Oghuz Yabgu State

The Oghuz Yabgu State is the name historians give to the confederation of Oghuz Turkic tribes that dominated the steppes between the Caspian and Aral Seas, mainly in today's Kazakhstan, from the 8th to the 11th century. Led by a ruler with the Turkic title yabgu, it was a loose union of nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes rather than a centralised state. Its lasting importance lies in its offshoots: from its ranks came the Seljuks, and the Oghuz are ancestors of today's Turks, Azerbaijanis and Turkmens.

The Oghuz first appear in the Zhetysu (Semirechye) region near Lake Issyk Kul. The meaning of their name is unclear; it may simply mean "tribes" or "tribal union". Sources give different founding dates, with 750 and 766 both cited. In the 760s the Karluks took control of Zhetysu, and many Oghuz moved west towards the Karatau Mountains and the Syr Darya. Early in the 9th century, allied with the Karluks and Kimeks, they broke the Kangar union and drove the Pechenegs west from the Aral steppes, absorbing those who stayed behind.

The centre of the confederation was Yangikent, "New Town", near where the Syr Darya enters the Aral Sea; its ruins survive as Jankent. The yabgu came from a ruling clan but was chosen at tribal assemblies and bound by customary law, and his power was checked by a council of leading warriors. An army commander called the subashi played a large role in politics, and the heir bore the title inal. Later writers such as Mahmud al-Kashgari counted 22 or 24 Oghuz tribes, divided into two wings, while al-Marwazi listed only 12. Most people lived by herding livestock, while traders and craftsmen lived in the towns of the Syr Darya.

The Oghuz were drawn into the politics of the western steppe. According to some accounts they allied with Kievan Rus against the Khazars in 965, and in 985 helped the Rus defeat Volga Bulgaria. To the south they bordered the Muslim lands of Transoxiana and Khwarazm, and Muslim writers began calling Muslim Oghuz "Turkmens". Most were followers of the old Turkic sky religion, Tengrism, but Islam spread steadily, and the ruling house is said to have converted around 1003.

Around 985 a commander named Seljuk broke away and moved with his followers to Jend on the Syr Darya, where they adopted Islam. Revolts against heavy taxation and the feud with the Seljuk branch weakened the yabgus. In 1034–1035 the yabgu Shah Malik defeated the Seljuks and other Turkmens in Khwarazm, pushing many south into Khorasan. Shah Malik conquered Khwarazm itself in 1041, but the Seljuks drove him out in 1043 and he was later killed. He is remembered as the last yabgu.

Under pressure from the Kipchaks of the Kimek–Kipchak confederation, the Oghuz scattered. The Seljuks went on to found the Seljuk Empire across Iran and Anatolia; other groups, known to Byzantines as Uzes and to the Rus as Torks, moved west into the Pontic steppe and the Balkans; and those who stayed were absorbed into the Kipchak steppe. Some sources date the end of the state to 1055.

Our 900 map shows the Oghuz Turks between the Khazars and Pechenegs to the west and the Samanid Empire to the south. Our 1100 map still shows an Oghuz area beside the Seljuk Empire and the Cuman-Kipchak lands, although the yabgu state itself had ended by the mid-11th century.