Turkmen clans graze the Great and Little Balkhan, the old Uzboy channel and the plains between the Caspian shore and the western end of the Kopet Dag, wintering by the Caspian and toward Dihistan.
They sell horses and sheep at Dihistan and Farava.
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
The Khwarazmshah, through his governors of Dihistan and Gurgan (cas) and the frontier post of Farava.
How things stand that morning
Under loose Khwarazmian control on 1 January 1200 (Dihistan is a Khwarazmian town, cas).
Wealth
Herds; Caspian fish and salt; naphtha and salt of the Balkhan bay (Krasnovodsk) region.
Military
Mounted archers in clan war-bands; no numbers.
Customs
Clan chiefs; winter on the Caspian shore and the Dihistan plain.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: A reconstruction; 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: Abivard
- 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.