Facts and events connected with Türkic peoples

In spite of the abundance of sources and special literature, it is impossible to read the history of the Middle Asia nomads like the histories of Greece, Rome, Byzantium, France, England, Russia, or the Middle East states, because it is not written yet. L.N.Gumilev

History is not Türkic or Western or Islamic. History is one and the same for everybody, it is our past. A parochial perception emphasizes one side and diminishes the other, called Türkic or Western or Islamic, and that attitude still persist in close scrutiny of segments of the global history, like Ottoman or European history. This site is looking at the Türkic segment, with all its interactions and confluences with other coeval peoples, without any prejudices. If you are looking for a jazzy entertainment, this is a wrong place. We are into Hg U5 and burial techniques. The Türkic history is extremely rich and extensive. Its pages are filled with dynastic chronicles, ethnic histories, arts and culture, political ordeals, diplomacy and foreign relations, military struggles, state institutions, religious history, literature and mythology, fine arts and science. A millennia of organized and disorganized vandalism failed to erase the traces of history from the face of the conquered lands, the kurgans may be leveled, cemeteries bulldozed, stones reused, precious metals melted, and still the throve of monuments far exceeds the archeology of the latter times. The history resembles a bejeweled bracelet, with countless gems, each with countless facets, each with its own character and glare. Each one is a treasure, but jointly they are a poem.

The extent of its influence on the people and histories of the Eurasia is nothing short of astonishing, matched only in the Industrial Age. From the Beaker Culture in the far west to the Zhou Culture in the far east, from the Uralic people in the north to the Indian people in the south, the waves of Kurgan people stirred the progress, carried inventions, ideologies, and social organizarions. Many people treasure their legenary background ascending to the Ases, Huns, Türkic people under various names, many countries still live under the names of their Türkic founders, and many are re-discovering their past hidden under sediments of parochial fables and outright fiction. The new tool of genetics allows to read the history from inside of our veins, and do it with the precision that corroborates and surpasses archeology and national memories.

The Türkic history is embedded in many thousands works written upon millennia after millennia, embedded in the histories of multitudes of constituent and surrounding peoples across most of the Eurasia, embedded in uncountable monographs written on a particular subject, and ignored and falsified by both ignorant and shrewd. As L.N.Gumilev observed half a century ago, it is impossible to take a book in hand and read a general story from the beginning of our knowledge to, say, 1500 AD. An absence of a competent general compilation is not a minor affair; it breeds misconceptions and feeds distortions. A biggest of them is a general ignorance of the Kurgan burial culture innate in all Türkic populace, from the earliest records of centuries BC to practically present times. Another is the localization which ignores unsurpassed mobility of mounted nomads that allowed the Eurasia to be shrank fivefold and made accessible for transverse already before the 2000 BC. The speed demonstrated by curriers of Khan Batu in the 1200 AD by that time was around for 3,000 years, precipitated by mounted lifestyle and numerous inventions that made mobile existence preferable to a settled life, and afforded a freedom to choose homelands in most favorable locations, best climates, best prosperity, and mobile security that astonished ancient observers. The mobile society left magnificent traces of their life united by continental-size distances, and setting up mobility records not duplicated by other societies for millennia. The works devoted to specific phenomena abound, together they fairly well reflect a broad outline without a need to compile a separate treatise for every faucet, but for now the general picture is too fragmented, and of necessity it only can be assembled from partial descriptions. Lately, these descriptions were greatly enriched by the contributions of the genetics.

The historical monuments include written records illuminating time going back to before 1400 BC, and inscriptions from 5 c. BC on, written in Türkic native alphabet, in Chinese characters, in Arabic, Greek, Latin, Hebrew and Cyrillic alphabets; and cities and burials; and kurgans and tombs; and such long lasting implements as trousers, censuses, yurts, relay communication networks, arbas, composite bows, metalworks, slippers, boots, coaches. There is no need for nationalism, Panturkism, or any other ism to see what impact a numerically relatively modest, but technically mechanized and mobile people can inflict on the fates of our common Eurasia. A most visible part is Türks presiding over the Chinese states at the dawn of the historical period, Indian states, Near Eastern states, Apennine Peninsula before and during the Classical period, and carrying that legacy into the Late Antique down to the Modern Age, but the real history is a substrate upon which the glory of the limelight is resting upon.

The social heritage includes life of freedom, love of freedom and struggles for freedom, interposed with periods of oppression and periods of utter subjugation. It includes loyalty and treason, religious tolerance and intolerance, leadership in multinational voluntary confederations and in subjugated empires. It includes a palette of social, gender and societal equality and inequalities.

The political personages of the Türkic people range from mavericks such as Ulug Beg, despots as cruel as Tamerlan, conquerors destructive like Chingiz Khan and statesmen like Tonyukuk.

In the geographical expanse, the historical theater at times spreads from the shores of Pacific Ocean to the heart of Europe and to the western borders of Egypt, and from the Siberian taiga to the Indian subcontinent.

Intellectually, Türkic roots embraced participation in nearly all developments of the Eurasian continent. The systems of writing and documentation are traceable to the first native written records. The oldest written records describe a mature system of beliefs, and the time exposed Tatars to all contemporary religions, including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Daoism and a multitude of others.

The mass of scientific works investigating and summarizing the Türkic history is huge and may tally in thousands. A comprehensive summary, accessible to the general public and suitable for unbiased education of the new generations is yet to be created, to be weaved from the body of the known historical materials, each devoted to a relatively small spec of the Türko-Tatar history.

The links that you see are the links that we know about. There may be links you don't like, even links obviously objectionable. Others enlighten or magnify some subjects, topics or periods, helping to grasp the beat of the history. Either way, whether informational or motivated, all these links contribute to the scope of the site.

There is much to be learned. I believe that the historical Türkology just made its first unsure steps. As the accessibility to the sources and exchange of information are exploding, the screaming blanks will be studied, and the past and present Orwellian historiography will become unsustainable. This site, as many others, will be enriched by critical comments and generous contributions.