Kara-Khanids

  General Description   Karakhanids were a Buddhist nomadic tribe from Kashgar who converted to Islam sometime in the 950s CE ^[1] After their conversion, the Karakhanids "accepted the nominal authority of the Abbasid caliphs and directly or indirectly promoted the spread of Islam among the populace of Transoxania, Kashgar, and the Tarim basin." ^[2]
Starr (2013) describes their polity as "no state at all but a loose confederation of appendages, the ruling houses of which were linked by blood ties." ^[1] In the mid-11th century the state was formally divided into two separate Khanates, with Western and Eastern halves. ^[3]
Despite the decentralized system of government being the dominant characteristic of the Karakhanid Khanate, literature suggests there may have been a central government with a vizier ^[1] , and during the reign of Ibrahim in the mid-11th century "a single system of coinage with different denominations circulated throughout the Western Karakhanid Khanate, creating good, stable market conditions." ^[4]
Never entirely an independent polity, after the regress of the Abbasid Caliphate the Western Karakhanids became "dependent on the Seljuqs" who "placed on the Karakhanid throne in Samarkand whichever members of the dynasty they required. The vassal status of the Western Karakhanids is also reflected in the coinage, some of which bears the names of Seljuq sultans." ^[5]
Central Asia is considered to have reached its ’golden age’ in its civilizational achivement during the Karakhanid period. Davidovich describes the complexity of life in its populous cities, which may have exceeded 300,000 inhabitants:
"To the best of our knowledge, strenuous efforts were made to keep the towns clean. It was forbidden to throw rubbish into the streets and alleyways, which were considered to be public property. Deep wells for rubbish and sewage, covered by earthenware or wooden lids, were provided in private courtyards as well as in public places, houses and palaces, according to the archaeological evidence. Archaeologists have discovered ceramic water pipes and segments of paved streets and courtyards dating from the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Blown window glass was also in use at the time." ^[6]

[1]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton.

[2]: (Lapidus 2012, 230) Lapidus, Ira M. 2012. Islamic Societies to the Nineteenth Century: A Global History. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.

[3]: (Davidovich 1997, 144-145) Davidovich, E A. in Asimov, M S and Bosworth, C E eds. 1997. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume IV. Part I. UNESCO.

[4]: (Davidovich 1997, 136) Davidovich, E A. in Asimov, M S and Bosworth, C E eds. 1997. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume IV. Part I. UNESCO.

[5]: (Davidovich 1997, 138) Davidovich, E A. in Asimov, M S and Bosworth, C E eds. 1997. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume IV. Part I. UNESCO.

[6]: (Davidovich 1997, 148) Davidovich, E A. in Asimov, M S and Bosworth, C E eds. 1997. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume IV. Part I. UNESCO.