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Uzbekistan
The Turkification of Mawarannahr
In the ninth century, the continued influx of nomads from the
northern steppes brought a new group of people into Central Asia.
These people were the Turks who lived in the great grasslands
stretching from Mongolia to the Caspian Sea. Introduced mainly
as slave soldiers to the Samanid Dynasty, these Turks served in
the armies of all the states of the region, including the Abbasid
army. In the late tenth century, as the Samanids began to lose
control of Mawarannahr and northeastern Iran, some of these soldiers
came to positions of power in the government of the region, and
eventually they established their own states. With the emergence
of a Turkic ruling group in the region, other Turkic tribes began
to migrate to Mawarannahr.
The first of the Turkic states in the region was the Ghaznavid
Empire, established in the last years of the tenth century. The
Ghaznavid state, which ruled lands south of the Amu Darya, was
able to conquer large areas of Iran, Afghanistan, and northern
India during the reign of Sultan Mahmud. The dominance of Ghazna
was curtailed, however, when large-scale Turkic migrations brought
in two new groups of Turks who undermined the Ghaznavids. In the
east, these Turks were led by the Qarakhanids, who conquered the
Samanids. Then the Seljuk family led Turks into the western part
of the region, conquering the Ghaznavid territory of Khorazm (also
spelled Khorezm and Khwarazm).
Attracted by the wealth of Central Asia as were earlier groups,
the Seljuks dominated a wide area from Asia Minor to the western
sections of Mawarannahr, in Afghanistan, Iran, and Iraq in the
eleventh century. The Seljuk Empire then split into states ruled
by various local Turkic and Iranian rulers. The culture and intellectual
life of the region continued unaffected by such political changes,
however. Turkic tribes from the north continued to migrate into
the region during this period.
In the late twelfth century, a Turkic leader of Khorazm, which
is the region south of the Aral Sea, united Khorazm, Mawarannahr,
and Iran under his rule. Under the rule of the Khorazm shah Kutbeddin
Muhammad and his son, Muhammad II, Mawarannahr continued to be
prosperous and rich. However, a new incursion of nomads from the
north soon changed this situation. This time the invader was Chinggis
(Genghis) Khan with his Mongol armies.
Data as of March 1996
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