Turkmen clans hold the Mangyshlak peninsula, with its winter grazing by the Caspian, and the southern Ustyurt plateau above the cliff that faces Khwarazm.
The caravan road from Gurganj to the Volga and to the Caspian landing places crosses their country.
Who holds it
- Title
- no chief named for 1200
- Since
- not applicable
- Born
- not applicable
- Family
- not known
- Confidence
- low
No source checked names a chief for 1199-1200.
Overlord
Claimed by the Khwarazmshah since Atsiz conquered Mangyshlak in the 1130s; no governor known for 1200.
How things stand that morning
Khwarazmian in claim, self-governing in fact on 1 January 1200 (not pinned).
Wealth
Herds, camels for the caravans, Caspian fish and salt.
Military
Mounted archers in clan war-bands; no numbers.
Customs
Clan chiefs; winter quarters on the Caspian shore and in the hollows of Mangyshlak.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Atsiz's conquest is attested; nothing dated for 1200.
On the map: A reconstructed range, not a border.
Primary sources for Turkmen
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- The History of the World Conqueror, Ata-Malik Juvayni (1252 to 1260). Written for the Mongols but with a long retrospective on the powers they destroyed. Read online
- The Life of Sultan Jalal al-Din Mankubirti, Shihab al-Din Muhammad al-Nasawi (about 1241, at Aleppo). A Khwarazmian secretary's life of the last Khwarazmshah. Read online
Sources and studies
- Encyclopaedia Iranica: Khwarazmshahs i. Descendants of the line of Anushtigin (C. E. Bosworth)
- G. Le Strange, The Lands of the Eastern Caliphate (1905): towns, districts and roads, used from the researcher's knowledge of the text, not re-read for this file
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.