Lands of Asia layouts (Eng) 26.11.21

part i | civilisations
The Altai language family
Historically, ethnic groups speaking the following languages have migrated to Central
Asia: Turkic, Mongol and to some extent, Manchurian, represented by the Kidans (or
the Kara-Khtai or Kara-Kitai, as they were also known) who invaded the region in the
middle of the 12th century AD.
The migration of Turkic tribes
The migration of Turkic speakers was the earliest. Three main waves of Turkic
migration into Central Asia took place: in the 6th–8th centuries AD, the 10th–12th
centuries AD, and in the 15th–16th centuries AD.
The earliest written evidence of the presence of Turkic-speaking tribes in Central
Asia dates back to the second half of the 6th century. As we have already noted, there
is no evidence of a single Turkic word, title, name or toponym in the numerous forms
of written evidence (such as coin legends and inscriptions) from the first half of the
1st millennium ad. This would not be the case if large numbers of Turkic people had
lived here at that time.
The original homeland of the Turks was the Altai Mountains of southern Siberia,
where they emerged as a community in the 5th century AD. The Turks, or Turkuts,
established their state – the Great Turkic Khaganate – in AD 551 and began to
advance west and southwest from here. In the same year, under Ishtemi Khan they
conquered Khorezm and Semirechye, where the Dulu and Nushibi tribes (related to
the Turkic tribes) lived. In the early 60s of the 6th century AD the Turks penetrated
the territory of Transoxiana: Chach, Sogdia and Bukhara, and between AD 563 and
AD 567 they inflicted a crushing defeat on the Hephthalites near Bukhara, thereby
ending Hephthalite domination in the region.
Around the same time, the Turks reached the Iron Gate, a mountain pass, which
was the main route from Sogdia to Tokharistan and India at the time. The first
incursions by Turks into Tokharistan took place in AD 589. The Turkic-Sassanid
military conflicts at the end of the 6th and beginning of the 7th century ended under
the West Turkic Khagan Tun-Shekh (AD 618–630) when the Turks achieved a final
victory by securing Tokharistan, which was entrusted to Tun-Shekh’s son, Tardu-Shad.
The Turkic incursion into Tokharistan was very significant. According to Xuanzang
(in about AD 630), Turkic dynasties had already consolidated their positions in
many parts of Tokharistan. At the beginning of the 6th century AD Turkic rulers
were ruling separate domains of Sogdia and Chach. The first numismatic evidence
of Turkic presence in Transoxiana comes from silver imitations of Peroz coins (AD
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