khitan Empire |
| elite migration | |
| continuity |
| Preceding: Second Turk Khaganate (mn_turk_khaganate_2) [continuity] | |
| Succeeding: Khitan I (mn_khitan_1) [absorption] |
| confederated state |
| Year Range | Uigur Khaganate (mn_uygur_khaganate) was in: |
|---|---|
| (745 CE 840 CE) | Orkhon Valley |
"There are several sites that have been associated with the Uighur empire. The most famous is the huge capital city of Ordu Balik (Khar Balgas), currently being excavated by a Mongolian-German project. It is estimated that the city encompassed a walled area of 25 km2 (Kiselev 1957; Radloff 1892; Rogers et al. 2005). In A.D. 821 the traveler Tam ̄ın ibn Bahr visited the city and described it as agriculturally rich with many outlying villages (Minorsky 1947, p. 283)."
[1]
[1]: (Rogers 2012, 227)
"The Uighurs were frequently Chinese allies, which involved several marriage alliances between the royal courts." [1] "Like the Türks before them, the Uighurs ruled in a virtual symbiosis with the Sogdian merchants of Bukhara and Samarqand. Their attitude toward the Chinese, how- ever, was very different from the Türk rulers’ usually hostile stance. Facing a much weaker China, the Uighur rulers treated the Tang as a protectorate. In return for fighting rebels and Tibetans, the Uighurs expected vast sums of silk, as much as 230,000 bolts in a single year, and imperial princesses. Although the Uighurs also traded horses and presented “tribute goods” at the same time, the Tang found Uighur assistance very expensive, while Uighur troops were often as destructive as the rebels they were fighting." [2]
[1]: (Rogers 2012, 227)
[2]: (Atwood 2004, 560-561)
"The Uighurs were frequently Chinese allies, which involved several marriage alliances between the royal courts." [1] "Like the Türks before them, the Uighurs ruled in a virtual symbiosis with the Sogdian merchants of Bukhara and Samarqand. Their attitude toward the Chinese, how- ever, was very different from the Türk rulers’ usually hostile stance. Facing a much weaker China, the Uighur rulers treated the Tang as a protectorate. In return for fighting rebels and Tibetans, the Uighurs expected vast sums of silk, as much as 230,000 bolts in a single year, and imperial princesses. Although the Uighurs also traded horses and presented “tribute goods” at the same time, the Tang found Uighur assistance very expensive, while Uighur troops were often as destructive as the rebels they were fighting." [2]
[1]: (Rogers 2012, 227)
[2]: (Atwood 2004, 560-561)
"The Uighur polity began from an initial coalition of nine smaller groups. Together this coalition was responsible for the fall of the second Turkic empire." [1] "The Toquz Oghuz formed an important but turbulent subject population for the two TÜRK EMPIRES (552-630, 682-742). In 742, in cooperation with the Basmil near the Tianshan Mountains, and the QARLUQS in Zungharia, the Uighurs overthrew the second Türk Empire. Three years later the Uighurs drove out the Basmil and elevated Qulligh Boyla as the Qutlugh Bilge Kül Qaghan (744-47), establishing their capital, ORDU-BALIGH, in the ORKHON- RIVER-TAMIR region that had been the Türk Empire’s sacred center." [2] "The first Uighur rulers considered themselves continuers of the Türk tradition, and claimed legitimacy by linking themselves with Bumin Kaghan, the founder of the First Türk empire. The difference separating Türks from Uighurs must have been purely political. As is clearly shown by the inscriptions commemorating the deeds of their great men, Türks and Uighurs spoke the same language, used the same runic-type script and lived within the same geographic boundaries. Were it not for their name, the Uighurs would be indistinguishable from the Türks." [3]
[1]: (Rogers 2012, 226)
[2]: (Atwood 2004, 560)
[3]: (Sinor 1998, 197)
"The Uighur polity began from an initial coalition of nine smaller groups. Together this coalition was responsible for the fall of the second Turkic empire." [1] "The Toquz Oghuz formed an important but turbulent subject population for the two TÜRK EMPIRES (552-630, 682-742). In 742, in cooperation with the Basmil near the Tianshan Mountains, and the QARLUQS in Zungharia, the Uighurs overthrew the second Türk Empire. Three years later the Uighurs drove out the Basmil and elevated Qulligh Boyla as the Qutlugh Bilge Kül Qaghan (744-47), establishing their capital, ORDU-BALIGH, in the ORKHON- RIVER-TAMIR region that had been the Türk Empire’s sacred center." [2] "The first Uighur rulers considered themselves continuers of the Türk tradition, and claimed legitimacy by linking themselves with Bumin Kaghan, the founder of the First Türk empire. The difference separating Türks from Uighurs must have been purely political. As is clearly shown by the inscriptions commemorating the deeds of their great men, Türks and Uighurs spoke the same language, used the same runic-type script and lived within the same geographic boundaries. Were it not for their name, the Uighurs would be indistinguishable from the Türks." [3]
[1]: (Rogers 2012, 226)
[2]: (Atwood 2004, 560)
[3]: (Sinor 1998, 197)
"The Uighur polity began from an initial coalition of nine smaller groups. Together this coalition was responsible for the fall of the second Turkic empire." [1] "The Toquz Oghuz formed an important but turbulent subject population for the two TÜRK EMPIRES (552-630, 682-742). In 742, in cooperation with the Basmil near the Tianshan Mountains, and the QARLUQS in Zungharia, the Uighurs overthrew the second Türk Empire. Three years later the Uighurs drove out the Basmil and elevated Qulligh Boyla as the Qutlugh Bilge Kül Qaghan (744-47), establishing their capital, ORDU-BALIGH, in the ORKHON- RIVER-TAMIR region that had been the Türk Empire’s sacred center." [2] "The first Uighur rulers considered themselves continuers of the Türk tradition, and claimed legitimacy by linking themselves with Bumin Kaghan, the founder of the First Türk empire. The difference separating Türks from Uighurs must have been purely political. As is clearly shown by the inscriptions commemorating the deeds of their great men, Türks and Uighurs spoke the same language, used the same runic-type script and lived within the same geographic boundaries. Were it not for their name, the Uighurs would be indistinguishable from the Türks." [3]
[1]: (Rogers 2012, 226)
[2]: (Atwood 2004, 560)
[3]: (Sinor 1998, 197)
"The Liao Empire of the Khitan (907-1125) opened a new stage in the relationship between mediaeval China and the neighboring people. Their rise was preconditioned by the crisis and fall of the T’ang dynasty and the desolation of the steppe caused by the defeat of the Uighur Kaganate by the Yenisei Kyrgyz. The Khitans first brought under their power several small states which were formed on the remains of the T’ang Empire." [1] "It may be more accurate to suggest that A-pao-chi took advantage of a political vacuum created by the gradual withdrawal of the Kyrgyz into their homeland in the Yenisei region. What is certain is that by 924 the Kyrgyz evacuation of the Orkhon region must have been completed." [2]
[1]: (Kradin 2014, 152)
[2]: (Sinor 1998, 236)
"The Uighur polity began from an initial coalition of nine smaller groups. Together this coalition was responsible for the fall of the second Turkic empire." [1] "Uighur political organization was relatively centralized, with several levels of administration, including a system of tax collection. Still, a leader often served dual civil and military functions. Some evidence indicates that local leaders were relatively autonomous and that royal edicts were not always the law of the land (Mackerras 1990, p. 328)." [1]
[1]: (Rogers 2012, 226)
"As is clearly shown by the inscriptions commemorating the deeds of their great men, Türks and Uighurs spoke the same language, used the same runic-type script and lived within the same geographic boundaries. Were it not for their name, the Uighurs would be indistinguishable from the Türks." [1] "The Türks spoke a dialect of Old Turkish belonging to the Oghuz family, close to modern Uighur, Uzbek, Türkmen, and Turkish, somewhat more distant from the Qipchaq family of Kazakh and Tatar, and quite far from the Oghur family of Chuvash and Old Bulghar. Although many other tribes also spoke close or identical dialects, the Türks’ imperial prestige gave a single name to the whole family of dialects." [2]
[1]: (Sinor 1998, 197)
[2]: (Atwood 2004, 554)
Inhabitants.Karabalghasun."It is certain, however, that Karabalghasun developed into quite an impressive city. It contained a royal palace, which appears from the Shine-usu inscription (south side, line 10) to have been built at about the same time as the city itself, and was completely walled. Tamim records that "the town has twelve iron gates of huge size. The town is populous and thickly crowded and has markets and various trades."4 2 He adds that it was dominated by a golden tent, which could be seen from some distance outside the city. It stood on the flat top of the palace and could hold 100 people. At least part of the Uighur community had forsaken its nomadic past. Even outside the great cities of the west like Kocho and Beshbalik, a settled urban civilization was being developed." [1]
[1]: (Mackerras 1990, 337-338)
in squared kilometers.
Based on a map in Asimov and Bosworth.
[1]
"Yet a few further and more specific comments may be worthwhile. A Chinese source records the situation in 745 as follows: " The eastern extremity was [the territory of] the Shih-wei, the western, the Altai Mountains, and the southern controlled the Gobi Desert so it covered the entire territory of the ancient Hsiung-nu."9 This passage shows that the Chinese emperor recognized the territorial gains which the kaghan had recently made. It is unfortu nately a somewhat vague statement since the Altai Mountains and the Gobi both cover a large territory, but it certainly suggests that the extent of the Uighur empire was substantial. The Shih-wei lived south of the Kerulen River. A northern limit is not specified, but probably the kaghan assumed that his possessions ran at least as far as Lake Baikal, into which the Orkhon River flows. The territory of the Uighurs was expanded west with the firmer cooynquest of the Basmil and Karluk and then remained constant at least until the death of Tun bagha. The loss of Beshbalik and its aftermath appear to have reduced the extent of the Uighur empire drastically. We are told that the Karluk "over came [the territory round] the Fou-t’u Valley and seized it from the Uighurs."1 0 This valley was probably northwest of Mt. Ótükán,1 1 the sacred forest of the Turkic peoples, and dangerously close to Karabalghasun. In any case, the extent of Uighur alarm over the loss of the Fou-t’u may be gauged from the following comments of the Chinese historian: "The Uighurs trembled with fear and moved all the northwestern tribes, with their sheep and their horses, to the south of their ral camp in order to escape from them [the Karluk]."
[2]
[1]: (Asimov and Bosworth (eds) 1998, 428)
[2]: (Mackerras 1990, 321-322)
levels.
"The Uighur Empire, which ruled Mongolia from 744 to 840, converted to Manicheism and built numerous cities and settlements in Mongolia."
[1]
1. City with royal palace
2. Town3. Settlements
"Associated with the growth of agriculture we find the development of towns, the presence of which is well attested in the passage just quoted. We know also two important cities built on the initiative of Uighur kaghans. One of them was Bay-Balik [lit. "Rich Town"], to which I referred earlier. Work on its construction was started in 757 upon an order from kaghan. The other was Karabalghasun, built at about the same time. Both, then, were completed under Mo-yen-ch’o kaghan, so that the process of urbanization must have begun very quickly after the empire was founded. Very little is known about Bay-Balik, and its precise significance for the Uighurs is unclear. It is certain, however, that Karabalghasun developed into quite an impressive city. It contained a royal palace, which appears from the Shine-usu inscription (south side, line 10) to have been built at about the same time as the city itself, and was completely walled. Tamim records that "the town has twelve iron gates of huge size. The town is populous and thickly crowded and has markets and various trades."4 2 He adds that it was dominated by a golden tent, which could be seen from some distance outside the city. It stood on the flat top of the palace and could hold 100 people. At least part of the Uighur community had forsaken its nomadic past. Even outside the great cities of the west like Kocho and Beshbalik, a settled urban civilization was being developed."
[2]
[1]: (Atwood 2004, 560)
[2]: (Mackerras 1990, 337-338)
levels.
1. Supreme head/fa-wang
2. Regional archbishops/ mu-she3. Local priest? and/or instructor of 10
"The first was the elect, the clergy of Manichaeism, themselves subdivided into a clear hierarchy, led by the supreme head (Chinese fa-wang) and regional "archbishops" (Chinese mu-she). Of this group was demanded a life of celibacy and fasting, including a ban on meat and fermented liquid. The second category was the auditors, the laymen of Manichaeism. They were expected to be abstemious, kind and generous in giving alms, but were allowed to eat normally and to keep a wife. An auditor who had fulfilled his duties would be reincarnated, after death, as an elect. When the great purification was over, those who had triumphed over the material world would live in the region of absolute light, while those who had succumbed would be taken to the region of total darkness."
[1]
Instructor of 10 (or 9)
"According to one report, this decision was greeted with great joy by the people, who "gathered in crowds of thousands and tens of thousands [...] and gave themselves over to joy until morning."2 5 Yet despite these signs of popular approval, Mou-yu kaghan was apparently unconvinced that the zeal of the ordinary man would prove durable. He divided his people into groups of ten, in each of which one person was made responsible for the religious instruction and good works of the other nine. We see here echoes of an ancient military system, practised in Mongolia since the time of the Hsiung-nu, whereby one soldier was placed in charge of a unit of ten."
[2]
[1]: (Mackerras 1990, 329)
[2]: (Mackerras 1990, 330-331)
levels.
Decimal system likely used - up to commander of 10,000?
1. Kaghan
2. Commander of 10003. Commander of 1004. Commander of ten5. Individual soldier.
"According to one report, this decision was greeted with great joy by the people, who "gathered in crowds of thousands and tens of thousands [...] and gave themselves over to joy until morning."2 5 Yet despite these signs of popular approval, Mou-yu kaghan was apparently unconvinced that the zeal of the ordinary man would prove durable. He divided his people into groups of ten, in each of which one person was made responsible for the religious instruction and good works of the other nine. We see here echoes of an ancient military system, practised in Mongolia since the time of the Hsiung-nu, whereby one soldier was placed in charge of a unit of ten."
[1]
[1]: (Mackerras 1990, 330-331)
levels. No specific data but Second Turk Khaganate coded 4 and this polity was similar in social complexity.
"Apparently, the confederation still consisted of nine units, but the division was no doubt political rather than ethnical. In 744, the ruling tribe was the Uighurs, who were themselves subdivided into ten clans, collectively called On-Uighur (i.e. the Ten Uighurs). Of these, the dominant one was the Yaghlakar and, until the second dynasty was founded in 795, the whole empire was ruled by kaghans drawn from the Yaghlakar family."
[1]
1. Kaghans
2. Rulers of the 10 clans?3.4.
[1]: (Mackerras 1990, 320)
"Uighur culture changed dramatically with Bayan- Chor’s forced conversion of his people to Manicheism. Manichean doctrines required strict vegetarianism of the elect priests, including the renunciation of KOUMISS. Bögü exhorted his people to “let [the country] with barbarous customs and smoking blood change into one where people can eat vegetables; and let the state where men kill be transformed into a kingdom where good works are encouraged.” By 821 the Arab visitor Tamim bin Bahr at the capital, Ordu-Baligh, found the city’s population primarily Manichean. Manicheism also adapted to Uighur life; Manichean hymns, for example, incorporated the Türk-Uighur reverence for Ötüken." [1]
[1]: (Atwood 2004, 561)
"It is certain, however, that Karabalghasun developed into quite an impressive city. It contained a royal palace, which appears from the Shine-usu inscription (south side, line 10) to have been built at about the same time as the city itself, and was completely walled. ... He adds that it was dominated by a golden tent, which could be seen from some distance outside the city. It stood on the flat top of the palace and could hold 100 people." [1]
[1]: (Mackerras 1990, 337-338)
"It is certain, however, that Karabalghasun developed into quite an impressive city. It contained a royal palace, which appears from the Shine-usu inscription (south side, line 10) to have been built at about the same time as the city itself, and was completely walled. Tamim records that "the town has twelve iron gates of huge size. The town is populous and thickly crowded and has markets and various trades."." [1]
[1]: (Mackerras 1990, 337-338)
"Tamim’s claim that the Uighurs practised agriculture has been strikingly confirmed by the discoveries of archeologists, who have found signs that the Uighurs used millstones, pestles and irrigation canals, and even evidence that grain, such as millet, was buried together with corpses of certain Uighurs." [1]
[1]: (Mackerras 1990, 337)
"Tamim’s claim that the Uighurs practised agriculture has been strikingly confirmed by the discoveries of archeologists, who have found signs that the Uighurs used millstones, pestles and irrigation canals, and even evidence that grain, such as millet, was buried together with corpses of certain Uighurs." [1]
[1]: (Mackerras 1990, 337)
Possible that roads ran through the 12 gateways to Karabalghasun, but this is not confirmed by the sources.
"While their own spoken dialect may have differed somewhat, the Uighurs adopted the written form of Old Turkish used in the Türk empires. Uighur inscriptions found in Mongolia show the primary use of the Türks’ Runic script alongside a cursive adaption of Sogdian for Uighur, which after the fall of the empire became the Uighurs’ main script." [1]
[1]: (Atwood 2004, 561)
"Most of the vast quantity of silk involved could be re-exported to other countries or function as a form of currency. But some of it was possibly used among the urban rich, who were becoming accustomed to a softer life." [1] "Other commodities were exchanged besides those already noted. When a group of Uighur officials and princesses came to Ch’ang-an in 821 to welcome the Princess of T’ai-ho, "they presented the court with camel’s hair, brocade, white silk, sable and mouse furs," and other things like jade belts as well as 1,000 horses and 50 camels.4 5 These goods were no doubt sometimes traded by the Uighurs, but detailed information is nowhere recorded." [1]
[1]: (Mackerras 1990, 338)
"With time, the problem of the currency circulation unification was acute in the empire. Allsen (1987: 180182) believes that a role of the universal currency has been played by the silver bar (Mong. süke, Chinese - ting, Persian - balīsh, Uigur - yastug, Russ. slitok)." [1]
[1]: (Kradin 2013, 173)
"Earlier steppe people had exchanged some of their horses for Chinese silk, but the scale of the Sino- Uighur trade was unusually large. It reached impressive proportions about 760 and became one of the most important aspects of their mutual relations. A Chinese historian explains its development as follows: The Uighurs, taking advantage of their service to China [during the An Lu-shan rebellion], frequently used to send embassies with horses to trade at an agreed price for silken fabrics. Usually they came every year, trading one horse for forty pieces of silk. Every time they came they brought several tens of thousands of horses [. . .] The barbarians acquired silk insatiably and we were given useless horses. The court found it extremely galling.44 This was a forced trade, of far greater value to the Uighurs than to the Chinese, and continued throughout the period of the Uighur empire. Most of the vast quantity of silk involved could be re-exported to other countries or function as a form of currency. But some of it was possibly used among the urban rich, who were becoming accustomed to a softer life." [1]
[1]: (Mackerras 1990, 338)
Qarshi, built by Kebek of the Chagatai Khaganate is an example "typical of Mongolian and south Siberian cities from the Xiongnu period onwards."; it was "bounded by a strong wall, 4.5 m thick, surrounded by a deep defensive ditch, 8-10 m wide and 3.5-4 m deep, and had four gates. The original layout of the city (before Timurid additions) included one central fortress/palace surrounded by an open spaced designed for the erection of tents." [1] We don’t know if the walls in this region were made out of stone or earth.
[1]: (Biran 2013, 271-272) Michal Biran. Rulers and City Life in Mongal Central Asia (1220-1370) David Durand-Guedy. Turko-Mongol Rulers, Cities and City Life. BRILL. Leiden.
Qarshi, built by Kebek of the Chagatai Khaganate is an example "typical of Mongolian and south Siberian cities from the Xiongnu period onwards."; it was "bounded by a strong wall, 4.5 m thick, surrounded by a deep defensive ditch, 8-10 m wide and 3.5-4 m deep, and had four gates. The original layout of the city (before Timurid additions) included one central fortress/palace surrounded by an open spaced designed for the erection of tents." [1] We don’t know if the walls in this region were made out of stone or earth.
[1]: (Biran 2013, 271-272) Michal Biran. Rulers and City Life in Mongal Central Asia (1220-1370) David Durand-Guedy. Turko-Mongol Rulers, Cities and City Life. BRILL. Leiden.
Qarshi, built by Kebek of the Chagatai Khaganate is an example "typical of Mongolian and south Siberian cities from the Xiongnu period onwards."; it was "bounded by a strong wall, 4.5 m thick, surrounded by a deep defensive ditch, 8-10 m wide and 3.5-4 m deep, and had four gates. The original layout of the city (before Timurid additions) included one central fortress/palace surrounded by an open spaced designed for the erection of tents." [1]
[1]: (Biran 2013, 271-272) Michal Biran. Rulers and City Life in Mongal Central Asia (1220-1370) David Durand-Guedy. Turko-Mongol Rulers, Cities and City Life. BRILL. Leiden.
By the seventh century the "Sogdians and Turkic peoples "had their own sophisticated metallurgical industries." [1] "The other peoples who were heavily involved with arms production and trade with the Tibetans were the Turkic peoples and especially the Karluks, allies of the Tibetans during the eighth and early ninth centuries ... The Karluks ... were noted by Islamic geographers as producers and exporters of iron artifacts and weapons to Tibet and China." [2]
[1]: (Clarke 2006, 21-22) John Clarke. A History of Ironworking in Tibet: Centers of Production, Styles, and Techniques. Donald J LaRocca. ed. 2006. Warriors of the Himalayas: Rediscovering the Arms and Armor of Tibet. Yale University Press. New Haven.
[2]: (Clarke 2006, 22) John Clarke. A History of Ironworking in Tibet: Centers of Production, Styles, and Techniques. Donald J LaRocca. ed. 2006. Warriors of the Himalayas: Rediscovering the Arms and Armor of Tibet. Yale University Press. New Haven.
Majemir culture from 900 BCE is an example of one of the first iron-using cultures in the Altai region. [1] and by 300 BCE in the Ordos region of Mongolia iron was becoming much more frequently used for weapons and horse fittings. [2]
[1]: (Baumer 2012) Baumer, Christoph. 2012. The History of Central Asia: The Age of the Steppe Warriors. I.B.Tauris. London.
[2]: (Di Cosmo 2002, 84) Nicola Di Cosmo. 2002. Ancient China and Its Enemies: The Rise of Nomadic Power in East Asian History. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.
long been in use in the region. Majemir culture from 900 BCE is an example of one of the first iron-using cultures in the Altai region. [1] and by 300 BCE in the Ordos region of Mongolia iron was becoming much more frequently used for weapons and horse fittings. [2]
[1]: (Baumer 2012) Baumer, Christoph. 2012. The History of Central Asia: The Age of the Steppe Warriors. I.B.Tauris. London.
[2]: (Di Cosmo 2002, 84) Nicola Di Cosmo. 2002. Ancient China and Its Enemies: The Rise of Nomadic Power in East Asian History. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.
long been in use in the region. Majemir culture from 900 BCE is an example of one of the first iron-using cultures in the Altai region. [1] and by 300 BCE in the Ordos region of Mongolia iron was becoming much more frequently used for weapons and horse fittings. [2]
[1]: (Baumer 2012) Baumer, Christoph. 2012. The History of Central Asia: The Age of the Steppe Warriors. I.B.Tauris. London.
[2]: (Di Cosmo 2002, 84) Nicola Di Cosmo. 2002. Ancient China and Its Enemies: The Rise of Nomadic Power in East Asian History. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.