Samarkand: the Western Qarakhanids

Who rules

Name

Ibrahim b. Husayn (Ibrahim IV)

Title

Khan (khaqan) of Samarkand, the senior khan of the western Qarakhanids; styled Nusrat al-Dunya wa'l-Din, called Arslan Khan (TDV) or Tamghach Khan (Barthold), and on his coins 'the Great Sultan, Sultan of Sultans'

Since

574 AH (1178), when he moved from Ferghana to Samarkand; Barthold says he followed Qilich Tamghach Khan Mas'ud, while coins of Mas'ud's son Muhammad (566-574 AH, 1171-79) show a short reign between them

Born

Not pinned; he was already ruling Ferghana in 1164, so he is an old man in 1200

Family

Son of Husayn b. Hasan (Bilge Turk Tughrul Khaqan), the first Qarakhanid khan of Ferghana after 1141, who died in Rajab 551 (September 1156); brother of Mahmud (Toghan Khan), khan of Ferghana, who died in 559 (1164). Ibrahim followed his brother at Uzgend in 1164 (his coins are struck there from 560, 1165) and took Samarkand in 1178. His son Uthman is his heir (khan from 1201-04). His nephew Taj al-Din Bilge Khan, a cousin of Uthman, holds Otrar by 1204. His wives and other children are not pinned.

Confidence

high

TDV 'Karahanlilar'; Barthold, Turkestan, pp. 42 and 380 (coins at Samarkand from 574 to 595 and at Bukhara in 597; died after 597); Iranica 'Ilak-Khanids' (Ibrahim 1178-1203, Uthman 1202-12).

Overlord

The gurkhan Yelu Zhilugu, to whom he pays tribute. His coins carry his own Muslim titles and the caliph's name, not the gurkhan's.

What the realm holds

• Samarkand, its citadel and the Afrasiyab palace, and the Gurjmin palace outside the city
• Sughd: the Zarafshan valley from Panjikant to Ishtikhan, Kushaniya, Dabusiyya and Karmina
• The Kashka Darya: Kesh and Nasaf (Nakhshab, the later Karshi) with their districts
• Bukhara: the khan's coinage and overlordship (coins of 597, 1200-01), the city governed by the sadr; drawn on the Bukhara records
• Ushrusana (with Zamin and the road to the Syr Darya) and Khujand: probably his (not pinned)
• As senior of the house: kinsmen hold Shash (the khan at Banakath), Otrar and Ferghana under the gurkhan; drawn on their own records

How it was acquired

The Qarakhanids took Transoxiana from the Samanids in 999. The Qara Khitai beat Mahmud Khan at Khujand (1137) and with Sanjar at Qatwan (1141) and set up Ibrahim (Tamghach Bughra Khan) as their vassal; the throne then passed among Qarakhanid princes (Ali, Mas'ud and Mas'ud's son Muhammad) until Ibrahim b. Husayn came from Ferghana in 1178.

Allies and rivals

Lord: the gurkhan. Kinsmen and vassals of the same gurkhan: the khans of Shash and Uzgend, the lord of Otrar. Rival within his own walls: the sadrs of Bukhara, with whom the khans of Samarkand have often quarrelled (Barthold). Enemy in the past: the Khwarazmshah Tekish, who took Bukhara in 1182 and, by Ibn al-Athir's report, again in 1198. Enemies as the gurkhan's man: the Ghurids, whose Bamiyan branch holds Balkh and Tukharistan across the Oxus.

The realm that morning

Ibrahim b. Husayn rules Samarkand and its lands as the gurkhan's vassal; his coins are known at Samarkand to 595 (1198-99) and at Bukhara in 597 (1200-01). No separate Qarakhanid prince is attested at Kesh, Nasaf or Khujand in 1199-1200. Shash has its own khan (Jalal al-Dunya wa'l-Din Tamghach Khaqan, coins 1197-1206). Uthman, the heir, is grown but his own holding is not pinned. There is no war on the khanate's ground this winter.

Wealth

The irrigated Zarafshan and Kashka Darya valleys (rice, cotton, fruit, wine, grain); Samarkand paper; cloth (silk and cotton); the caravan trade to Bukhara and Khwarazm, to Shash and the steppe, and to India by Tirmidh; slaves and horses from the Turkish steppe; the mint of Samarkand.

Military

The khan's Turkish guard (ghulams) and the troops of the Qarakhanid princes; the townsmen of Samarkand; contingents sent to the gurkhan's wars (Uthman rides with Tayangu at Andkhud in 1204). Fortifications: the walls and citadel of Samarkand, the walled towns of Kesh, Nasaf and Karmina, the long frontier walls of the Samanid age largely decayed. No figures.

Threats

• The Khwarazmshah, if he breaks with the gurkhan
• The Ghurids across the Oxus
• Quarrels with the sadrs and the townsmen of Bukhara
• The succession: Ibrahim is old

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. 1201-1204Ibrahim b. Husayn dies (the dates given are 597/1201, 1202-03 and 601/1204) and Uthman succeeds.Depends on: Natural death. Stopped by: Nothing but a longer life.
2. 1204Uthman rides with Tayangu against the Ghurids and is at their victory at Andkhud.Depends on: The Ghurid attack on Khwarazm in 1204. Stopped by: A Ghurid peace with Khwarazm.
3. 1207-1212Uthman, refused a Qara Khitai bride, turns to Muhammad of Khwarazm, submits (1210), marries his daughter, revolts and is executed in 1212, ending the Western Qarakhanid line.Depends on: Muhammad's break with the gurkhan. Stopped by: The gurkhan keeping Uthman's loyalty.

Places of note

• Samarkand: The khan's capital.
• Kesh: Town of the upper Kashka Darya.
• Nasaf (Nakhshab): Town of the lower Kashka Darya on the road to Tirmidh and Amul.

Where the sources disagree

• The GM's dossier is right on the khan: Ibrahim b. Husayn is khan of Samarkand on 1 January 1200. His regnal end varies in the sources (1201, 1202-03, 1204).
• Shash is not part of the khan's own lands: a separate Qarakhanid khanate centred at Banakath has existed there since 1177-78 (Kochnev's coin catalogue). It is coloured 'samarkand' on this map only because the sheet has no realm id for it; see the Shash khan's record.

Evidence: The khans' chronology rests on coins and a few lines in Ibn al-Athir, Juvaini and Awfi; the khanate's inner administration in 1200 is barely documented.

On the map: The khan's own block is drawn as the Zarafshan and Kashka Darya valleys; Ushrusana and Khujand are given to him with low confidence; Shash and Otrar are coloured with this realm only because the sheet has no realm id for their separate Qarakhanid lords.

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.

• 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
• History of the Liao, chapter 30, on the Western Liao, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office (1343 to 1344). The only Chinese official notice of the Qara Khitai, a few pages at the end of juan 30. Read online
• History of the World Conqueror: the Qara Khitai (Gur Khans) and the Uyghurs of Beshbaliq, Ala al-Din Ata-Malik Juvayni (begun about 1252 to 1253, ends with 1260). Juvayni's chapters on the Uyghur kingdom (its origin legend, Beshbaliq and Qocho, and the idiqut Barchuq's murder of the Qara Khitai resident before his submission to Chinggis Khan in 1209) and on the Gur Khans of the Qara Khitai are the fullest Muslim account of the Tarim and Zhetysu around 1200: the gurkhan Zhilugu's court at Balasagun, his tax collectors in the oasis towns and in Samarkand, his relations with the Khwarazmshah Tekish and then Muhammad, and the arrival of the Naiman prince Kuchlug in 1208. Read online
• Dictionary of Countries, Yaqut al-Hamawi (1224 to 1228, at Aleppo). An alphabetical gazetteer of every place Yaqut had read of or seen: he travelled as a bookseller's agent through Syria, Iraq, Persia, Khurasan and Khwarazm (about 1213 to 1220) and settled in Aleppo. Read online
• Journey to the West of the Perfected Changchun (Qiu Chuji), Li Zhichang (李志常) (about 1228, from the journey of 1220 to 1224). A dated eyewitness itinerary across the steppe and the Tarim twenty years after 1200: the Kereyit country and the Ongud frontier, the Naiman mountains, the Uyghur towns of Beshbaliq and the Tarim with their Buddhist and Christian communities, Almaliq of the Qarluq, and Samarkand. Read online