Who surrounded the Turkic ethnos. Turkic group of languages: peoples

Community of Turkic-speaking peoples

The Turks are an ethno-linguistic community that formed in the steppes of Northern China in the 1st millennium BC. e.

Many peoples inhabiting the world space are Turkic-speaking. Conventionally, they can be classified into several groups. Conventionality is explained by linguistic convergence in the process of coexistence of tribes in neighboring lands. The ancient t. include: Turks, Pechenegs, Cumans, Huns, Bulgars, Khazars, Oghuz Turks, Karluks.

Currently, scientists divide tons into two large groups:

1) western t. are represented by:

Bulgar subgroup;

Kypchak (north-western) subgroup, which includes: Kypchak-Bulgarian, Kypchak-Polovtsian, Kypchak-Nogai peoples;

Karluk (southeastern) subgroup;

Oguz (southwestern) subgroup, which includes: Oguz-Bulgarian, Oguz-Seljuk, Oghuz-Turkmen peoples.

2) eastern t. are represented by:

Kirghiz-Kypchak subgroup;

Uighur subgroup.

Who are the T. and where did they come from?

For the first time, the ethnonym Türk is found among the Türks of the 6th century. Chinese chronicles have been reporting about the Turks since 542; European - from 568

There are many versions of the origin of the name T. V. Thomsen translates the term "toruk", "turuk" as "standing straight", "strong". V.V. Bartold rejects the opinion of V. Thomsen and speaks of the origin of the name from the word "turu" (establishment), which, in relation to the people ruled by the Turkic kagan, means "the people ruled by me." A.N. Kononov - the word "Turk" means "strong, strong."

Ethnogenesis and common language

The initial territories of settlement were the lands of Asia and South Siberia. West of the river Volga in the III - II millennium BC. e. there was a group of comrades who were in migration. These t. have become dominant in the Volga region, Kazakhstan, Altai and the Upper Yenisei valley. Another group of tons appeared in the steppes east of the river. The Yenisei is a little later, its roots are intra-Asian. The tribes interacted with each other, and in the II millennium AD. e. from among them stood out modern tons of Russia and the surrounding territories.

Social and state system

The form of the state in ancient times was nomadic. Starting from the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e. and up to the 17th century. in Eurasia there were first Scythian, then Turkic states.

In the Central Asian interfluve in the early Middle Ages, sedentary and semi-nomadic communities took shape, in close contact with the Iranian-speaking Sogdian, Khorezmian, and Bactrian populations. In the VI century. n. e. in the middle reaches of the river. Syrdarya and r. Chu arose Turkestan.

The first state association is the Xiongnu horde. This is the formation of the Huns in the 5th century. By 552 - 745 years. refers to existence in Central Asia Turkic Khaganate. In the V - VIII centuries. Bulgars created new states on the territory of Europe - Danube Bulgaria, Volga Bulgaria. In 650 - 969 years. there was the Khazar Khaganate, defeated by Svyatoslav. From the second half of the ninth century The Khazars were driven out by the Pechenegs, who occupied the northern Black Sea region. They were defeated in 1019 by the Russian Yaroslav the Wise. In the XI century. The Pechenegs were replaced by the Polovtsy, conquered at the beginning of the 13th century. Mongol-Tatars. The resulting Golden Horde had a predominantly Turkic population. In the XV - XVI centuries. it broke up into independent khanates.

Economy, culture and traditions

The traditional occupations of the t. are nomadic cattle breeding, extraction and processing of iron.

Ethnocultural traditions developed in the era of antiquity and the Middle Ages. In the second half of the 1st millennium AD. e. an economic and cultural type, spiritual culture, traditions, etc. took shape. Own writing was created.

Many Turkic-speaking tribes participated in the historical process of formation and development of the ancient Turkic statehood and culture. An important role in this process was played by the Pechenegs, united in a powerful union of tribes.

Pechenegs

The Pechenegs roamed in the 8th-9th centuries between the Aral Sea, the Lik and Volga rivers and controlled the territory inhabited by Iranian-speaking Sarmatian, Finno-Ugric and other tribes.

Faced with pressure from the Khazars, Oguzes, and Polovtsians (Kipchaks), the Pechenegs moved west. One of the reasons that prompted the Pechenegs to move to the east of Europe, first the Pechenegs, and then the Oguzes and Polovtsy, was an almost century-old drought, which sharply reduced the areas suitable for nomadism in the Aral Sea and Transcaspia.

In the 9th century, the Pechenegs crossed the Volga and settled in the Northern Black Sea region, controlling the vast steppe strip from the Don to the Danube and fighting with almost all of their close neighbors: the Khazars, Magyars, Russia and Byzantium.

Byzantium often resorted to the military assistance of the Pechenegs to weaken Ancient Russia. So, in 972, the Pechenegs met the squad of Svyatoslav Igorevich, who was returning from Byzantium, at the Dnieper rapids, and defeated it.

The fierce war continued under Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavovich, who created several fortified lines to protect the southern borders of Russia, concluded an alliance with the Oghuz against the Pechenegs and became close to Byzantium.

In 1036, Yaroslav the Wise defeated the Pechenegs near Kyiv, after which the Pecheneg military association broke up.

The Oghuz-Torks completed the work, and later, who ousted the Pechenegs in the middle of the XI century to the Carpathians and the Danube. Groups of Pechenegs gradually dissolved among the surrounding population, and most of them merged with the Polovtsians (Cumans).

There are reasons to consider the Pechenegs, Oguzes and Polovtsy, who settled and lived on the Danube, the Turkic-speaking people of the Gagauz, as distant descendants of the Bulgarians. The Gagauzians adopted Christianity in the 13th century and moved to Bessarabia in the late 18th-19th century. Now they have formed the Gagauz Republic within Moldova.

Oghuz

The Oghuz tribes were mentioned in the Orkhon-Yenisei inscriptions of the 8th century. under the name tokuz-oguz (literally - nine genera). Subsequently, they became part of the Turkic and Uyghur Khaganates, where, in the process of the formation of the Uyghur ethnos, the name Tokuz-Oguz was replaced by the ethnonym "Uyghur".

In the 9th - 11th centuries, under the name Oguz, a Turkic union of the Aral and Caspian tribes was formed with a center in the city of Yangikent in the lower reaches of the Syr Darya. In the 10th century, Western Oguzes (guzes, uzes, torks) appeared in the east of Europe, another part of them moved to Central Asia. The Western Oghuz-Torks fought with the Khazar Khaganate, the Pechenegs, made an unsuccessful campaign against Byzantium, and at the beginning of the 11th century roamed the steppes of the Black Sea region.

Oghuz-torks often acted as allies of the Kievan princes. The chronicle first mentions Torks in 985, when they participated in the campaign of Prince Vladimir against the Volga Bulgarians. They later participated in internecine wars Russian princes, fought with the Polovtsians. Part of the Torks, settled by the sons of Yaroslav along the rivers Ros and Torch (the city of Torchesk), eventually became Slavic, and those who remained in the steppes were assimilated by the Polovtsians.

Mentioned from the end of the XI - XII century. the tribal association of the "black hoods" also consisted of the remnants of the Turkic tribes - Pechenegs, Torks, Berendeys. It defended the southern borders of Kievan Rus and was used by the Russian princes competing in the struggle for power as a military support. Gradually, the Torks moved to a settled way of life. In the XII century. the prince of Kyiv was formally "the supreme overlord of the black hoods." It is interesting to note that the ethnonym “black hoods” echoes the self-name of the Karakalpaks, a modern Turkic ethnic group living in Karakalpakstan as part of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

The Oguzes of Central Asia, led by the Seljuks, subjugated Khorezm, Iran, Azerbaijan, moved to Asia Minor and the Middle East, creating a huge Seljuk State by the end of the 11th century. In the XI-XIII century, the ethnonym "Oguz" was replaced in Central Asia by the ethnonym "Turkmen", and in the Middle East - by the ethnonym "Turk". The Oghuz played a significant role in the ethnogenesis of modern Turkmens, Azerbaijanis and Turks.

Kipchaks (Polovtsy, Cumans)

In the 11th century, the peoples of Eastern Europe and Central Asia are witnessing the next wave of migration of nomadic peoples after the great Hunnic migration, caused by the movement of a new strong union of Turkic nomadic tribes called Kipchaks, Polovtsy or Cumans. The term "Kipchaks" was used in the east, the Slavs called these tribes Polovtsy, and they were most often called Cumans in Europe.

The Kipchaks in the 8th century were part of the so-called Kimak Khaganate, which existed in Western Siberia, and were the western group of this tribal union. After isolation, the Kipchaks occupied the territory of North-Western Kazakhstan and in the 10th century bordered the Kimaks in the east, the Khazars in the west, and the Oguzes in the south. Already in the middle of the 10th century, the Kipchaks, following the Oghuz-Torks, crossed the Volga and spread in a wide wave across the steppes of Eastern Europe, subjugating the main part of the Pechenegs and Torks-Oguzes remaining there.

The vast territory controlled by the Kipchaks in the 11th-13th centuries was called Desht-i-Kipchak in the east (from the Persian “Kipchak steppe”), its borders stretched from the Irtysh to the Danube.

It is assumed that the northern border of Desht-i-Kipchak passed along the Moskva River, where the Turks bordered on the Finno-Ugric peoples, and displays a toponymic series of names near Moscow: Kolomenskoye - from "kolloma" (protection), Kapotnya - from "high settlement" (" tall grass"), Kuntsevo - from the" shelter "(" visiting yard "), Desht-i-Kipchak was conditionally divided into the western and eastern parts, the borders of which were the Urals and the Yaik River.

The western part of the Kipchak steppes was called the Polovtsian land in the Russian chronicles. Nomadic cattle breeding remained the basis of the Kipchak economy, but under the influence of the peoples of the occupied lands, part of the Kipchaks switched to a settled way of life, agriculture, crafts and trade. A significant role was played by the military aristocracy, striving to expand power and replenish wealth.

Most of the Polovtsy remained pagans. The dominant religion, obviously, was shamanism, which had been preserved among the Kipchaks from ancient times. The Polovtsian archaeological monuments of the Black Sea steppes are considered to be burial mounds, on which “stone women” were usually installed - statues of human figures from one and a half to three and a half meters high, which have early analogues among the Scythian-Sarmatian and Turkic peoples. The sculptures preserved in the southern Russian steppes allow us to present the details of the costume and weapons of the Polovtsy. The social system of the Polovtsy was at the stage of formation of early feudal relations.

Despite the vastness of the territories controlled by the Kipchaks, they did not have a state as a formalized political institution. Separate tribal unions, headed by prince-khans, were nothing more than a conglomerate. But, located at strategically important geopolitical and trade crossroads that connected the countries, cultures and civilizations of the East and Europe, they played an important role in the fate of many peoples of Eurasia, especially Russian and Tatar. The Kipchak enzyme gave brightness and strength to the multicolored Turkic civilization.

Thus, by the beginning of the Middle Ages, the Great Steppe was not only charged with the energy of the multi-ethnic flow of Eurasian peoples, but also turned into an arena of unique historical creativity and cultural and civilizational competitive rivalry.

The official history says that the Turkic language arose in the first millennium when the first tribes belonging to this group appeared. But, as modern research shows, the language itself arose much earlier. There is even an opinion that the Turkic language came from a certain proto-language, which was spoken by all the inhabitants of Eurasia, as in the legend of tower of babel. The main phenomenon of the Turkic vocabulary is that it has not changed much over the five millennia of its existence. The ancient writings of the Sumerians will still be as clear to the Kazakhs as modern books.

Spreading

The Turkic language group is very numerous. If you look territorially, then the peoples who communicate in similar languages live like this: in the west, the border begins with Turkey, in the east - the autonomous region of China Xinjiang, in the north - the East Siberian Sea and in the south - Khorasan.

Currently, the approximate number of people who speak Turkic is 164 million, this number is almost equal to the entire population of Russia. On the this moment there are different opinions about how the group of Turkic languages is classified. Which languages stand out in this group, we will consider further. Main: Turkish, Azerbaijani, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Turkmen, Uzbek, Karakalpak, Uighur, Tatar, Bashkir, Chuvash, Balkar, Karachai, Kumyk, Nogai, Tuvan, Khakass, Yakut, etc.

Ancient Turkic-speaking peoples

We know that the Turkic group of languages spread very widely in Eurasia. In ancient times, the peoples who spoke this way were simply called Turks. Their main activity was cattle breeding and agriculture. But one should not perceive all modern peoples of the Turkic language group as descendants of an ancient ethnic group. As the millennia passed, their blood mixed with the blood of other ethnic groups of Eurasia, and now there are simply no indigenous Turks.

The ancient peoples of this group include:

Turkuts - tribes that settled in the Altai Mountains in the 5th century AD;
Pechenegs - arose at the end of the 9th century and inhabited the area between Kievan Rus, Hungary, Alania and Mordovia;
Polovtsy - with their appearance they forced out the Pechenegs, they were very freedom-loving and aggressive;
the Huns - arose in the II-IV centuries and managed to create a huge state from the Volga to the Rhine, Avars and Hungarians went from them;
Bulgars - such peoples as the Chuvash, Tatars, Bulgarians, Karachays, Balkars originated from these ancient tribes.
Khazars - huge tribes who managed to create their own state and oust the Huns;
Oghuz Turks - the ancestors of the Turkmens, Azerbaijanis, lived in Seljukia;
Karluks - lived in the VIII-XV centuries.

Classification

The Turkic group of languages has a very complex classification. Rather, each historian offers his own version, which will differ from the other by minor changes. We offer you the most common option:

Bulgarian group. The only currently existing representative is the Chuvash language.
The Yakut group is the easternmost of the peoples of the Turkic language group. Residents speak Yakut and Dolgan dialects.
South Siberian - this group includes the languages of the peoples living mainly within the borders Russian Federation in the south of Siberia.
Southeastern, or Karluk. Examples are Uzbek and Uighur languages.
Northwestern, or Kypchak group - represented large quantity nationalities, many of which live in their own independent territory, such as Tatars, Kazakhs, Kirghiz.
Southwestern, or Oguz. The languages included in the group are Turkmen, Salar, Turkish.

Yakuts

On their territory, the local population calls itself simply - Sakha. Hence the name of the region - the Republic of Sakha. Some representatives also settled in other neighboring areas. The Yakuts are the most eastern of the peoples of the Turkic language group. Culture and traditions were borrowed in ancient times from the tribes living in the central steppe part of Asia.

Khakasses

For this people, an area is defined - the Republic of Khakassia. Here is the largest contingent of Khakasses - about 52 thousand people. Several thousand more moved to live in Tula and the Krasnoyarsk Territory.

Shors

This nationality reached its greatest number in the 17th-18th centuries. Now this is a small ethnic group that can be found only in the south of the Kemerovo region. To date, the number is very small, about 10 thousand people.

Tuvans

Tuvans are usually divided into three groups, which differ from each other in some features of the dialect. Inhabit the Republic This is a small eastern of the peoples of the Turkic language group, living on the border with China.

Tofalars

This nation has almost disappeared. According to the 2010 census, 762 people were found in several villages of the Irkutsk region.

Siberian Tatars

The eastern dialect of Tatar is the language that is considered to be the national language for the Siberian Tatars. This is also a Turkic group of languages. The peoples of this group are densely settled in Russia. They can be found in the countryside of the regions of Tyumen, Omsk, Novosibirsk and others.

Dolgans

A small group living in the northern regions of the Nenets autonomous region. They even have their own municipal district - Taimyrsky Dolgano-Nenetsky. To date, only 7.5 thousand people remain representatives of the Dolgans.

Altaians

The Turkic group of languages includes the Altai lexicon. Now in this area you can freely get acquainted with the culture and traditions of the ancient people.

Independent Turkic-speaking states

To date, there are six separate independent states, the nationality of which is the indigenous Turkic population. First of all, these are Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Of course, Turkey and Turkmenistan. And do not forget about Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan, which treat the Turkic language group in exactly the same way.

The Uighurs have their own autonomous region. It is located in China and is called Xinjiang. Other nationalities belonging to the Turks also live in this territory.

Kyrgyz

The Turkic group of languages primarily includes Kyrgyz. Indeed, the Kirghiz or Kyrgyz are the most ancient representatives of the Turks who lived on the territory of Eurasia. The first mention of the Kirghiz are found in 1 thousand BC. e. Almost throughout its history, the nation did not have its own sovereign territory, but at the same time managed to preserve its identity and culture. The Kyrgyz even have such a concept as "ashar", which means joint work, close cooperation and rallying.

The Kirghiz have long lived in the steppe sparsely populated areas. This could not but affect some of the features of character. These people are extremely hospitable. When a new person used to arrive in the settlement, he would tell news that no one could hear before. For this, the guest was rewarded with the best treats. It is customary to venerate guests sacredly to this day.

Kazakhs

The Turkic language group could not exist without the most numerous Turkic people living not only in the state of the same name, but throughout the world.

The folk customs of the Kazakhs are very severe. Children from childhood are brought up in strict rules, they are taught to be responsible and hardworking. For this nation, the concept of "jigit" is the pride of the people, a person who, at all costs, defends the honor of his fellow tribesman or his own.

In the appearance of the Kazakhs, there is still a clear division into "white" and "black". AT modern world this has long lost its meaning, but the remnants of the old concepts are still preserved. A feature of the appearance of any Kazakh is that he can simultaneously look like a European and a Chinese.

Turks

The Turkic group of languages includes Turkish. It so happened historically that Turkey has always closely cooperated with Russia. And these relations were not always peaceful. Byzantium, and later the Ottoman Empire, began its existence simultaneously with Kievan Rus. Even then there were the first conflicts for the right to rule the Black Sea. Over time, this enmity intensified, which largely influenced the relationship between Russians and Turks.

Turks are very peculiar. First of all, this can be seen in some of their features. They are hardy, patient and completely unpretentious in everyday life. The behavior of the representatives of the nation is very cautious. Even if they are angry, they will never express their dissatisfaction. But then they can hold a grudge and take revenge. In serious matters, the Turks are very cunning. They can smile in the face, and plot intrigues behind their backs for their own benefit.

The Turks took their religion very seriously. Severe Muslim laws prescribed every step in the life of a Turk. For example, they could kill an unbeliever and not be punished for it. Another feature is connected with this feature - a hostile attitude towards non-Muslims.

Conclusion

Turkic-speaking peoples are the largest ethnic group on Earth. The descendants of the ancient Turks settled on all continents, but most of them live in the indigenous territory - in the Altai Mountains and in the south of Siberia. Many peoples managed to preserve their identity within the borders of independent states.

Until the mid-80s of the 20th century, a people called "Turks" did not exist. There was also no anthropological term "Turks". Only in the linguistic environment, this term was used to refer to the so-called "Turkic languages". The famous Turkologist A.N. Kononov in the article "Turkology" defines this concept as follows: "Turkology, a complex of humanities that study languages, history, literature, folklore, culture of peoples who speak Turkic languages. Initially, Turkology developed mainly as a philological discipline” [TSB]. But at present, several peoples at once - representatives of different races - are trying to identify the Turks in ethnic terms. And in this context there is an invisible struggle going on.

Recall that Turkic languages are common in Turkey, among part of the population of Russia, Iran, Afghanistan, Mongolia, China, Bulgaria, Romania, Yugoslavia, Albania, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Bashkiria, Karakalpakstan, Tatarstan, Tuva, Chuvashia, Yakutia, Gorno-Altai Autonomous Region, Khakass Autonomous Region, Dagestan, Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachay-Cherkessia, Stavropol Territory, Moldova, Lithuania and Ukraine (Karaites), Georgia (Urums), Crimea (Krymchaks), etc. In addition to Negroids and Australoids, there are peoples of all races. So far, in this confrontation, Caucasians, Caucasians and Semites are inferior to the Mongoloids.

Let us trace the evolution of the so-called "Turkic languages" using the scheme "Languages of the World" [Tyunyaev, 2007]. If you strictly follow the definition, then the Turkic language until the beginning of the 20th century was the language that preceded the modern Khakass and Shor languages and began its formation in the 5th century from the ancient Uyghur language. The latter, in addition to those named, gave rise to several more languages: 1) in merging with Sogdian - Uighur (8th century) and then Mongolian (from the 19th century), Kalmyk (from the 19th century), Buryat (from the 14th century th century), Chinese (from the 14th century) languages; 2) Oirot, Altai (from the 19th century), Uzbek (from the 19th century) languages; 3) in fusion with the Oguz - Turkish (since the 7th century) language. The Sogdian language is a descendant of the Avestan (Ghat) language - the language of the Indo-European family - at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. mixed with the Elamite language (the Elamodravidian family of paleoanthropes of India). The Oghuz language belongs to the Uralic family.

In general, to be precise in their research, it must be stated that the date “beginning of the 2nd century BC” is deeper. AD" there are no more Turkic languages. Beyond this time there are languages of other families. If you still try to find a certain "root" of the Turkic language, then it is better to do it along the line of the ancient Uyghur language, because, we repeat, the "Sogdian" line leads us to two completely unrelated language families:
Elamo-Dravidian and Indo-European. Their mixing, which occurred at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC, exactly coincides with the data of archeology and anthropology.

Those who came in the 3rd millennium BC Caucasoid settlers, led by the mythological hero Bohumir (Avest. Yima), brought with them the common Indo-European language to the region of the Avestan languages. And the local population belongs to the Vedoid race (a subrace of the Negroid race).

The ancient Uighur lineage of the "Turkic languages" developed in a completely different way, both linguistically and anthropologically. The basis of the genesis here is a pair of Mongoloid races. But even without Europeans it could not do here. The ancient Uyghur language developed by the 2nd century BC. AD by merging two languages - Altaic and Samoyedic. The Altaic language developed from Ugric, which was formed by the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. by mixing Proto-Finno-Ugric (Mongoloids) and common Indo-European.

And the Samoyedic language developed from the Proto-Samoyedic language, which, in turn, developed from the Uralic language by the 5th millennium BC. The Uralic language itself is the result of a mixture of the Indo-European language (Caucasoids) and the Sino-Caucasian (paleo-Mongoloid paleoanthropes of the Caucasus and Altai) language, which took place in the 10th millennium BC. And this is the final point of the Uralic family of languages. However, there is no reason to attribute the Turkic languages to this family. More precisely, only to this family. The real Uralic languages are Koryak, Chukchi, Nivkh, Aleut, Yukagir and others, which no one associates with the Turkic languages.

And, if we try to give a clear definition of the process of formation of the "Turkic" family of languages, then this definition should be formulated as follows. The Turkic family of languages is the result of a non-equilibrium mixing of the languages of four unrelated families - Uralic, Indo-European, Elamo-Dravidian and Sino-Caucasian. Mixing proceeded in the Altai region following the processes of interracial miscegenation in several stages. At the first stage, by the 10th millennium BC, the Ural line formed from the merger of the Sino-Caucasian (Mongoloid) and Indo-European (Caucasoid) components, and the Elamo-Dravidian line formed separately from Negroid carriers. At the second stage, in the 3rd - 2nd millennium BC, both lines experienced a new powerful influx of Indo-European languages. At the third, final stage, around the 2nd - 5th c. AD, these two lines merged, giving rise to the known "Turkic" languages.

The Turkic peoples are the “product” of the functioning of ancient trade routes in the Altai region, along which the ancient Rus came to the region from the northwest, the Sino-Caucasian part of the Chinese from the southeast, the Vedoid Afghans and Indians from the south, and in the Altai region itself formed the first Urals. The dates are the same as in the previous paragraph.

To understand the ethno-cultural processes associated with speakers of Turkic languages, we will use the data presented in Table 1. It shows the number of speakers of languages of different families. Speakers of Turkic languages are a completely insignificant part of human society. For comparison, their number is more than two times lower than the number of, for example, African languages, whose cultural influence is almost not traced even in neighboring regions.

As for the formation of the ethnonym "Turk", here, as in the case of the Greek-Italian region, one should turn to mythology. Here we will dwell in more detail, since this issue has not been studied at all by Turkologists, and, as you know, it forms the basis of national identification.

First of all, we note that the first coming to the Turkic region (Northern India, Afghanistan and the lands to the north of them) of the Caucasians took place in the 10th millennium BC. (perhaps a little later). At an early stage, in view of the small number, the presence of Caucasians is difficult to identify with any archaeological culture. The autochthonous paleoanthropes of this time left behind Mousterian tools that they used until the 8th millennium BC. In the 7th - 5th millennium BC. the influence of Caucasoids in this region became dominant - these are the cultures of painted ceramics (monuments like Harappa). There was practically no crossbreeding with local paleoanthropes.

The mythological line of heroes is preserved in written sources and legends. The beginning of the dynasty was laid by the Indo-European snake Yusha (Shesha, As, Az, from him Asia). His family came out in the 8th millennium BC. from the lands of the Russian Plain, in the 7th millennium BC. passed through Armenia and proceeded to the east, where his descendant is known as Azhi-Dahak. Further in Kabul, Mardas ruled. It was already the ancestor of the Arabs. Next - Zahhak (Arab, Kabul; the first Jew). Next - Mehrab (Arab, Kabul), Rudaba (Arab) and husband Zalya, then - Rustam and wife Tahmina (Afrasiab), then Sukhrab and Shagad. This is the Elamo-Dravidian lineage. To this day, Kabul noble families build their genealogies to these characters.

The next component of the Turkic people is represented by the descendants of the Almighty. His clan separated from the common Indo-European unity a little later than Yusha - approximately, in the 8th millennium BC, but stayed in Armenia for a long time. Where the first and most ancient capital, Vishap, is named after him. Further, this clan, led by Kryshnya and his son Kama, by the 3rd - 2nd millennium BC. reached North India, where he formed the upper castes. Genetically, these are carriers of the "Russian" haplogroup R1a1. Linguistically - Sanskrit and Avestan languages. The descendants of this clan became the second component of the pra-Turkic unity.

The third component of the Turks goes along the line of the Scythian. He is the son of the legendary Bohumir (Yim), the son of Dazhbog, the grandson of Perun and the great-grandson of Svarog. Bogumir in the 3rd millennium BC came to Central Asia from the central regions of the Russian Plain. We know this people under the name "Tokhars", and Turkologists know their history very well. After his son Scythian conquered a vast territory, and his descendants from the 8th - 7th centuries BC. became known as the Scythians. Genetically, these are carriers of the same Russian haplogroup R1a1. Linguistically, they are native speakers of the Old Russian language. Their kings are known: Arianta (550 BC), Atey (400 - 339 BC, Skilur (300 - 200 BC), Farzoi and Inismey (75), Dir (950 year) and others.

Let us note two more components of the Turkic people, the names of whose mythological heroes, unfortunately, are not known to us, these are the Altai Mongoloids (with the so-called “reverse monogoloidity”) and the Sinitic, or Austrian Mongoloids (with normal monogoloidity; immigrants from South China). The first invested in the formation of the Ural family of languages, the second - in the formation of the Sino-Caucasian.

From the 4th millennium BC Central Asia was the center of the intersection of many trade routes. The main of which was the Northern Trade Route, connecting these places with Ancient Russia. Jade (3rd millennium BC), lapis lazuli (2nd millennium BC) and other objects of trade went along this path to Russia and further west, and honey from Russia and the west , furs, wood, tar, other chemical products, amber, etc. Later, in the 1st millennium BC. silk and mirrors began to be sent to Russia and to the west. And at the turn new era The Southern Trade Route was also opened.

Thus, the Central, Middle, North-Western regions East Asia became a zone of active international trade and a melting pot for many races and peoples. It was in this melting pot that the type of person that we call "Turk" was developed. Archaeological cultures of this region are widely known, so we will not dwell on them. And we will pay more attention again to mythological data.

In the midst of this trading civilization, the local image of Dazhbog, the legendary Faridun, was formed. He had three sons. Elder Salm, his father gave him Rum and the whole West to manage. The younger Eraj, his father gave him Iran and Arabistan (the ancestor of the Iranians) to manage. And the middle son was called Tur. He inherited Turan and Chinese Turkestan from his father. It is this Tur that is the mythological progenitor of the Turkic people. This mythological event took place around the 2nd millennium BC. And all the peoples named above were involved in it. That is why some branches of the Turkic language are based on the Indo-European language, while others are based on Altaic, Elamite or another.

After the Tour, the Turkic countries were ruled by his son Pashang, then by his grandson Afrasiab. At this time, special wars began between different clans. And now Afrasiab avenges Tur and opposes the Keyanids. Later, Shida, Jahn (the ruler of Turan) ruled, and the Karakhanid dynasty (the dynasty of Khagans that ruled from the beginning of the 10th century to 1211 in Semirechye and East Turkestan; Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan) and the Seljukids (11th - 14th centuries, Turks) Oghuz).

So the countdown is like this. According to mythology, Faridun ruled for more than 1000 years, that is, the time of existence of his sons - Salm, Tur and Eraj - is the 1st millennium BC. At that time, his son, Mehrab, ruled along the line of Zahhak. From him went Arabic languages: by the 4th c. AD the Arabic koine was formed - on the basis of the ancient Arabic; the latter took shape by the 5th century. BC. on the basis of the Urmian (Aramaic) language - the ancestor of the ancient Armenian language; Urmian was formed by the 8th century. BC. from the Chaldean. But already the Chaldian language carries a component of the Elamite language, with which it merged in the 9th century. BC. (that is, the same 1st millennium BC). In Semirechye - this is the time of the Scythians.

Analyzing the linguistic, anthropological and genealogical situation in this region at the indicated time, we come to the conclusion that, most likely, all the royal lines here were carriers of R1a1. This is also confirmed by fossil Tarim DNA - R1a1. The Turkicization of the population went through the female half, mixing the gene pools of wives into the male “Russian” gene pool: Mongols, Altai, Urals, Hindus, Afghans, Chinese women, etc. In this case, the Russian R1a1 remained among the population of this region, and the anthropological features became Turkic - mixed from the indicated anthropological lines.

Thus, we can draw the following conclusions. The beginning of the formation of the Turks should be attributed to the 1st millennium BC. The eponym of the Turks was formed from the name of Tur, a mythological hero who ruled in the 1st millennium BC. Turan. Anthropologically, the Turks were formed as a result of mixing representatives of several races: Caucasoid, Mongoloid Altai, Mongoloid Sinitic, Veddoid and Caucasian. The main genetic marker is R1a1. The root of the Turkic family of languages comes from the Indo-European family. Separate branches of the tree of Turkic languages were formed as a result of cross-breeding processes with speakers of certain languages associated with the named races. Hence the diversity of Turkic languages.

Turks (also Turkic peoples, Turkic-speaking peoples, peoples of the Turkic language group) is an ethno-linguistic community. They speak the languages of the Turkic group. Globalization and increased integration with other peoples have led to a wide distribution of the Turks beyond their historical range. Modern Turks live on different continents - in Eurasia, North America, Australia and in the territories of various states - from Central Asia, the North Caucasus, Transcaucasia, the Mediterranean, Southern and Eastern Europe and further east - up to the Far East of Russia. There are also Turkic minorities in China, the states of America, the Middle East and Western Europe. The largest settlement area in Russia, and the population in Turkey.

Turkic-speaking peoples have been known since the 3rd century. BC, but the first mention of the ethnonym Turk appeared at the beginning of the sixth century. in the Mongolian Altai and belonged to a small people, who later became dominant in Central Asia. Word Turk means strong, strong. One of the traditional occupations of the Turks was nomadic cattle breeding, as well as the extraction and processing of iron.

The ethnic history of the proto-Turkic substratum is marked by the synthesis of two population groups:

· Formed to the west of the Volga, in the III-II millennium BC, in the course of centuries-old migrations in the eastern and southern directions, it became the predominant population of the Volga region and Kazakhstan, Altai and the Upper Yenisei valley.
· Appeared in the steppes east of the Yenisei later, had intra-Asian origin.

History of interaction and merging of both groups ancient population over the course of two to two and a half thousand years, there is a process during which ethnic consolidation was carried out and Turkic-speaking ethnic communities were formed. It was from among these closely related tribes that in the 2nd millennium AD. the modern Turkic peoples of Russia and adjacent territories stood out

About the "Scythian" and "Xiongnu" layers in the formation of the ancient Turkic cultural complex, writes D.G. Savinov, according to which they “gradually modernized and mutually penetrated into each other, became the common property of the culture of numerous groups of the population that were part of the Ancient Turkic Khaganate. The ideas of the continuity of the ancient and early medieval culture of the nomads were also reflected in works of art and ritual structures.

From the 6th century AD, the region in the middle reaches of the Syr Darya and the Chu River became known as Turkestan. The toponym is based on the ethnonym "Tur", which was the common tribal name of the ancient nomadic and semi-nomadic peoples of Central Asia. The nomadic type of state for many centuries was the predominant form of organization of power in the Asian steppes. Nomadic states, replacing each other, existed in Eurasia from the middle of the 1st millennium BC. until the 17th century.

In 552-745, the Turkic Khaganate existed in Central Asia, which in 603 split into two parts: the Eastern and Western Khaganates. The Western Khaganate (603-658) included the territory of Central Asia, the steppes of modern Kazakhstan and East Turkestan. The Eastern Khaganate included the modern territories of Mongolia, northern China and southern Siberia. In 658, the Western Khaganate fell under the blows of the combined forces of the Chinese and the Eastern Turks. In 698, the leader of the tribal union of the Türgesh - Uchelik founded a new Turkic state - the Turgesh Khaganate (698-766).

In the V-VIII centuries, the Turkic nomadic tribes of the Bulgars who came to Europe founded a number of states, of which the Danube Bulgaria in the Balkans and the Volga Bulgaria in the basin of the Volga and Kama turned out to be the most durable. In 650-969. on the territory of the North Caucasus, the Volga region and the northeastern Black Sea region, the Khazar Khaganate existed. In the 960s. he was defeated by the Kyiv prince Svyatoslav. Displaced in the second half of the 9th century by the Khazars, the Pechenegs settled in the northern Black Sea region and posed a threat to Byzantium and Old Russian state. In 1019, the Pechenegs were defeated by Grand Duke Yaroslav. In the 11th century, the Pechenegs in the southern Russian steppes were replaced by the Polovtsy, who were defeated and subjugated by the Mongols-Tatars in the 13th century. The western part of the Mongol Empire - the Golden Horde - became a predominantly Turkic state in terms of population. In the XV-XVI centuries. it broke up into several independent khanates, on the basis of which a number of modern Turkic-speaking peoples were formed. Tamerlane at the end of the XIV century creates his empire in Central Asia, which, however, with his death (1405) quickly falls apart.

In the early Middle Ages, a sedentary and semi-nomadic Turkic-speaking population was formed on the territory of the Central Asian interfluve, which was in close contact with the Iranian-speaking Sogdian, Khorezmian and Bactrian populations. Active processes of interaction and mutual influence led to the Turkic-Sogdian symbiosis.

Even at the beginning of the 1st millennium AD. individual Turkic groups began to penetrate into the Transcaucasus. The penetration of the Turks into the territory of Western Asia (Transcaucasia, Azerbaijan, Anatolia) began in the middle of the 11th century AD. (Seljuks). The Seljuk invasion was accompanied by devastation and destruction of many Transcaucasian cities. In the 11th-14th centuries, the population of eastern Transcaucasia underwent Turkization in connection with the invasions of the Oghuz Turks and Mongol-Tatars. As a result of the conquests of the Ottoman Turks in the XIII-XVI centuries. territories in Europe, Asia and Africa, a huge Ottoman Empire was formed, but from the 17th century it began to decline. Having assimilated the majority of the local population, the Ottomans became the ethnic majority in Asia Minor. In the XVI-XVIII centuries, first the Muscovite state, and then, after the reforms of Peter I, Russian empire, includes most of the lands of the former Golden Horde, on which the Turkic states existed (Kazan Khanate, Astrakhan Khanate, Siberian Khanate, Crimean Khanate, Nogai Horde. At the beginning of the 19th century, Russia annexed a number of Azerbaijani khanates of Eastern Transcaucasia. At the same time, China annexed Central Asia (Dzhungar Khanate) After the annexation of the territories of Central Asia and the Kazakh Khanate and the Kokand Khanate to Russia, the Ottoman Empire, along with the Khanate of Khiva and the Emirate of Bukhara, remained the only purely Turkic states.

For the first time, the ethnonym (the name "Turk") was mentioned in Chinese written sources in 542. According to some researchers, translated from the Mongolian "Turk" means a helmet resembling a tukoetau in shape. Initially, the term "Turk" also meant a representative of the nobility or military aristocracy, i.e. had a purely social meaning. Subsequently, he became a symbol of the dominant "royal" tribe and the tribes subject to it, which the neighbors also began to call the Turks. In the second half of the VI century. this term is widely used among the Byzantines, Arabs, Syrians, gets into Sanskrit, various Iranian languages, into Tibetan. Before the creation of the kaganate, the word "Turk" meant only the union of ten (later twelve) tribes, which took shape shortly after 460 in Altai. This meaning was preserved by the term in the era of the Khaganates. It is reflected in the most ancient Turkic texts in the expression "Turk bodun" (bodun union of tribes). Even in the middle of the 8th century. sources mention "twelve-tribe Turkic people". The same word also denoted the state created by the actual Turkic tribes-unions-Turkel (Turkic country, state). Both of these meanings are reflected in ancient Turkic epigraphic monuments and Chinese sources. In a broader sense, the term began to denote the belonging of various nomadic tribes to the state created by the Turks. So it was used by the Byzantines and Iranians, and sometimes by the Turks themselves. The latter meaning of the term was further developed by Arab historians and geographers in the 9th-11th centuries, where the word "Turk" appears as the name of a group of peoples and languages, and not as the name of any one people and state. It was in Arabic scientific literature that arose general concept about the genetic relationship of the languages spoken by the Turkic tribes, and the genealogical relationship of these tribes themselves. Outside the sphere of Muslim education, such a broad interpretation did not manifest itself. For example, Abulgazy Bahadur Khan in his "Turkic Chronicle" notes that in the Turkic state there are five most famous clans. These are: Uighurs, Kangly, Kipchaks, Kalash, dwarfs. And in the Russian chronicles of 985, a tribe of Torks is mentioned - i.e. Turks, but this is only one of the many nomadic associations of the Great Steppe, called together with the Berendeys, Pechenegs, Black Cloabuks, Polovtsy. This is approximately the situation with the meaning of the term "Turk". After clarifying the basic concepts associated with the name "Turk", it will be possible to move on to the process of forming the steppe empire.

The beginning of the ethnogenesis of the Ashina Turks is connected with the Turs. According to the genealogical legend, the first ancestor of the Turks was a ten-year-old boy, the only survivor of the extermination of the people. He was fed by a she-wolf, who later became his wife. The descendants of the ten sons of the she-wolf, having received the name Ashina, subsequently united all the local tribes and gave them the name Turk.

Bumyn Kagan, who ruled in the country of the Ashina Turks in the middle of the 6th century, was a descendant of Nadulushe (according to legend, a man who brought fire to people). In the 4th-5th centuries, when the Turkic ethnos revived in the historical arena of Central Asia, they were surrounded from the east by the Chinese, from the north by the Tungus-Manchus, from the west by the Iranian, from the south by the Tocharian population. Until the middle of the 6th century, the Türks were dependent on the Zhuan-Zhuan (Zhuan, Avars). The beginning of hegemony is associated with the subjugation of the Tele tribes that lived in Dzungaria (possibly the Oghuz). During the period of self-affirmation, the Turks sent an embassy to the Avar Khagan, demanding a princess. To which the Rouran ruler responded with the following indignant challenge: “You are my vassal smelter. How dare you do that?

As a result of the outbreak of the war (551-555), the Juan were completely defeated and for the most part physically exterminated. On the lands in northern Mongolia, a new Central Asian empire arose - the Turkic Khaganate (551-744). The founder of the Turkic state is BuMyn (Tumyn), who in 551 took the title of kagan. His successor Kara-Kagan (552-553) and Mukan-Kagan (553-572) completed the defeat of the Juan.

In connection with activity in the west, a new stage in the ethnogenesis of the Turks moves to the territory of the Great Steppe and covers the oases of Turkestan. This stage caused new level ethnic contacts, and economic symbiosis with the Eastern Iranian world. Within the framework of a single power appear literary language and writing, and then general imperial standards in culture, especially expressed in material culture (dwellings, clothing, a saddle with a stirrup, harness, jewelry). These processes reflected the beginning of a new ethnic order. All this ended with the formation of a common Turkic ethnic identity and pan-Turkic ideology. The Turkic Khaganate included such peoples as the Kirghiz, Kipchaks, Oguzes, tribes of Avars, Kai, Khitans, etc.

In the ancient Turkic Khaganates, the solution of many economic problems depended on trade. Neither raids, nor wars, nor booty from them, but constant barter served as a source of prosperity for the nomads. During the period of the empire, the Turks became the masters of most of the Great Silk Road. Sogdian merchants, who concentrated in their hands a huge amount of silk fabrics of their own and Chinese production, became the confidants of the Turkic khans in this matter. Through the Sogdian merchants, the nomads sold their livestock products, as well as military booty. Merchants through Iran delivered them to Byzantium. The fate of the Silk Road depended on the relationship between the three great states. This partnership was the reason for the conclusion of a military alliance between the Turks and the Byzantine Empire against Iran (in 567). Iran's refusal to improve relations forced the Turks to look for new territories for the export of silk. Thus, a road was laid across the Volga region. Other routes passed through the steppes of Kazakhstan, connecting Siberia and the Volga region with Central Asia. One of the most ancient ways of communication was the meridional route between Turkestan and Siberia, through the steppes of Kazakhstan. Perhaps this route is much older than others (for example, the Great Silk Road), since the south and north of the Great Steppe were in the same economic and cultural system. Even in ancient times, part of the nomads went to the winter camps to the south, besides, the main urban centers were located there. During the Bronze Age, copper and other metals were transported along the Great Meridian Route.

The urban culture of the Western Turkic Khaganate was created with the participation of the Sogdians. In the V-V1II centuries, with the support of the Turks, the Sogdians created a large number of trading settlements in Semirechye, Dzungaria, in Eastern Turkestan, and Southern Siberia. A significant part of the population was engaged in arable farming, trade and crafts.

In general, one can speak of a common Turkic complex, which included material culture, ideological ideas and spiritual thoughts that were widespread throughout the territory in the second half of the 1st millennium AD. The culture of nomadic tribes and sedentary regions acts in organic integrity, constitutes a single cultural system. Various cults of sacred mountains, rivers, caves, a snake and a progenitor wolf were common among the Turks. The Kimak-Kylchak tribes had a great veneration for the cult of the river. They spoke about the Irtysh - "the river is the god of man" (Gardizi). The banners of the ancient Turks were decorated with a wolf's head. Along with their own beliefs, the nomadic Turks were also fond of other religious systems: Buddhism, Manichaeism, Christianity, and Judaism. The most remarkable thing in the culture of the ancient Turkic period is the appearance of runic writing and rich written literature. Runic texts in honor of Bilge-Kagan, Kultegin and other prominent figures of the Turkic ale are at the same time both outstanding literary works, and historical evidence of the era.

In the ancient Turkic era, the population of the Great Steppe gradually switched from the runic to the Arabic alphabet. The largest monuments on this chart are “Divan-lugat-at-turk” (Dictionary of the Turkic language) by M. Kashgari, “Kutadgu-bi lik” (Blessed knowledge) by Y. Balasaguni and others. A book about Kimakaz was also compiled on the Arabic script Zhdanakh-Kimaki. It is interesting that the author of this book was the heir of the Kimak ruler. This book was subsequently used by the Arab-Persian travelers, merchants and scientists who went to the Great Steppe. Ancient Turkic time - the time of the appearance, as the Chinese say, "a reasonable book", i.e. philosophical literature, various treatises on epistemological problems, theory of music, art, etc. Al-Farabi was the brightest figure in the scientific world.