Steppe tribes · Persia and the Eastern Islamic World · as at first light, 1 January 1200

The Kangli and Qipchaq of the steppe

North of the Syr Darya and the Aral lie the pastures of Turkish tribes the Muslim writers call Kangli (Qangli) and Qipchaq.

The Kangli range nearest Khwarazm, round the Aral, the lower Syr Darya and the sands north of it; the Qipchaq, with the old Yemek clans among them, range beyond, from the Emba to the Irtysh, and along the Syr Darya above Jand round Sighnaq. They are herders who move between winter quarters by the river and the Aral and summer pastures far to the north, live in felt tents and wagons, and are mostly pagan, with a Muslim fringe near Jand and Sighnaq. Tekish married Terken Khatun, daughter of a Qipchaq khan of the Bayawut clan of the Yemek, and through her drew whole clans into his army; her kinsmen hold commands in his realm in the next generation.

In the 1190s he fought Qadir Buqu Khan, the Qipchaq khan of Sighnaq: a first army failed when its Uran horsemen went over to the enemy (TDV); then the heir Muhammad routed Qadir Buqu near Jand and sent him with his chiefs and men in chains to Khwarazm in Rabi II 594 (February-March 1198) (Juvaini). A Qipchaq chief called Qara Ozan, Tekish's son-in-law, raided the Talas for him in 1181 (Biran, via Wikipedia).

Who rules

Name
the khans of the separate tribes and clans; none paramount that is named for 1200
Title
no single ruler
Since
not applicable
Born
not applicable
Family
Kangli (Qangli) and Qipchaq clans, among them the Yemek (Kimek) clans such as the Bayawut, Terken Khatun's clan (Nasawi), and the Uran
Confidence
low

Juvaini (Boyle); TDV 'Tekis, Alaeddin'; Wikipedia on Terken Khatun and Yelu Zhilugu; Iranica 'Jand'.

Overlord

None over the whole. The Khwarazmshah takes service, hostages and wives from the tribes nearest Jand and the Aral, and has beaten the Qipchaq of Sighnaq; the Qara Khitai claim the tribes along the middle Syr Darya and the Talas.

What the realm holds

  • The pastures of the Aral, the lower Syr Darya and the sands north of them (Kangli)
  • The steppe north of the Syr Darya round Sighnaq and towards the Sary-Su and the lower Chu (Qipchaq of Sighnaq)
  • The Emba and the northern Ustyurt (Qipchaq)
  • Beyond the sheet's northern edge: the Turgay, the Irgiz, the Mugodzhar hills and the Ishim and Irtysh steppes

How it was acquired

Ancestral pastures; the Qipchaq moved south and west in the eleventh century, displacing the Oghuz from the lower Syr Darya.

Allies and rivals

Bound to Tekish by Terken Khatun's marriage and by pay; the Qipchaq of Sighnaq beaten by him in the 1190s; rivals of one another; the Qara Khitai to the east; the Cumans (Polovtsy) west of the Volga are kin of the Qipchaq (cumans, the Rus' map).

The realm that morning

No single khan speaks for the steppe on 1 January 1200. The tribes nearest Jand and the Aral serve the Khwarazmshah or trade with him; the Qipchaq of Sighnaq were beaten near Jand in early 1198 and their khan Qadir Buqu and his chiefs taken in chains to Khwarazm (whether he has since been released is not pinned). No raids on Khwarazm or Jand are recorded for the winter of 1199-1200. West of the Emba the same Qipchaq shade into the Cumans of the lower Volga (cumans).

Wealth

Horses, sheep, cattle and camels; slaves taken in raids; hides and felt; pay and gifts from the Khwarazmshah; the river crossings and markets at Jand and Sighnaq.

Military

Mounted archers in clan war-bands; the best cavalry in Tekish's army. No numbers.

Threats

  • Khwarazmian punitive campaigns from Jand
  • The Qara Khitai along the Syr Darya and the Talas
  • Feuds between the clans

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

  1. 1200 to 1210 (after this year)Terken Khatun's kin rise to the great commands of Muhammad's realm; Muhammad campaigns into the Qipchaq steppe about 1209 and again in 1215-16.Depends on: Muhammad's succession and his mother's influence Stopped by: a different succession in Khwarazm

Where the sources disagree

  • Terken Khatun's clan: Nasawi is read as Bayawut (Bayaut) of the Yemek; Wikipedia gives 'Qangli or Bayandur of the Kimek'. Juvaini calls her father a khan of the Qipchaq. His name is not given in the sources checked.

Evidence: The tribes appear only through the Khwarazmian and Qara Khitai histories; no chief is named for 1200 and their ranges are reconstructions.

On the map: The ranges are drawn as provinces (khw-p-*) after modern reconstructions; the sheet ends at 47.3 N, cutting off the northern pastures.

Primary sources for this realm

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.

Sources and studies

  1. Juvaini, The History of the World-Conqueror, tr. J. A. Boyle, vol. I (1958), Part II, the chapters on Tekish and Muhammad (scan pp. 342-362, read through archive.org search-inside in the copies dli.ernet.507519 and dli.ernet.528458)
  2. TDV Islam Ansiklopedisi: Tekis, Alaeddin
  3. Wikipedia: Terken Khatun (wife of Ala ad-Din Tekish)
  4. Wikipedia: Yelu Zhilugu
  5. Encyclopaedia Iranica: Jand (C. E. Bosworth)

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.