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Göktürks

Göktürk petroglyphs from Mongolia (6th to 8th century)
Total population
Ancestral to Uyghurs, Yugurs, and other Turkic population
Regions with significant populations
Central Asia
Languages
Old Turkic
Religion
Tengrism, Buddhism, Shamanism, Ancestor worship

The Göktürks, Celestial Turks, Blue Turks or Kok Turks (Old Turkic: 𐰜𐰇𐰛:𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰰, Kök Türük Chinese: 突厥/تُكِئ; pinyin: Tūjué, Template:Lang-dng; Khotanese Saka Ttūrka, Ttrūka, Old Tibetan Drugu), were a nomadic confederation of Turkic peoples in medieval Inner Asia. The Göktürks, under the leadership of Bumin Qaghan (d. 552) and his sons, succeeded the Rouran Khaganate as the main power in the region and established the Turkic Khaganate, one of several nomadic dynasties which would shape the future geolocation, culture, and dominant beliefs of Turkic peoples.

Etymology

Strictly speaking, the common name Göktürk is the Anatolian Turkish form of the ethnonym. The Old Turkic name for the Göktürks was 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰰 Türük, 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰰:𐰜𐰇𐰛 Kök Türük, or Türk. They were known in Middle Chinese historical sources as the tɦutkyat (Chinese: 突厥; pinyin: Tūjué). According to Chinese sources, the meaning of the word Tujue was "combat helmet" (Chinese: 兜鍪; pinyin: Dōumóu; Wade–Giles: Tou-mou), reportedly because the shape of the Altai Mountains where they lived, was similar to a combat helmet.

Göktürk means "Celestial Turks", or sometimes "Blue Turks" (i.e. because sky blue is associated with celestial realms). This is consistent with "the cult of heavenly ordained rule" which was a recurrent element of Altaic political culture and as such may have been imbibed by the Göktürks from their predecessors in Mongolia. The name of the ruling Ashina clan may derive from the Khotanese Saka term for "deep blue", āššɪna.

The word Türk meant "strong" in Old Turkic.

Origins

The Göktürk rulers originated from the Ashina clan, who were first attested to 439. The Book of Sui reports that in that year, on October 18, the Tuoba ruler Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei overthrew Juqu Mujian of the Northern Liang in eastern Gansu, whence 500 Ashina families fled northwest to the Rouran Khaganate in the vicinity of Gaochang. Peter Benjamin Golden points out the possibility that the khaghans of the Turkic Khaganate, the Ashina, were themselves originally Indo-Europeans (possibly Iranian peoples) who later adopted the Turkic language but continued to use titles from their earlier Indo-European languages. German Turkologist W.-E. Scharlipp points out that many common terms in Turkic are Iranian in origin.

According to the Book of Zhou and the History of the Northern Dynasties, the Ashina clan was a component of the Xiongnu confederation, but this connection is disputed, and according to the Book of Sui and the Tongdian, they were "mixed Hu (barbarians)" (雜胡) from Pingliang. Indeed, Chinese sources linked the Hu on their northern borders to the Xiongnu just as Graeco-Roman historiographers called the Pannonian Avars, Huns and Hungarians "Scythians". Such archaizing was a common literary topos, and implied similar geographic origins and nomadic lifestyle but not direct filiation.

As part of the heterogeneous Rouran Khaganate, the Türks lived for generations north of the Altai Mountains, where they 'engaged in metal working for the Rouran'. According to Denis Sinor, the rise to power of the Ashina clan represented an 'internal revolution' in the Rouran Khaganate rather than an external conquest. According to Charles Holcombe, the early Tujue population was rather heterogeneous and many of the names of Türk rulers, including the two founding members, are not even Turkic. This is supported by evidence from the Orkhon inscriptions, which include several non-Turkic lexemes, possibly representing Finno-Ugric or Samoyedic words.

Expansion

After the collapse of China's Sui dynasty, the Göktürks intervened in the ensuing civil wars, providing support to the northeastern rebel Liu Heita against the rising Tang in 622 and 623. He enjoyed a long string of success but was finally routed by Li Shimin and other Tang generals and executed. On May 19, 639 Ashina Jiesheshuai and his tribesmen directly assaulted Emperor Taizong of Tang at Jiucheng Palace (九成宮, in present-day Linyou County, Baoji, Shaanxi). However, they did not succeed and fled to the north, but were caught by pursuers near the Wei River and were killed. Ashina Hexiangu was exiled to Lingbiao. After the unsuccessful raid of Ashina Jiesheshuai, on August 13, 639 Taizong installed Qilibi Khan and ordered the settled Turkic people to follow him north of the Yellow River to settle between the Great Wall of China and the Gobi Desert.

In 679, Ashide Wenfu and Ashide Fengzhi, who were Turkic leaders of the Chanyu Protectorate (單于大都護府), declared Ashina Nishufu as qaghan and revolted against the Tang dynasty. In 680, Pei Xingjian defeated Ashina Nishufu and his army. Ashina Nishufu was killed by his men. Ashide Wenfu made Ashina Funian a qaghan and again revolted against the Tang dynasty. Ashide Wenfu and Ashina Funian surrendered to Pei Xingjian. On December 5, 681 54 Göktürks including Ashide Wenfu and Ashina Funian were publicly executed in the Eastern Market of Chang'an. In 682, Ilterish Qaghan and Tonyukuk revolted and occupied Heisha Castle (northwest of present-day Hohhot, Inner Mongolia) with the remnants of Ashina Funian's men.

Rulers

See also

• Ethnic groups in Chinese history
• Göktürk family tree
• Turkmens (on the Y-DNA of Turkmens)
• Horses in East Asian warfare
• Kankalis
• Khazars
• Kürşat (hero)
• Timeline of the Turkic peoples (500–1300)
• Turkic peoples
• Temir Kapig
• Xiongnu

References

1. ^ Golden 2011, p. 20.
2. ^ Kultegin's Memorial Complex, Türik Bitig Orkhon inscriptions
3. ^ Bilge Kagan's Memorial Complex, Türik Bitig
4. Tonyukuk's Memorial Complex, Türik Bitig Bain Tsokto inscriptions
5. ^ Linghu Defen et al., Book of Zhou, Vol. 50. Template:Zh icon
6. ^ Wei Zheng et al., Book of Sui, Vol. 84. Template:Zh icon
7. ^ Li Yanshou (李延寿), History of the Northern Dynasties, Vol. 99. Template:Zh icon
8. Marshall Cavendish Corporation 2006, p. 545. sfn error: no target: CITEREFMarshall_Cavendish_Corporation2006 (help)
9. Wink 64.
10. Findley 2004, p. 39.
11. American Heritage Dictionary (2000). "The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition - "Turk"". bartleby.com. Retrieved 2006-12-07.
12. Wei Shou, Book of Wei, Vol. 4-I. Template:Zh icon
13. Sima Guang, Zizhi Tongjian, Vol. 123. Template:Zh icon
14. 永和七年 (太延五年) 九月丙戌 Academia Sinica Template:Zh icon
15. Christian, p. 249.
16. Peter B. Golden, An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples, O. Harrassowitz, 1992, p. 121–122
17. „(...) Über die Ethnogenese dieses Stammes ist viel gerätselt worden. Auffallend ist, dass viele zentrale Begriffe iranischen Ursprungs sind. Dies betrifft fast alle Titel (...). Einige Gelehrte wollen auch die Eigenbezeichnung türk auf einen iranischen Ursprung zurückführen und ihn mit dem Wort „Turan“, der persischen Bezeichnung für das Land jeneseits des Oxus, in Verbindung bringen.“ Wolfgang-Ekkehard Scharlipp in Die frühen Türken in Zentralasien, p. 18
18. Christian, p. 249
19. 杜佑, 《通典》, 北京: 中華書局出版, (Du You, Tongdian, Vol.197), 辺防13 北狄4 突厥上, 1988, ISBN 7-101-00258-7, p. 5401. Template:Zh icon
20. Sinor 1990.
21. Sima Guang, Zizhi Tongjian, Vol. 159. Template:Zh icon
22. Sinor 1990, p. 295.
23. Holcombe 2001, p. 114. sfn error: no target: CITEREFHolcombe2001 (help)
24. Sinor 1990, p. 291.
25. 貞觀十三年 四月戊寅 Academia Sinica Archived 2010-05-22 at the Wayback Machine Template:Zh icon
26. Sima Guang, Zizhi Tongjian, Vol. 195. Template:Zh icon
27. 貞觀十三年 七月庚戌 Academia Sinica Archived 2010-05-22 at the Wayback Machine Template:Zh icon
28. Ouyang Xiu et al., New Book of Tang, Vol. 215-I.
29. ^ Sima Guang, Zizhi Tongjian, Vol. 202 Template:Zh icon
30. 開耀元年 十月乙酉 Academia Sinica Archived 2010-05-22 at the Wayback Machine Template:Zh icon
31. Sima Guang, Zizhi Tongjian, Vol. 203 Template:Zh icon

Bibliography

• Christian, David. A history of Russia, Central Asia and Mongolia, Vol. 1: Inner Eurasia from prehistory to the Mongol Empire. Blackwell, 1998.
• Findley, Carter Vaughn (2004). The Turks in World History. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-988425-4. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Golden, Peter Benjamin (2011). "Ethnogenesis in the tribal zone: The Shaping of the Turks". Studies on the peoples and cultures of the Eurasian steppes. Bucureşti: Ed. Acad. Române. ISBN 978-973-1871-96-7. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Great Soviet Encyclopaedia, 3rd ed. Article "Turkic Khaganate" (online).
• Grousset, René. The Empire of the Steppes. Rutgers University Press, 1970. ISBN 0-8135-1304-9.
• Gumilev, Lev (2007) Template:Ru icon The Göktürks (Древние тюрки ;Drevnie ti︠u︡rki). Moscow: AST, 2007. ISBN 5-17-024793-1.
• Skaff, Jonathan Karem (2009). Nicola Di Cosmo (ed.). Military Culture in Imperial China. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-03109-8. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Yu. Zuev (I︠U︡. A. Zuev) (2002) Template:Ru icon, "Early Türks: Essays on history and ideology" (Rannie ti︠u︡rki: ocherki istorii i ideologii), Almaty, Daik-Press, p. 233, ISBN 9985-4-4152-9
• Wechsler, Howard J. (1979). "T'ai-Tsung (Reign 626-49): The Consolidator". In Denis Twitchett; John Fairbank (eds.). The Cambridge History of China, Volume 3: Sui and T'ang China Part I. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-21446-9. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Wink, André. Al-Hind: The Making of the Indo-Islamic World. Brill Academic Publishers, 2002. ISBN 0-391-04173-8.
• Zhu, Xueyuan (朱学渊) (2004) Template:Zh icon The Origins of the Ethnic Groups of Northern China (中国北方诸族的源流). Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju (中华书局) ISBN 7-101-03336-9
• Xue, Zongzheng (薛宗正) (1992) Template:Zh icon A History of the Turks (突厥史). Beijing: Chinese Social Sciences Press (中国社会科学出版社) ISBN 7-5004-0432-8
• Nechaeva, Ekaterina (2011). "The "Runaway" Avars and Late Antique Diplomacy". In Ralph W. Mathisen, Danuta Shanzer (ed.). Romans, Barbarians, and the Transformation of the Roman World: Cultural Interaction and the Creation of Identity in Late Antiquity. Ashgate. pp. 175–181. ISBN 9780754668145.
• Sinor, Denis (1990). The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-24304-9. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

v t e Turkic topics
Languages	Afshar Altai Northern Southern Äynu Azerbaijani Bashkir Bulgar Chagatai Chulym Chuvash Crimean Tatar Cuman Dolgan Fuyü Gïrgïs Gagauz Ili Turki Karachay-Balkar Karaim Karakalpak Karamanli Turkish Kazakh Khakas Khalaj Khazar Khorasani Turkic Kipchak Krymchak Kumyk Kipchak languages Kyrgyz Nogai Old Turkic Ottoman Turkish Pecheneg Qashqai Sakha/Yakut Salar Shor Siberian Tatar Tatar Tofa Turkish Turkmen Tuvan Urum Uyghur Uzbek Western Yugur Alphabets Old Turkic Common Turkic Cyrillic Old Uyghur Persian
Peoples	Afshars Altaians Chelkans, Kumandins, Telengits, Teleuts, Tubalars Azerbaijanis in Iran, Armenia, Georgia Balkars Bashkirs Chulyms Chuvash Crimean Karaites Crimean Tatars Dolgans Gagauz Karachays Karakalpaks Kazakhs in China Khakas Khalaj Khorasani Turks Krymchaks Kyrgyz in China Kumyks Naimans Nogais Qarai Turks Qashqai Salar Shors Siberian Tatars Baraba Tatars Tatars Astrakhan, Chinese, Lipka, Kryashens, Mishar, Nağaybäk, Volga Tofalar Turkmens Afghan, Iranian Turkish in Abkhazia, Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Crete, Cyprus, Dodecanese, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Kosovo, Lebanon, Libya, North Macedonia, Meskhetia (Ahiska), Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Syria, Tunisia, Western Thrace, Yemen Tuvans Uyghurs Uzbeks in Afghanistan Yakuts (Sakha) Yugurs Extinct Turkic groups Bulaqs Bulgars Cumans Dughlats Göktürks Karluks Khazars Kimek Kipchaks K'o-sa Oghuz Turks Shatuo Türgesh Uzes
Politics	Grey Wolves Kemalism Burkhanism Jadid Pan-Turkism Turkesism Turanism (Hungarian)
Origins	Turkestan Mongolia History Timeline of the Göktürks Timeline 500–1300 Migration Turkification Nomadic empire Turco-Mongol Tian Shan / Altai Mountains Otuken Oğuz
Locations	Sovereign states Azerbaijan Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Northern Cyprus Turkey Turkmenistan Uzbekistan Autonomous areas Altai Republic Bashkortostan Chuvashia Crimea Gagauzia Kabardino-Balkaria Karachay-Cherkessia Karakalpakstan Khakassia Nakhchivan Sakha Tatarstan Tuva Xinjiang
Studies	Old Turkic script Proto-Turkic language Turkology
Religions	Turkic mythology Tengrism Shamanism Aiyy Faith Tibetan Buddhism Islam Alevism Batiniyya Bayramiye Bektashi Order Burkhanism Christianity Hurufism Khalwati order Malamatiyya Qadiri Qalandariyya Rifaʽi* Safaviyya Zahediyeh Vattisen Yaly
Traditional sports	Kyz kuu Jereed Kokpar Jigit Chovgan
Organizations	Organization of Turkic States International Organization of Turkic Culture (TÜRKSOY) Parliamentary Assembly (TURKPA) Turkic Academy Organization of the Eurasian Law Enforcement Agencies with Military Status (TAKM) World Turks Qurultai
These are traditional areas of settlement; the Turkic group has been living in the listed country/region for centuries and should not be confused with modern diasporas. State with limited international recognition.

• Göktürks
• Historical Turkic states
• Turkic dynasties
• History of the Turkic peoples
• Turkic peoples
• Turkic tribes
• Former countries in Chinese history
• Khaganates
• Nomads of the Eurasian steppe
• Nomadic groups in Eurasia
• Uyghurs
• Ethnic groups in Asia
• History of Kazakhstan
• History of Kyrgyzstan
• History of Uzbekistan
• History of Tajikistan
• History of Mongolia
• States and territories established in 552
• 747 disestablishments
• States and territories disestablished in the 8th century
• 6th century in Asia
• 7th century in Asia
• 8th century in Asia
• 552 establishments in Asia