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On the origins and emergence of the Qaŋlï Turks

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 September 2023

Hayrettin İhsan Erkoç*
Affiliation:
Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Çanakkale, Turkey
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Abstract

The Qaŋlï (Qangli) Turks were a numerous people, active in Eurasia in the twelfth to thirteenth centuries, but their ultimate origins remain a matter of debate. Often considered by modern scholars to be a part of the Kipchaks (Cumans), others have different opinions. One of these links them to cart-riding early medieval Turkic tribes called Tägräks, known in Chinese sources as Tiele 鐵勒, among other forms. This article examines the earliest possible (eighth-century) references to the Qaŋlïs in the historical sources, and points to the potential links between them and various tribes seen among Turko-Mongol groupings of the ninth to tenth centuries mentioned in the Chinese sources, such as the Black Carts (Heichezi 黑車子). Another aspect that this article focuses on is how both historical and mythological texts of the Mongol period show the Qaŋlïs to be a people distinct from the Kipchaks. Ultimately, this study, which is based on both historical sources and modern research, proposes to locate the origins of the Qaŋlï Turks among Tägräk tribes.

Type
Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of SOAS University of London

Introduction

Qaŋlï (lit. “cart”; also spelled as Qangli and Kanglı)Footnote 1 was the name of a medieval Turkic people who had important roles in Eurasia between the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Most famously known for their significant political and military positions in the late Khwarazmshah Empire, they also briefly served the Anatolian Seljuks and Ayyubids, even capturing Jerusalem in 1244 and triggering the Seventh Crusade of 1248–54 led by King Louis IX of France. Most of the available information regarding the Qaŋlïs begins in the twelfth century; they seem to have inhabited a very large territory, starting from modern Gansu 甘肅 in northwest China, stretching westwards to the Caspian Sea and Ural Mountains. Large groups of Qaŋlïs submitted to the Mongol Empire and eventually dispersed as a separate people, as seen with many other Turko-Mongol groupings of that period, but numerous groups of Qaŋlï origin can still be found among many modern Turkic peoples. Often considered as the Asian branch of the Kipchaks (also known as the Cumans), very little is known about them before the twelfth century and their eventual origins remain a matter of debate.Footnote 2 My opinion is that the Qaŋlïs are possibly connected with the Tägräks, early medieval cart-riding nomadic Turkic tribes that roamed the vast Eurasian steppes.Footnote 3 This article aims to shed light on the origins and emergence of the Qaŋlï Turks based on sources from earlier historical periods.

Modern scholarly opinions on the origins of the Qaŋlïs

For more than a century, modern scholars have worked to uncover the origins of the Qaŋlï Turks who spread over large parts of Central Asia. They have suggested the following different origins:Footnote 4

  • Kangju 康居 (Kanguj in the works of Russian researchers), which starts to appear in Chinese sources in the second to first centuries bc, located on the banks of Jaxartes to the west of Zhetysu (Semireč’e) and east of the Aral;Footnote 5

  • Kangguo 康國 (Kang Country), also seen in the Chinese sources;

  • Avestan Kañha (Kangha);

  • Mixture of the Kangars (known as the ‘noble tribes of Pechenegs’), Oghuz, Kimäks and Cuman-Kipchaks;

  • Eastern branch of the Kipchaks;

  • Continuation of Gaoche (High Carts) tribes of the fourth to sixth centuries.

Of course, there were some objections to these hypotheses.Footnote 6 Scholars who attempted to identify the origins of Qaŋlïs among the Kangju/Kañha on the banks of Jaxartes viewed the name Qaŋlï more as an Iranic or Tokharian toponym than a Turkic ethnonym. However, this study demonstrates that the earliest groupings carrying the name Qaŋlï appear in mid-eighth century Southern Siberia, not in Turkestan.

Earliest possible mentions of the Qaŋlïs

Dilek and Yorulmaz drew attention to the fact that an affinity and kinship between the Qaŋlïs and Uyghurs is stressed in both various historical sources and the work of some researchers.Footnote 7 Kumekov wrote that in the second half of the ninth century, an Uyghur emissary mentioned a name in the form Qara Qanglï (Kara Kanğlık or Qara Qanγlïq) who dwelt in the Altai region neighbouring the Basmïls, Toquz Oghuz and Qarluqs. According to him, it is somewhat difficult to interpret this name.Footnote 8 Even though Kumekov did not note where he acquired this information from, the source he mentions is the BPN, written inside the manuscript Pelliot tibétain 1283 currently kept in the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris. A legendary people comprised of giants is mentioned between lines 50 and 60 of this text, which is the Tibetan translation of an Uyghur intelligence report whose original is generally thought to date from the 750s. According to the document, a mountain range covered with deserts was located to the north of a tribe of the Kyrgyz (Gir tis གིར་ཏིས་) and a people of giants lived to the north of these mountains. In the description of the culture of this people, it is mentioned that the Kyrgyz (Hir kis ཧིར་ཀིས༌) sent a messenger to them. The giants tied up and tortured this messenger, then they asked “Our herdsman of calves and sheep, the one in the clan which is called Ga ra gang lig ག་ར་གང་ལིག, where does he dwell?”, which is in line 57 of the document translated by Venturi. To the north of this people of giants lived the Basmïl (Ba sme བ་སྨེ་) tribe, who established a confederation with the Uyghurs (Hor ཧོར་) and Qarluqs (Gar log གར་ལོག་). In the following parts of the narrative, the destruction of the Türk Qaghanate by this alliance is described.Footnote 9

Pelliot indicated that the equivalent of the name Ga ra gang lig mentioned here could be Qara-Qanglï(γ) (literally “Black Qaŋlï[γ]”), although he also stated that he was not entirely certain of this conclusion.Footnote 10 Other scholars who studied this document, such as Clauson, Tezcan, Moriyasu and Venturi, did not give any explanations of the name Ga ra gang lig.Footnote 11 As Yorulmaz also indicated, this Tibetan document, which I examine, is the first source that mentions the name Qaŋlï. Since the name Black Qaŋlï is mentioned in the document, Yorulmaz stated that groupings carrying the names Yellow Qaŋlï or White Qaŋlï should also have existed. On the basis of the document, according to him, the Black Qaŋlïs must have lived to the southeast of the Altai Mountains, in the regions stretching from Eastern Turkestan to northwest China. The name Black Qaŋlï can be seen among the Kyrgyz Qaŋlïs of the Zhetysu region in much later periods. In addition, the Black, Yellow and Red Qaŋlïs are mentioned in a Kazakh šežire (šajara, genealogy) recorded in the nineteenth century. This genealogy describes that Qaŋlïs on the banks of the Jaxartes are from the Yellow Qaŋlï, while Qaŋlïs in Zhetysu comprise the Yellow and Black Qaŋlïs. Yorulmaz emphasized that using colours in the naming of Qaŋlïs in this manner is related to a practice indicating the geographical or administrative statuses of tribes among Turkic peoples.Footnote 12 As is well known, the word Qara in Old Turkic had a variety of meanings, including “black”, “northern”, “strong” and “commoner/subject”.Footnote 13 Here, in the case of the Black Qaŋlïs, it is not easy to determine whether they are “Northern Qaŋlïs” or “Commoner/Subject Qaŋlïs”, but I think the latter is more likely.

Apart from this document in Tibetan, there is a recently discovered Uyghur document in Old Turkic that mentions the Black Qaŋlïs. A Uyghur manuscript fragment 81TB10: 06–3a, giving information about Uyghur conversion to Manichaeism, was discovered at Bezeklik in 1981 and first published by Zieme. Here, Manichaean priests from the West are described as bringing religious scriptures and bolts of silk to the Orkhon Uyghur Qaghanate during the reign of Bögü Qaghan in the 760s. In line 7 of the document, it is mentioned that they journeyed via Tuγurïstan (Eastern Turkestan) and Qara Qaŋlï, and they reached the qaghanate after passing through Ärḍiš (Irtysh). Both Zieme-Wang and Moriyasu identified these Qara Qaŋlïs as the Black Carts (Heiche 黑車/Heichezi 黑車子) mentioned in the Chinese sources I will examine below, a view with which I agree.Footnote 14 This geographic designation of the Black Qaŋlïs in the documents points to a location most probably around Dzungaria (Jungaria) and the Altai Mountains.

The earliest possible mention of the name Qaŋlï in Chinese sources might be under the title Horse Marks [Tamghas] of Various Administrative Centers (Zhu Jian Mayin 諸監馬印) found within the section dealing with military matters in THY. Here, there is a list of Turko-Mongol tribes living to the north of China as well as the tamgha signs these tribes branded on their horses. This list includes a tribe with the name Kangheli 康曷利 and it is stated that its tamgha looks like the Chinese character zhai 宅.Footnote 15 In order to study this ethnonym, one should also check the Middle Chinese (MC) reconstructions of this name proposed by various Sinologists:

  • Karlgren: γɒng-γât-lji- (Ancient Chinese);

  • Pulleyblank: kʰaŋ-ɣat-liʰ (Early MC) and kʰaŋ-xɦat-liˋ (Late MC);

  • Coblin: *khaŋ and *li for the Sui-Tang period Chang'an 長安 dialect, mid-Tang Chang'an dialect and ninth- to tenth-century pronunciations of kang 康 and li 利; *ɣat for the Old Northwest Chinese pronunciation of he 曷;

  • Baxter and Kroll: khang-hat-lijH (MC);

  • Schuessler: kʰâŋ-ɣât-liC (MC).Footnote 16

Given this name's transcription as kan-hé-li and its MC pronunciation as kang-γat-lji, Zuev maintained that the name's Chinese transcription reflects kangγatlï or, in other words, Kangarlïγ. According to him, this name is one of the oldest variants of the ethnonym Kanglï (Qaŋlï). Matsuda thought that Kangheli is the equivalent of Kängäräs in the Orkhon Inscriptions, but Zuev emphasized that the plural suffix -s in Kängäräs is not seen within Kangheli.Footnote 17 Although Zuev's hypothesis looks tempting, the character he 曷, which seems to be rendering Old Turkic *-γar-, poses some problems so the equitation Kangheli 康曷利 = Qaŋlï needs additional evidence, as I will point out again below.

Also according to Zuev, it is possible to see the tribal name Kangheli within the title of a Türk nobleman who lived in the seventh century. The title of this nobleman in question is recorded in JTS's Account of the Türks as Tigin Kangshaoli (Teqin Kangshaoli 特勤康稍利),Footnote 18 while in THY's Account of the Northern Türks it appears as Kangshaoli 康鞘利.Footnote 19 Although Zuev did not refer to him, this Türk nobleman is also mentioned in other Chinese sources. The person in question is mentioned in these sources as follows:

  • Da Tang Chuangye Qijuzhu 大唐創業起居注: Pillar of the State Kangshaoli (Zhuguo Kangshaoli 柱國康鞘利), Kangshaoli 康鞘利 and Shaoli 鞘利;

  • TD's Account of the Türks: Kangshaoli 康稍利;Footnote 20

  • Liu Wenjing's 劉文靜 biography in JTS: Commander Kangshaoli (Jiang Kangshaoli 將康稍利);

  • CFYG and XTS's Account of the Türks: Tigin Kangshaoli (Tele Kangshaoli 特勒康稍利);

  • ZZTJ: Pillar of the State Kangshaoli 柱國康鞘利 and Kangshaoli 康鞘利.Footnote 21

Implying that the characters such as shao 鞘 and shao 稍 used in the writing of this title are scribal errors, Zuev changed them with the character he 曷 and thought that the title of the aforementioned Tigin should be Qangarlïγ Tigin. According to him, the Qangarlïγ must have been a tribe subordinate to the Eastern Türk Qaghanate, and when the timespan of Kangshaoli Tigin going to and from China is considered, they were not far from Shibi Qaghan's 始畢可汗 administrative centre.Footnote 22

I have some hesitation regarding Zuev's opinion that Kangshaoli 康稍利/康鞘利 is a scribal error and its correct form should be Kangheli 康曷利. If Kangshaoli 康稍利/康鞘利 was mentioned in only a single source or the characters shao 鞘 and shao 稍 looked quite similar to the character he 曷, I might have leaned towards this possibility. However, the fact that this title is written in seven different Chinese sources with the characters shao 鞘 and shao 稍 makes me suspicious that a scribal error exists here. Besides, considering that Kangshaoli carries the title Tigin (Prince) might be pointing to the fact that he belonged to the imperial Türk dynasty from the Ašïna (Ashina 阿史那) rather than a tribe subordinate to the Eastern Türk Qaghanate. As is already known, Tigin is a title generally given by the Türks to members of the dynasty, with only a few exceptions.Footnote 23 In the family tree of the Türks he prepared in his book, Taşağıl showed Kangshaoli Tigin among Shibi Qaghan's sons, indicating that he is a member of the dynasty. Togan et al. also accepted this person as a member of the Türk ruling house.Footnote 24 Except for the problem of identifying Kangshaoli with Qaŋlï, I am inclined to consider Zuev's opinion as a possibility, which accepts Kangheli 康曷利 as one of the earliest known examples of the ethnonym Qaŋlï, though I do not accept this for certain. The reason why I hesitate to entirely acknowledge this possibility is because Kangheli's MC reconstructions, as also shown by Zuev himself, probably reflect *Qaŋγarlïγ. If Kangheli 康曷利 did not have the character he 曷, it would have been much easier to identify this ethnonym with Qaŋlï; however, the existence of this he 曷 causes problems. The reconstruction *Qaŋγarlïγ itself points to the ethnonyms and toponyms Qangar, Kängü and Kängäräs that are to be found in Western Turkestan. However, the early Qaŋlï groupings mentioned in BPN, 81TB10: 06-3a as well as in the Chinese sources regarding the ninth century, which I discuss below, appear to have dwelt in Southern Siberia, the Altai Mountains and Dzungaria, areas located to the northeast of that region. Thus, additional information and more research seem to be necessary to fully confirm the identification of Kangheli 康曷利 (*Qaŋγarlïγ) with Qaŋlï.

“Black Carts”: Heichezi 黑車子

A grouping similar to the name of the Black Qaŋlïs mentioned by BPN and 81TB10: 06-3a emerges exactly a hundred years after the mid-eighth century, the time when events in these documents are described. As far as I could determine, Chinese sources start mentioning a grouping named the Black Carts (Heichezi 黑車子) for the first time in the year 841. The earliest record about them is in HCYPJ. Alongside the Tatars (Dada 逹怛), the Black Carts are mentioned in this work among the tribes (buluo 部落) subordinate to the Uyghurs in around 841.Footnote 25

According to the Chinese sources, the Uyghurs (Huigu 回鶻) dispersed and migrated to different regions after the destruction of the Uyghur Qaghanate by the Kyrgyz in 840. The Uyghur nobleman Ögä Tigin (Wujie Tele 烏介特勒) became leader of one of these groups and acquired the title Ögä Qaghan (Wujie Kehan 烏介可汗). However, as a result of Ögä Qaghan's raids into China and especially to the You Prefecture (Youzhou 幽州), located in today's Beijing 北京, the Chinese, Desert Turks (Shatuo 沙陀), Qibi 契苾 and other groupings united in 842 to launch a surprise attack on him. After being defeated, Ögä Qaghan fled to the Black Carts (Heichezi 黑車子) and the remainder of his troops surrendered to the Tang Dynasty at You Prefecture. During the diplomatic talks conducted between the Kyrgyz and Tang Dynasty in 843, it was decided that the Kyrgyz had to attack the Black Carts in order for the Kyrgyz Qaghanate to be formally recognized by the Tang Dynasty. As a result, the Kyrgyz and Chinese agreed in 844 to conduct a mutual operation against the Uyghurs and Black Carts. However, the operation could not be carried out in 845, and so in 846 the Chinese gave up this plan. Ögä Qaghan was killed in 846 and succeeded by his brother Enian Tigin (Enian Tele 遏捻特勒). Their numbers seriously depleted, during the years 847–8 this Uyghur group took refuge among the Qai (Xi 奚, Tatabï) and Shirvi (Shiwei 室韋), who were among the Mongolic peoples of Manchuria. After the group was dispersed as a result of Chinese pressure, Enian Tigin and his family fled westwards, while the remaining people were ruled by the Shirvi. Yet, the Kyrgyz attacked the Shirvi, taking the Uyghurs to the north of the Gobi Desert (Qi 磧). Those Uyghurs that managed to flee to the forests and mountains migrated westwards to unite with their kinsmen in Eastern Turkestan.Footnote 26

In an edict recorded in HCYPJ, Li Deyu 李德裕 wrote that the Black Carts lived in the desert located a thousand li 里 (~500 kilometres) away from the Chinese border. Remarking that Chinese armies could never have reached those regions in the past, Li Deyu stated that this group sought to go to Eastern Turkestan (Anxi 安西) after realizing the Uyghurs’ real intentions. A copy of the same edict exists in the CFYG. From some of the records in Chinese sources that give information about Ögä Qaghan's taking refuge among the Black Carts and his eventual murder, one can also acquire some understanding of the geographical position of this grouping around the year 846. As I mentioned before, it is recorded in Biographies of Zhang Zhongwu in JTS and XTS that this qaghan wanted to flee to Kängü (Kangju) located on the banks of the Jaxartes or, in other words, in Western Turkestan. Also, according to the Account of the Uyghurs in JTS, the qaghan was killed in the Altai Mountains. If the qaghan was indeed killed by Yiyin Chor in the Altais, then he must have left the Black Carts with whom he had previously taken refuge.Footnote 27 The fact that Ögä Qaghan's people took refuge with the Qai and Shirvi following his death indicate that the Black Carts, with whom the qaghan had previously taken refuge, were living in a region close to those peoples, most probably in the Khingan Mountains.Footnote 28 Again from another record in JTS, it is understood that the Black Carts controlled the regions between China and Eastern Turkestan in the mid-ninth century. According to the Imperial Annals of Xuanzong 宣宗 in JTS and ZZTJ, a legation sent by the Tang Dynasty to the Uyghurs in the tenth month of Dazhong's 大中 eleventh year (22 October–20 November 857) had to return to China because the Black Carts had blocked their path.Footnote 29As is known, most of the Uyghurs in this period now resided in the Turfan (Qocho/Qochu, Gaochang 高昌) region, while some of them lived in Gansu. As the Black Carts blocked the path of the legation going from China to Eastern Turkestan, they must have been located around Gansu-Turfan because anyone who wanted to travel to Eastern Turkestan from China absolutely had to cross from Gansu. The records in BPN and 81TB10: 06-3a also indicate the presence of Black Carts in regions close by. However, if one considers the fact that the Uyghur grouping of Ögä Qaghan took refuge with the Qai and Shirvi following his death, it should be accepted that the Black Carts with whom the qaghan had taken refuge were living in the east. Yet, the Black Carts blocking the China-Eastern Turkestan path in 857 must have been dwelling in the west, quite far from there. In this case, the existence of Black Carts groupings living in both the east and the west but carrying the same name can be considered.

The same name Black Carts (Heichezi) can also be seen in Hu Qiao's 胡嶠 work Xianluji 陷虜記, in which he described his service to the Khitans (Qidan 契丹) between 947 and 953. The text of this work, which gives some information about the Khitans, is transmitted in Xin Wudaishi 新五代史 and QDGZ. According to Hu Qiao, the Khitans’ 契丹 neighbours were: the Qai 奚 to their south, the Türks 突厥 and Uyghurs 回紇 to their west and a people named Yujuelü 嫗厥律 to their northwest. To the west of the Yujuelü lived the Kyrgyz (Xiajia 轄戛) whose northern neighbours were the Chanyu Turks 單于突厥, and to their north lived the Black Carts 黑車子. They were good at making tents with carts (chezhang 車帳) (that is to say, tents pulled on carts), their people showed respect to family elders and their lands were poor and barren. According to a rumour, an ancestor of Khitans frequently served the Uyghurs; later he fled to the Black Carts and started learning how to make tents with carts. To the north of the Black Carts lived the Turks with Oxen Hooves (Niuti Tujue 牛蹄突厥), and to their northwest, a people named Wajiezi 韈劫子. To the three sides of these peoples, whom the Khitans and other states feared, were located the Shirvi 室韋 groupings comprising the Shirvi, Yellow-head Shirvi (Huangtou Shiwei 黃頭室韋) and Wild Shirvi (Shou Shiwei 獸室韋). To the north of the Wajiezi is the Country of the Dogs (Gouguo 狗國) where a legendary people with dog heads lived.Footnote 30 The Black Carts mentioned by Hu Qiao seem to coincide, from a geographical point, with the Qara Qaŋlïγ of BPN and Qara Qaŋlï of 81TB10: 06-3a, that is to say the Black Qaŋlïs.

Yet, in a note placed in the section of ZZTJ where Ögä Qaghan's refuge with the Black Carts is narrated, it has been explained that they are a Shirvi grouping. According to this note, if the New and Old Books (Xinjiushu 新舊書) are examined in detail, it can be seen that the Black Carts are a branch (zhong 種, literally “offspring”) of the Shirvi. When an imperial edict was sent to the Kyrgyz, the Black Carts were a thousand li away from the Chinese border. ZZTJ also transmitted a quotation from the Kaoyi 考異 (Zizhi Tongjian Kaoyi 資治通鑑考異) made from JTS's Account of the Uyghurs. According to this, Ögä Qaghan fled 400 li (~200 kilometres) towards the northeast following his defeat and took refuge with the Hejie Shirvi (Hejie Shiwei 和解室韋),Footnote 31 forged kinship with the Shirvi via marriage and became allies with them. After this information is given in the note in ZZTJ, the record in Zhang Zhongwu's biography in JTS regarding the qaghan's desire to flee to Kängü and his refuge within the Black Carts is quoted. As the note continues, there is a quotation from the Li Deyu Jishenggong Bei 李德裕紀聖功碑. It narrates that Ögä Qaghan intended to secure himself via the Dingling 丁令, desired to flee to Kängü and took refuge with the Black Carts (Heiche 黒車). Before the note ends, it states that the ancient Xiongnu ruler Zhizhi Chanyu 郅支單于 also wanted to take refuge with the Kängü but this was a mistake; thus, Ögä Qaghan is likened to Zhizhi Chanyu.Footnote 32

There are records in LS regarding a grouping carrying the name Black Cart Shirvi (Heichezi Shiwei 黑車子室韋). Abaoji 阿保機, founder of the Khitan Empire, attacked the Black Cart Shirvi twice, in 904 and 905. After Abaoji attacked them again in 907, eight tribes 部 of this aforementioned grouping surrendered to him. The Khitan ruler organized another campaign and defeated them in the same year. In the following year, Abaoji again ordered his brother Sala 撒剌 to attack the Wuwan 烏丸 and the Black Cart Shirvi. Towards the end of 909, a Khitan army attacked the Black Cart Shirvi and defeated them once again.Footnote 33 According to the records in LS, this grouping paid tribute to the Liao Dynasty ruled by the Khitans in the years 938, 940, 944 and 945.Footnote 34 The Black Cart Shirvi have been mentioned in the Armies of Vassal Countries (Shuguo Jun 屬國軍) list found in LS's Monograph of the Military (Bingweizhi 兵衞志).Footnote 35 In a similar manner, the Governorship of the King of the Black Cart Shirvi Country (Heichezi Shiweiguo Wangfu 黑車子室韋國王府) is given among the Officials of Vassal Countries in the Northern Regions (Beimian Shuguo Guan 北面屬國官) in the Monograph of the Hundred Officials (Baiguanzhi 百官志, also referred to as Monograph of Various Ranks and Positions).Footnote 36

Wang Guowei 王國維 thought that although the original homeland of the Heichezi Shiwei mentioned in LS was located to the north of the Khitans, they must have migrated south towards the region of Yin Mountains (Yinshan 陰山, Čuγay Yïš and Čuγay Quzï of the Türk inscriptions), somewhere in today's Chakhar region, according to Wittfogel and Fêng.Footnote 37 The latter have also accepted the Heichezi, the grouping who taught the Khitans how to make carts with tents, as a Shirvi tribe, and thus the same grouping as the one mentioned in LS.Footnote 38 Ahmed Zeki Velidî Togan thought that the Heichezi were the Usuns (Wusun 烏孫) who lived to the east of Lobnor in the regions stretching towards Koko Nor and later became vassals of Chinggis Qan (Genghis Khan). Çandarlıoğlu accepted the Hei-ch'e-tse (Heichezi) as a Mongolic people together with the Tatars. Based on Wang Guowei, Çandarlıoğlu was of the opinion that during their migrations after 840, the Uyghurs brought Tatars and Heichezi with them to the Ganzhou 甘州 region in the south.Footnote 39 Tsai believed that the Heichezi mentioned in the Chinese sources describing the dispersion of Uyghurs after 840 belonged to Shirvi tribes and he translated the ethnonym Heichezi into Turkish as “Kara Arabacı” (“Black-cart [maker]”). Moreover, this people was also called Black Tatar according to him. As to Taşağıl, he translated the name Heichezi into Turkish as Kara Arabalı Oğulları (Sons of the Black Carts).Footnote 40 Drompp was also of the opinion that the Heichezi of the 840s were from the Shirvi.Footnote 41 According to him, the Heichezi should be identified with the Hejie Shirvi.Footnote 42 Although the Black Carts are mentioned in ZZTJ and LS as a Shirvi tribe, no tribe bearing this name can be found in the lists of Shirvi tribes given in TD, JTS, THY and XTS's Accounts of the Shirvi.Footnote 43 The Black Carts with whom Ögä Qaghan took refuge in the ninth century and who are understood to have been living in the Khingan Mountains might be the Black Carts Shirvi, who fought with the Khitans and became their vassals in the tenth century. However, groupings named the Black Carts are also seen in regions like Southern Siberia, Dzungaria and the Altai Mountains during the eighth to ninth centuries. Besides, during the same period when the Black Carts Shirvi existed, Hu Qiao described the region where the Black Carts lived as in Siberia to the north of the Kyrgyz and mentioned them as a people separate from the Shirvi. What is to be understood from this is that there were most probably two distinct groupings that carried the name Black Carts, in other words Black Qaŋlïs: one between Siberia and Gansu and the other in the Khingan Mountains.

I should point out that these earliest mentions of the Qaŋlïs in Tibetan and Chinese sources are quite a bit earlier than the appearance of the ethnonym Kipchak. I consider this possibility to be evidence that supports suspecting the opinions of scholars linking the Qaŋlïs with the Kipchaks, who believe that the Qaŋlïs first appeared as a Kipchak sub-group and broke away from them in the eleventh to twelfth centuries.

The Qaŋlïs as a distinct people

Most of what we know about the Qaŋlïs concerns their activities during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, when they became a prominent people in a vast area stretching from the Urals to Gansu. This information is generally found in Islamic, Chinese, Mongol and European sources that do not give much information about how they appeared and where they came from. There are, of course, some exceptions, which label the Qaŋlïs as a part of the Kipchaks. Except for the records about possible early Qaŋlïs I listed above, most of the historical sources start mentioning the Qaŋlïs as a prominent people from the early twelfth century. Prior to that, they are usually not counted as a major people; some lists of prominent Turkic peoples found in tenth- and eleventh-century sources do not mention them. One of these sources – the tenth-century anonymous Persian geography work Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam (section 12–22) – gives a list of Turkic peoples and their descriptions. This list includes Toγuzγuz (Toquz Oghuz, Uyghurs), Yaγmiyā (Yaghma), Xirχīz (Kyrgyz), Xalluχ (Qarluq), Čigil, Tuχs (Tokhsï/Tukhsï), Kimäk, Γūz (Oghuz), Turkish Bajanāk (Pecheneg), Xifčāχ (Kipchak) and Majγarī (Magyar), but not the Qaŋlï.Footnote 44 S.6551, a tenth-century Chinese text from Dunhuang 敦煌, listed the neighbours (most of them Turkic peoples) of the Turfanese Uyghurs as Qarluqs (Gelu 葛祿), Yaghmas (Yaomo 藥摩), Strange Looking Tatars (Yimao Dadan 異貌達但), Tokhsï/Tukhsï (Duxi 獨西), Tibetans (Tubo 土蕃), Basmïls (Baximi 拔悉密) and Kyrgyz (Xiajiasi 黠戛私), but does not mention the Qaŋlïs.Footnote 45 Similar to Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam, Maḥmūd al-Kāšγarī provides a list of major Turkic peoples in his eleventh-century work DLT. Stating that the Turks were actually composed of 20 tribes (qabīla ﻘَﺒِﻴﻠَﺔً), Kāšγarī listed these as Bäčänäk (Pecheneg), Qïfčaq (Kipchak), Oγuz (Oghuz), Yämäk, Bašγïrt (Bashkurt), Basmïl, Qay, Yabaqu, Tatar, Qïrqïz (Kyrgyz), Čigil, Toχsï/Tuχsï, Yaγma, Oγraq, Čaruq, Čomul/Čömül, Uyγur (Uyghur), Taŋut (Tangut), Xïtay (Khitan) and Tawγač (Tabghach). As can be seen, the Qaŋlï are not on this list.Footnote 46 All these accounts demonstrate that although the Qaŋlïs were most probably living further northwards in Southern Siberia, Dzungaria and the Altais, they were still mostly outside the range of sedentary sources, perhaps also still rather small in population.

As I mentioned earlier, there are differing opinions both in the historical sources and between scholars on the origins of the Qaŋlïs and to which Turkic people they originally belonged. Among these views, the most widespread is the one that Qaŋlïs were the eastern branch of Kipchaks. The reason for this is that the Qaŋlïs were also called Kipchaks or Cumans in some Islamic and Mongol-period European sources. Scholars who maintain that the Qaŋlïs were of Kipchak origin and later broke away from them based their arguments on an expression in DLT, alongside records in other sources I will mention below.Footnote 47 Kāšγarī explained the word qaŋlï ﻗَﻨﻜْﻠﻰ as “A wagon for carrying loads” and the name Qaŋlï ﻗَﻨﻜْﻠٖﻰ as a “Name of an important man of Qifčāq.”.Footnote 48 As I stated earlier, he also did not list the Qaŋlïs among the major Turkic peoples. Yorulmaz had two explanations for this, with which I also agree: 1) Kāšγarī actually described parts of the Turkic world located rather closer to Islamic lands, instead of describing all of it. Other Turkic tribes dwelling in the East and located far from the Islamic world are also not mentioned in DLT; 2) mention of Qaŋlï as the name of a Kipchak nobleman in DLT may point to a Qaŋlï grouping living under Kipchak rule.Footnote 49 As we shall see below, HDSL counted the Qaŋlïs as a people separate from the Kipchaks.Footnote 50 Numerous other accounts from Mongol-period sources with similar designations will also be discussed below.

Çandarlıoğlu argued that after the fall of the Uyghur Qaghanate in 840, Tiele tribes such as the Qibi and Bughu (Pugu 僕骨/僕固) lived in regions between the Yin Mountains and Qumul (Yiwu 伊吾, Hami 哈密) as crowded groupings, even in the tenth century.Footnote 51 It can be observed that Uyghurs lived in the Gansu region and especially in Northern Ganzhou.Footnote 52 Hence it is also known that some of the Qaŋlïs lived around Gansu, Southeastern Altais, Southwestern Mongolia and Gobi in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries. How and when they came here is still unknown; at this point, one can do nothing but speculate. They might have been formed from some Toquz Oghuz-Uyghur groupings following the eleventh century; since S.6551 does not mention the Qaŋlïs there in the tenth century, they were either still a small group at that time or they came there later. However, we do know for certain that they were living in these regions by the early thirteenth century, and if the Black Carts were indeed a part of the Qaŋlïs, then it can be considered that the Qaŋlïs were already in these regions during the ninth century, maybe not in great numbers as they have escaped the attention of S.6551 and other tenth- and eleventh-century sources. Some Qaŋlï noblemen from these regions, whose biographies were recorded in Chinese sources, entered into Mongol service in the thirteenth century. In these records, those regions are described as containing the ancestral graves of Qaŋlï nobles; according to Yorulmaz, this is an indication that those territories were the ancestral lands of Qaŋlïs who had lived there for many generations, a view with which I agree.Footnote 53 In YS, the name of these Qaŋlïs is given as Kangli 康里Footnote 54 while the name of their country is written as Kangliguo 康里國 (Qaŋlï Country)Footnote 55 and Kangguo 康國 (Qaŋ Country).Footnote 56 One of these Qaŋlï noblemen who served the Mongols was Buhumu 不忽木. In his biography in YS, it is explained that the name Kangli 康里 stands for the Country of the High Carts (Gaocheguo 高車國) of the Han period.Footnote 57 Another form of Qaŋlï in YS, mentioned by Pelliot and Hambis, is Hangjin 杭斤 and (Hang)jin〔杭〕斤 seen in the biographies of the famous Mongol general Sübe'edei Ba'atur (Subutai 速不台, Xuebutai 雪不台). Here, it is noted that Sübe'edei fought with numerous peoples, including Qaŋlïs and Kipchaks (Qincha 欽察); these two are counted as separate peoples.Footnote 58 Similarly, the biography of Ismāʿīl (Hesimaili 曷思麥里, a Turkestani Muslim originally from the Qara Khitan Empire but later serving the Mongols) in YS mentions the famous Mongol general Jebe Noyan (Zhebo哲伯) attacking the Kipchaks 欽察 and Qaŋlïs 康里 separately.Footnote 59 The HDSL gives a list of countries (guo 國) conquered by the Mongols, which also includes Qaŋlï (Kangli 抗里); the source notes that this is the name of a Turkic country (Huihuiguo 回回國).Footnote 60 According to another note in the same work, the Kipchaks (Kebishao 克鼻稍) are also a Turkic country 回回國 and they are a race 種 of the Uyghurs 回紇.Footnote 61

According to section 198 of SHM, the Merkid and Naimans fought against the Mongols on the banks of River Irtysh, eventually dispersing after being defeated. Those Merkid that managed to cross the river passed through the land of Qaŋlïs (Qanglin) and Kipchaks (Kimča'ud).Footnote 62 In section 262 of SHM, it is recorded that during his Khwarazmian Campaign, Chinggis Qa'an (Chinggis Qan) dispatched his commander Sübe'dei Ba'atur northwards to advance until the lands of 11 countries and peoples. The Qaŋlïs (Qanglin) and Kipchaks (Kibča'ud) are listed separately among these. Hence according to SHM section 270, Sübe'edei Ba'atur obeyed this command and reached those regions where the Qaŋlïs (Qanglin) and Kipchaks (Kibča'ud) also lived. However, as the commander fell into a difficult situation in these lands, Ögödei Qa'an dispatched the princes Batu, Böri, Güyüg, Möngke and others to help him.Footnote 63 According to SHM section 274, these princes launched a campaign in the region and subjugated the Qaŋlïs (Qanglin), Kipchaks (Kibča'ud) and Bashkurts (Baǰigid).Footnote 64 John of Plano Carpini listed the Qaŋlïs (Cangiti) among the peoples conquered by the Tatars (Mongols), and referred to them as different from the Cumans (Comani, Kipchaks).Footnote 65 In the same manner, Friar C. de Bridia counted the Qaŋlïs (Cangite) as separate from the Cumans (Comani) in the lands conquered by Mongols.Footnote 66 Mentioning the Mongol conquests again in another part of his work, C. de Bridia wrote that after the Qaŋlïs (Kangitae), the Mongols conquered Cumania (Comania).Footnote 67 According to him, among the places conquered by Batu (Bati) was the land of the Qaŋlïs (terra Kangitarum) and Great Cumania (Magna Comania), which were listed in Batu's conquests as separate regions.Footnote 68 While travelling to the Mongols, the delegation led by John passed through Cumania (Comania) and the Qaŋlïs’ (Kangittæ) land (Terra Kangittarum) located to its east. After this, the delegation reached the land of Bisermini (“Muslims”, banks of Jaxartes). This record is another example of the Qaŋlïs counted separately from the Kipchaks in John's work, in which the lands of the Qaŋlïs and Kipchaks are mentioned as different regions.Footnote 69 On the other hand, William of Rubruck wrote that the Cumans (Comani) called Qaŋlï (Cangle) lived in the steppes north of the Caspian Sea before the Tatar (Mongol) conquests, thus identifying the Qaŋlïs with Kipchaks.Footnote 70 Not long after, William wrote that in the past Qaŋlïs (Cangle) had lived in the lands north of the Caspian which he passed while going to the Mongol capital and that they were related to the Cumans (Comani).Footnote 71

During the Mongol period, various legends of the Oghuz began to be written down; these included narratives about Oγuz Qaγan (Oghuz Qaghan), mythological ruler of that Turkic people. This ruler is mentioned in the legend's non-Islamic form written with the Uyghur script as Oγuz Qaγan, and in its Islamic versions as Oγuz Xan (Oghuz Khan). According to the legend, Oghuz Qaghan gave names to Turkic peoples or certain characters representing them, according to particular incidents that had taken place. It can be seen in the legends about Oghuz Qaghan that, just as in the records I cited above, the Qaŋlïs are mentioned as a distinct Turkic people. Stories about the appearance of the ethnonym Qaŋlï are also narrated in these legends. In lines 257–88 of the Uyghur-scribed Turkic manuscript of the Legend of Oghuz Qaghan, the discovery of carts (qaŋa)Footnote 72 and emergence of the ethnonym Qaŋaluγ are narrated, according to Danka's translation:

Then one day the grey-furred, grey-maned, wolf did not walk (further), it stopped. Oghuz Kaghan also stopped. Setting up camp, he stopped. It was an uncultivated, flat land. They (always) called it Jurched (ǰürčäd).Footnote 73 It was a great country and people. Their livestock were many, their gold and silver were plenty, their jewels were many. Here, the Jurched Kaghan and people came against Oghuz Kaghan. A fight started. With arrows and swords, they fought. Oghuz Kaghan attacked, he crushed the Jurched Kaghan and killed him. He cut off his head. He made the Jurched people heed his words. After the fight, Oghuz Kaghan's army, bodyguards and people obtained so many inanimate goods that an insufficiency of beasts of burden (lit. horse, mule, ox) turned out to load (the goods) on and carry them away. There in Oghuz Kaghan's army, there was an intelligent, good, clever man, his name was Barmaklig Josun Bellig (barmaqlïɣ ǰosun bellig). This clever (man) built a cart (qanq˚). Onto top of the cart (qanq˚), the inanimate goods he put, in front of the cart (qanq˚), the animate goods he put. They trailed them away and left. All the bodyguards, and people saw this and were astonished, and they built more carts (qanq˚). These carts (qanq˚), while moving, were making the noise “qanq˚ qanq˚”. Due to that, they were given the name qanq˚. Oghuz Kaghan saw the carts (qanq˚) and laughed. Then he told (him), “Let the living make the lifeless walk with the carts! You having the cart (qanq˚luɣ), a name is necessary for you, let the cart (qanq˚) manifest it!” he said, then he went away.Footnote 74

The emergence of Qaŋlïs and the ethnonym Qaŋlï (Qanqlī ﻘَﻨَْﻘْﻠﻰٖ ) has been narrated in the Islamic version of the legend transmitted by Rašīd al-Dīn in Persian as follows, according to Thackston's translation:

The Qanqli. At the time Oghuz was fighting his father, uncles, brothers, and cousins and raiding the province, these were among the tribes that joined him. While others were pillaging and carrying their plunder on animals, these used their minds to devise carts to carry their plunder. Since a cart is called qanqli in Turkish, they were therefore given this name. All the Qanqlis spring from them.Footnote 75

Relying mostly on Rašīd al-Dīn's work, the seventeenth-century Khivan ruler Abū al-Γāzī Bahadur Xan (Abu'l-Ghazi Bahadur Khan) also narrated the discovery of carts (qanq) and the origins of Qaŋlïs (Qanqlï) in the legend's Chaghatai version:

Every year Oγuz Xan used to fight against the people dwelling in the Mongol lands and win. Finally he captured them all and those that managed to flee and save themselves took refuge with the χan of the Tatars. At those years the Tatar people dwelled close to Jürjät. Jürjät was the name of a great realm. Its cities and villages are plenty. It is located to the north of China. The Indians and Tajiks call there Čīn Mačīn. Oγuz Xan went there and attacked the Tatars. The χan of Tatars came with many soldiers and fought. Oγuz Xan emerged victorious and decimated his soldiers. So many inanimate booties fell to Oγuz Xan's soldiers that mounts were not sufficient enough to load them. There was a fine and clever man. He thought and built the cart. All those that saw it from him built carts, loaded their booty and went back. They called the cart “qanq”. Before that, neither its name nor it existed. Because it made a sound like “qanq qanq” while moving, they called it qanq. To the one that built it, they called him Qanqlï. All the Qanqlï people are his children.Footnote 76

The people bestowed with names by Oghuz Qaghan in the Uyghur script version of the legend are listed as Slav (Saqlap), Kipchak (Qïpčaq), Qarluq (Qaγar-luq), Khalach (Qalač) and Qaŋlï (Qaŋa-luγ).Footnote 77 Rašīd al-Dīn listed the peoples descended from the people given names by Oghuz Khan as Uyghur (Ūyγūr ﺍُﻮﻴْﻐُﻮﺮ ), Qaŋlï (Qanqlī ﻘَﻨَْﻘْﻠﻰٖ ), Kipchak (Qīpčāq ﻘِﭙْﭽٰﺎﻖ ), Qarluq (Qārlūq ﻘٰﺎﺮْﻠُﻮﻖ ) and Khalach (Qalač ﻘَﻠَﭻ). Yet, according to him, the Aghachäri (Āγāčerī ﺁﻏٰﺎﭽِﺮﻯٖ) people were a newly formed grouping and appeared after the Oghuz came to Iran.Footnote 78 Hence, while talking about Turkic groupings, Rašīd al-Dīn expressed that the Kipchaks, Qaŋlïs, Qarluqs and Khalach are different branches of the Oghuz.Footnote 79 Legend has it that the Uyghurs, Kipchaks, Qaŋlïs, Qarluqs, Khalach and Aghachäris descended from Oghuz Khan's brothers and some of his cousins.Footnote 80 According to Abū al-Γāzī, the ils (peoples) descended from the people and groupings given names by Oghuz Khan were similarly Uyghur, Qaŋlï (Qanqlï), Kipchak (Qïpčaq), Qarluq (Qarlïq) and Khalach (Qalač).Footnote 81 All these narratives demonstrate to us that between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the Oghuz saw Uyghurs, Qaŋlïs, Kipchaks, Qarluqs and Khalach as the major Turkic peoples (apart from themselves) and counted the Qaŋlïs as a people distinct from the Kipchaks.

Conclusion

As can be seen, nomadic Turkic tribes carrying the name Qaŋlï started to appear in historical sources in the middle of the eighth century as Qara Qaŋlïγ and Qara Qaŋlï (Black Qaŋlï). The regions in which these tribes were seen were Southern Siberia, the Altai Mountains and Dzungaria. Exactly a century later, tribes bearing a very similar name to that ethnonym (in the form of Black Carts) are observed to have lived dispersedly both in Gansu in the west and the Khingans in the east. THY may have counted the Qaŋlïs as one of the Turko-Mongol tribes to the north of China in the beginning of the tenth century, but this is not certain. As this indicates, some nomadic Turkic tribes living in carts became a grouping distinct from the Uyghurs and other Toquz Oghuz tribes during the eighth to tenth centuries. These earliest possible records about the Qaŋlïs also predate the ethnonym Kipchak, hence casting doubt on the hypothesis that the origins of Qaŋlïs lie within the Kipchaks. These early records about the Qaŋlïs also demonstrate that the Qaŋlïs, emerging from Southern Siberia, probably had nothing to do with the Kangju/Kañha/Kängü/Kängäräs located on the banks of Jaxartes. In the middle of the tenth century, Black Carts are again seen in Southern Siberia. However, during this period a grouping named Black Cart Shirvi are also seen to be living to the east among the Mongolic people named Shirvi, who might be the Black Carts of the Khingans from the ninth century. The ethnonym Black Carts is not seen in the Chinese sources listing Shirvi tribes; these might correspond to the Shirvi's Hejie tribe. Thus, this draws to our attention two possibilities: 1) the Black Carts seen among the Mongolic Shirvi could originally have been Turkic and might later have migrated eastwards, eventually joining the Shirvi; 2) instead of being an ethnic name, Black Carts might be a generic name pointing to the nomadic lifestyle of various tribes that built carts and lived in the felt tents erected above these vehicles. The Black Cart Shirvi can be considered as a part of this people who specialized in building carts and eventually multiplied as tribes, or this name might be an alternative name for the Hejie Shirvi. Unfortunately, we do not possess a list of tribes and clans that formed the Black Carts during the eighth to tenth centuries, both in Southern Siberia, Altais and Dzungaria, and among the Shirvi of the Khingans in the east. Thus, it is not so easy to comment on the origins and ethnic structures of these aforementioned tribes. However, I am of the opinion that at least the Black Carts living in Southern Siberia, Altais and Dzungaria were Turkic, not Mongolic, which is also indicated by the fact that they were carrying a Turkic ethnonym. I am also inclined to reach the conclusion that the grouping mentioned in BPN as Qara Qaŋlïγ and in 81TB10: 06-3a as Qara Qaŋlï, described as living in Southern Siberia, were the same people as the Black Carts in Siberia and Gansu. When it comes to the twelfth to thirteenth centuries, dispersed but numerous Turkic tribes carrying the ethnonym Qaŋlï are seen to be living in a wide area from the Aral Sea up to Inner Mongolia. Some of these dwelt around Gansu, Southeastern Altais, Southwestern Mongolia and Gobi at that time. From among these regions, Gansu especially witnessed various Uyghur and Toquz Oghuz settlements during the ninth to tenth centuries as well. Starting from the thirteenth century, most of the historical sources mentioning the Qaŋlïs considered them as a distinct people separate from the major Turkic peoples of that period such as the Oghuz, Uyghurs, Qarluqs, Kipchaks and Khalach. However, some of these sources also emphasize that these peoples had a common origin.

During the Türk Qaghanate period, the vast majority of dispersed Turkic tribes living from Mongolia up to the Pontic steppes were named Tägräk (Tiele), in other words “Wheel”. If we consider this information, we can postulate that the Qaŋlïs of the eighth to thirteenth centuries should be a part of them. Although we lack concrete data, we could guess that, starting from the middle of the eighth century, some Tägräk tribes in Southern Siberia might have started separating from the Uyghurs and Toquz Oghuz, acquiring the ethnonym Qaŋlï. It is also possible that these Southern Siberian tribes were never part of the Toquz Oghuz union in Mongolia, as we know of the existence of some other non-Toquz Oghuz Tägräk tribes in that region. The name Qaŋlï might also be a generic name depicting a nomadic lifestyle conducted on carts, which is indicated by the Black Carts in the Khingans. It is known that throughout history, on some occasions the nomadic peoples of Eurasia were called by more than one, or an alternative, name. Saka for the Scythians, Turkmen for the Oghuz, Cuman for the Kipchaks and Tatar for the Mongols are examples of this phenomenon. In some cases, these alternative names were used for different peoples in the past, of which both Turkmen and Tatar are examples. It is already well known that the ethnonym Türkmän (Turkmen) was initially the name of a Turkic grouping different from the Oghuz, while the Tatars were a people different from the Mongols before the thirteenth century. It is my opinion that we can think that, just as in the case of Scythian/Saka, Oghuz/Turkmen, Kipchak/Cuman and Mongol/Tatar, the ethnonyms Tägräk, Oghuz and Qaŋlï might be alternative names for each other. Although the name Tägräk cannot be seen in the Turkic inscriptions of the Türk and Uyghur Qaghanates periods, Tiele and its different versions in the older periods are recorded in Chinese sources. Starting from the middle of the seventh century, the usage of Tiele starts to gradually decrease in these sources, and the Tägräks living in Eastern Türk territories in particular begin to be mentioned as the Nine Surnames. The Oghuz and Toquz Oghuz seen in Türk and Uyghur inscriptions are the names of Tägräk tribes dwelling in Mongolia, as mentioned in the Turkic inscriptions, while they are equivalents of the Nine Surnames in the Chinese sources. In fact, the usage of the ethnonym Oghuz can be dated further back to older periods. During the time between the collapse of the Hunnic Empire and the foundation of the Avar Qaghanate, Turkic tribes that dominated the Pontic steppes carried the name Oghur, who are thought to be descendants of the Dingling, that is to say, the Tägräks. As can be understood, usage of the ethnonym Tägräk decreased in some periods, and usage of the names Oghuz and Qaŋlï became more widespread. Qaŋlï, a term meaning “Cart”, is a description pointing to the nomadic lifestyle of the Turkic tribes of that period, just as in the case of Tägräk meaning “Wheel”. The semantic connection between “Cart” and “Wheel” is already obvious. Hence, when one looks at this from this respect, it is no coincidence that during the Tabghach period the Chinese called Tägräks “High Carts”. Thus, in my opinion Tägräk, Oghuz and Qaŋlï seem to be the names widely used for the Turkic tribes that generally led a nomadic life in the Eurasian steppes, and these ethnonyms are most probably alternatives for each other. Therefore, I believe it is appropriate to look at the Tägräks for the ultimate origins of the Qaŋlï Turks, rather than at the later Kipchaks or other peoples.

One problem we still face is that we simply do not know how a group of Turkic tribes started distinguishing themselves from the Uyghurs-Toquz Oghuz and other Turkic peoples to become a distinct people in the twelfth to thirteenth centuries. The appearance of the ethnonym Black Qaŋlï/Black Carts in the eighth to ninth centuries indicates that this process might have started in Southern Siberia. The designation “black” also shows that other Qaŋlï groupings probably existed at that time as well, but there are no contemporary sources about them. Since Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam, S.6551 and Maḥmūd al-Kāšγarī do not mention the Qaŋlïs as a distinct Turkic people, the Qaŋlïs seem to have lived quite far away from sedentary realms before the twelfth century, in a wide region stretching between Southern Siberia, Dzungaria, Inner Mongolia and Gansu. Some of these areas correspond to the lands of Black Qaŋlïs/Black Carts, as we have seen. The lack of sources prevents us from making firm statements, but my hypothesis is that some Tägräk tribes in these regions started an ethnogenesis process during the eighth century and became the Qaŋlï people, who went on to become a major grouping in the early twelfth century.

Abbreviations

AEA

Ali Emîrî Arabî

BPN

Byang phyogs na rgyal po du bzhugs pa'i rabs gyi yi ge བྱང་ཕྱོགས་ན་རྒྱལ་པོ་དུ་བཞུགས་པའི་བརབས་གྱི་ཡིགེ

CFYG

Cefu Yuangui 冊府元龜

DLT

Dīwān Luγat al-Turk

HCYPJ

Huichang Yipin Ji 會昌一品集

HDSL

Hei Da Shilüe 黑韃事略

JTS

Jiu Tangshu 舊唐書

LS

Liaoshi 遼史

QDGZ

Qidan Guozhi 契丹國志

SHM

The Secret History of the Mongols (Mongγol-un Ni'uča Tobčiyan, Yuanchao Bishi 元朝秘史)

TD

Tongdian 通典

THY

Tang Huiyao 唐會要

XTS

Xin Tangshu 新唐書

YS

Yuanshi 元史

ZHSJ

Zhonghua Shuju 中華書局

ZZTJ

Zizhi Tongjian 資治通鑑.

References

1 For a detailed analysis of this ethnonym and the various grammatical issues related to it, see Histoire des campagnes de Gengis-Khan: Cheng-wou ts'in-tcheng lou: Tome I, (trans) Paul Pelliot and Louis Hambis (Leiden, 1951) (hereafter Histoire des campagnes), 113–14.

2 For the Qaŋlï Turks in general, see Bosworth, C.E., “Ḳanghli”, in Bosworth, C.E., van Donzel, E., Lewis, B. and Pellat, Ch. (eds), The Encyclopaedia of Islam, new ed. (Leiden, 1997), IV, 542Google Scholar; Asuman Dilek, “XI.–XIII. Yüzyıllarda Harezm Bölgesinde Türk Boyları’ndan Kanglılar”, MA thesis, Marmara Üniversitesi, 1994; Histoire des campagnes, 112–16; J. Marquart, “Über das Volkstum der Komanen”, Osttürkische Dialektstudien. Abhandlungen der Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, Philologische-Historische Klasse, Neue Folge, XIII/1, 1914, 25–238, at 163–72; Pylypčuk, Ja. V., “Kangly: Pytannaja etnopolityčnoï istoriï”, Sxodoznavstvo 67, 2014, 6478Google Scholar; Togan, İsenbike, “İdil-Ural Bölgesinde Kanglılar ve Kanglı Türkey Köyü”, in Kemaloğlu, İlyas (ed.), İdil-Ural Tarihi Sempozyumu (Ankara, 10–12 Ekim 2011) (Ankara, 2015), I, 4159Google Scholar, at 41–54; Yorulmaz, Osman, Geçmişten Günümüze Kanglı Türkleri (İstanbul, 2012)Google Scholar; Plano Carpinili Johannes, Tatarlar Olarak Andığımız Moğolların Tarihi: Bir Papalık Elçisinin Moğolistan Seyahatı ve Gözlemleri (1245–1247), (trans.) Altay Tayfun Özcan (İstanbul, 2022), 88. I am grateful to İlyas Kemaloğlu for helping me acquire Togan's paper.

3 Starting from the Xiongnu 匈奴 period, in Chinese sources these tribes were called a variety of names. Known during the Xiongnu period as Dingling 丁零/丁令/丁靈, they were called Gaoche 高車 (High Carts), Dili 狄歷 and Chile 勑勒/敕勒 during the Tabghach (Tuoba 拓跋/拓拔/托跋) period, associated with the Chi Di 赤狄 (Red Di) of the Antiquity. During the Türk (Tujue 突厥, Köktürk) period, they were known as Tele 特勒, Tiele 鐵勒 and Jiuxing 九姓 (literally “Nine Surnames”, meaning “Nine Tribes”, the Toquz Oghuz of Old Turkic inscriptions). Excluding the latter, these names seem to reflect the numerous Chinese pronunciations of the same ethnonym. Although there are several different opinions on the Old Turkic reconstruction of these names, the one I tend to agree with is that reflected in *Tägräk, meaning “Wheel”, referring to their nomadic lifestyle on carts. Rather than being a homogeneous group, the Tägräk tribal union seems to have included different numbers of tribes over time. The name seems to have become a general term used for almost all Eurasian nomadic peoples, including those of non-Turkic, primarily Iranic, stock. For an evaluation of these terms, including a comprehensive bibliography of academic works on these tribes, see Erkoç, Hayrettin İhsan, “Tiele 鐵勒 ve Töliş I”, in Özer, Osman (ed.), Prof. Dr. Zafer Önler ARMAĞANI (Ankara, 2019), 395455Google Scholar; Erkoç, Hayrettin İhsan, “Tiele 鐵勒 ve Töliş II”, in İskefiyeli, Zeynep and Çelik, Muhammed Bilal (eds), Türkistan'dan Anadolu'ya Tarihin İzinde–Prof. Dr. Mehmet Alpargu'ya Armağan (Ankara, 2020), I, 3071Google Scholar.

4 Dilek, “XI.–XIII”, 12–14; Bolat Kumekov, “Kıpçak Hanlığı”, in Hasan Celâl Güzel, Kemal Çiçek and Salim Koca (eds), Türkler, (trans.) Aydos Şalbayev (Ankara, 2002), II, 784; Marquart, “Über das Volkstum der Komanen”, 168; Togan, “İdil-Ural Bölgesinde”, 42–3; Yorulmaz, Geçmişten Günümüze Kanglı Türkleri, 25–76, 179–82.

5 During the Han Dynasty period, the Kingdom of Kangju was located to the north of the Jaxartes, and stretched to the Aral. Ekrem and Kljaštornyj have argued that this kingdom corresponds to the toponym Kängü Tarban and the Kängäräs tribe mentioned in the later Turkic inscriptions. They have also stated that this tribe continued as the Kangar tribe of Pechenegs and that it is possible that the origins of the Pechenegs may go back to the Kingdom of Kangju: Nuraniye Hidayet Ekrem, “Çin Elçisi Chang Ch'ien’in Seyahatnamesine Göre Orta Asya'daki Etnik Gruplar”, PhD thesis, Hacettepe Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, 1998, 161–3; S.G. Klyaştornıy, “Orhon Âbidelerinde Kengü’nün Kavmî-Yer Adı (Etno-Toponimiği)”, (trans. İsmail Kaynak), Belleten XVIII/69, 1954, 89–104; Kljaštornyj, S.G., Drevnetjurkskie runičeskie pamjatniki kak istočnik po istorii Srednej Azii (Moscow, 1964), 155–78Google Scholar.

6 Esin, Emel, İslâmiyetten Önceki Türk Kültür Târîhi ve İslâma Giriş (İstanbul, 1978), 8Google Scholar, 25, 27–8, 186; Aksoy, Mustafa, “Damga (Tamga) Kavramı Bağlamında, Oğuz Damgaları mı, Türk Damgaları mı?”, in Gündüz, Tufan and Cengiz, Mikail (eds), Oğuzlar: Dilleri, Tarihleri ve Kültürleri – 5. Uluslararası Türkiyat Araştırmaları Sempozyumu Bildirileri (Ankara, 2015), 413–30Google Scholar, at 417, 419; Histoire des campagnes, 114; Kırilen, Gürhan, Göktürklerden Önce Türkler (Ankara, 2015), 45Google Scholar; Klyaştornıy, “Orhon Âbidelerinde Kengü’nün”, 103–04; Kljaštornyj, Drevnetjurkskie runičeskie pamjatniki, 155–78; Marquart, “Über das Volkstum der Komanen”, 78, 168–9; Ahmet Taşağıl, Kök Tengri'nin Çocukları (Avrasya Bozkırlarında İslâm Öncesi Türk Tarihi) (İstanbul, 2013), 105–16; Ahmet Taşağıl, “Oğuzların Tarih Sahnesine Çıkışı Hakkında”, in Gündüz and Cengiz (eds), Oğuzlar, 21–30, at 22, 29; Taşağıl, Ahmet, Bozkırın Kağanlıkları: Hunlar, Tabgaçlar, Göktürkler, Uygurlar (İstanbul, 2018), 87Google Scholar, 90, 204; Togan, “İdil-Ural Bölgesinde”, 41–54.

7 Dilek, “XI.–XIII”, 14; Yorulmaz, Geçmişten Günümüze Kanglı Türkleri, 30, 48–9, 63, 88, 93–4, 97, 99. Although Dilek was inclined to see the origins of Qaŋlïs among the Gaoche, she was ultimately of the opinion that they were a branch of the Kipchaks: Dilek, “XI.–XIII”, 14–19.

8 Kumekov, “Kıpçak Hanlığı”, 784; Yorulmaz, Geçmişten Günümüze Kanglı Türkleri, 50.

9 BPN, lines 50–60, Pelliot tibétain 1283, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris (http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8305761g); Venturi, Federica, “An Old Tibetan document on the Uighurs: a new translation and interpretation”, Journal of Asian History 42/1, 2008, 16Google Scholar, 1–35, at 27–8.

10 Bacot, Jacques, “Reconnaissance en Haute Asie Septentrionale par cinq envoyés Ouigours au VIIIe siècle”, Journal Asiatique 244, 1956, 137–53Google Scholar, at 152.

11 Gérard Clauson, “À propos du manuscrit Pelliot tibétain 1283”, Journal Asiatique 245, 1957, 11–24, at 14–23; Takao Moriyasu, “La nouvelle interprétation des mots Hor et Ho-yo-hor dans le manuscrit Pelliot tibétain 1283”, Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 34/1-3, 1980, 171–84, at 175–82; Tezcan, Semih, “VIII. Yüzyıldan Kalma 1283 Numaralı Tibetçe El Yazmasında Geçen Türkçe Adlar Üzerine”, in I. Türk Dili Bilimsel Kurultayına Sunular Bildiriler (Ankara, 27–29 eylül 1972) (Ankara, 1975), 299307Google Scholar, at 301–04; Venturi, “An old Tibetan document”, 28.

12 Yorulmaz, Geçmişten Günümüze, 69–70.

13 Hayrettin İhsan Erkoç, “Eski Türklerde Devlet Teşkilâtı (Gök Türk Dönemi)”, MA thesis, Hacettepe Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Tarih Anabilim Dalı, 2008, 79–83.

14 Takao Moriyasu, “New developments in the history of East Uighur Manichaeism”, Open Theology 1, 2015, 316–33, at 323–4.

15 Pu, Wang 王溥, THY (Shanghai, 1955), 72.1308Google Scholar.

16 William H. Baxter, “An etymological dictionary of common Chinese characters [preliminary draft of 28 October 2000]”, 48, 71, 80; W. South Coblin, “A compendium of phonetics in northwest Chinese”, Journal of Chinese Linguistics Monograph Series 7, 1994, 1–504, at 226, 308, 380; Bernhard Karlgren, Grammata Serica Recensa (The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Bulletin, Stockholm) 29, 1957, 93, 141, 199; Kroll, P.W., A Student's Dictionary of Classical and Medieval Chinese (Leiden/Boston, 2017), 156, 237, 262CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Pulleyblank, Edwin G., Lexicon of Reconstructed Pronunciation in Early Middle Chinese, Late Middle Chinese, and Early Mandarin (Vancouver, 1991), 123Google Scholar, 171, 188; Schuessler, Axel, Minimal Old Chinese and Later Han Chinese: A Companion to Grammata Serica Recensa (Honolulu, 2009), 77Google Scholar, 230, 280.

17 Ju. A. Zuev, “Tamgi lošadej iz vassal'nyx knjažestv (Perevod iz kitajskogo sočinenija VIII–X vv. Tanhujjao, t. III, tszjuan’ 72, str. 1305–1308)”, in Novye materialy po drevnej i srednevekovoj istorii Kazaxstana (Trudy instituta istorii, arxeologii i étnografii) (Alma-Ata, 1960), 93–140, at 101, 127.

18 The sentence in JTS's Account of the Türks is as follows: “Shibi qian qi Teqin Kangshaoli deng xian ma qian pi” 始畢遣其特勤康稍利等獻馬千匹 (Shibi sent his Tigin Kangshaoli and others, offering a thousand horses). From here, it is understood that the title should actually be Kangshaoli Tigin. Liu Xu 劉昫, JTS (Shanghai, 1975), 194A.5153.

19 THY 94.1687; Zuev, “Tamgi lošadej”, 127. Zuev also remarked that this information is available in the records of the eighth month of the year 618 in JTS's Imperial Annals of Gaozu 高祖, and it is referred to in 4.109 of a work whose title he wrote as Tanšu binčži cjan-čžén (Tangshu bingzhi qiang-zheng). I could not find the source Zuev mentioned. The Imperial Annals of Gaozu in JTS's ZHSJ edition does not contain any such information in the records of the year 618.

20 In TD's Shanghai Shangwu Yin Shuguan 上海商務印書館 edition printed in 1935 and used by Taşağıl, 197.1069b, this title is written as Kangli 康利. Taşağıl noted that this is an abbreviation and that its correct form is K'ang-ch'iao-li (Kangqiaoli). Indeed, this title is given as Kangshaoli 康稍利 in TD's ZHSJ edition I use: Du You 杜佑, TD (Beijing 北京, 1996), 197.5407.

21 Wang Qinruo 王欽若, CFYG (Beijing, 1994), 973.11431b; Wen Daya 溫大雅, Da Tang Chuangye Qijuzhu 大唐創業起居注 (Shanghai, 1983), 1.10–11, 13–14, 2.30; JTS 57.2292; TD 197.5407; Ouyang Xiu 歐陽修, XTS (Shanghai, 1975), 215A.6028; Sima Guang 司馬光, ZZTJ (Shanghai, 1976), 184.5740, 5749. Liu Wenjing's biography in XTS contains no information regarding Kangshaoli Tigin: XTS 88.3733–3736. There are different opinions regarding the reading and etymology of the title Kangshaoli. Liu read this title as K'ang-schao-li (Kangshaoli): Liu Mau-tsai, Die chinesischen Nachrichten zur Geschichte der Ost-Türken (T'u-küe), 2 vols (Wiesbaden, 1958), II, 783. Cen thought that the Shaoli in this title is the transcription of Surika, the Sanskrit form of the name Soghd: Cen Zhongmian, 芩仲勉, Tujue Jishi 突厥集史, 2 vols (Beijing, 1958), II, 1134. As I mentioned above, Zuev claimed that this title is an equivalent of Qaŋlï: Zuev, “Tamgi lošadejiz vassal'nyx knjažestv”, 127. Taşağıl gave the name Kangshaoli as K'ang-ch'iao-li (Kangqiaoli): Ahmet Taşağıl, Gök-Türkler, I, II, III (Ankara, 2014), 82–3, 123, 145, 210–11, 217, 452–3. The reason for this reading is that in Chinese, the character 鞘 can be read both as qiao and shao. Accepting the title in question as a name, Togan et al. read it as K'ang-shao-li (Kangshaoli): Togan, İsenbike, Kara, Gülnar and Baysal, Cahide, Çin Kaynaklarında Türkler: Eski T'ang Tarihi (Chiu T'ang-shu) 194a: “Türkler” Bölümü: Açıklamalı Metin Neşri (Ankara, 2006), 4, 88–9Google Scholar, 351. Relying on the fact that the character Kang 康 seen in this title is used in the Chinese sources mostly for Soghdian names, they thought that this name could be Soghdian. However, according to them, the existence of a relationship between the word kangşarlı (qaŋšarlï) meaning “pointed” or “aquiline nose” in New Uyghur and this name is also open to debate. Togan et al., Çin Kaynaklarında Türkler, 88–9.

22 Zuev, “Tamgi lošadejiz vassal'nyx knjažestv”, 127, 140.

23 Erkoç, Eski Türklerde Devlet Teşkilâtı (Gök Türk Dönemi), 128–43.

24 Taşağıl, Göktürkler, 217; Togan et al., Çin Kaynaklarında Türkler, 88.

25 Li Deyu 李德裕, HCYPJ. Qinding Siku Quanshu Huiyao 欽定四庫全書薈要, 366 (Changchun 長春, 2005), 5.10a; Tsai Wen-shen, Li Tê-yü’nün Mektuplarına Göre Uygurlar (840–900), PhD thesis, Taipei, 1967, 56. For the identification of the “Black Carts” (Heichezi) with BPN's Ga ra gang lig, see also Cimo 茨默 (Peter Zieme), “Youguan Monijiao Kaijiao Huigu de Yi Jian Xin Shiliao 有關摩尼教開教回鶻的一件新史料”, Dunhuangxue Jikan 敦煌學輯刊 3, 2009, 1–7; Moriyasu Takao 森安孝夫, Tōzai Uiguru to Chūō Yūrashia 東西ウイグルと中央ユーラシア (Nagoya 名古屋, 2015), 58, 546; Zhong Han 鍾焓, “Heichezi Shiwei Wenti Chongkao 黑車子室韋問題重考”, Xibei Minzu Yanjiu 西北民族研究 2, 2000, 186–92.

26 CFYG 980.11517a–11518b; HCYPJ 6.4b, 8a–9a; JTS 18A.594–595, 195.5214–5215, 180.4678; XTS 212.5981, 217B.6131–6133, 6150; ZZTJ 247.7973–7974, 7985, 7999, 248.8015, 8025–8026, 8032; Ahmet Taşağıl, Eski Türk BoylarıÇin Kaynaklarına Göre- (M.Ö. IIIM.S. X. Asır) (İstanbul, 2017), 97–101; Tsai, Li Tê-yü’nün Mektuplarına Göre Uygurlar, 48–50, 235. The Black Carts are defined once in JTS and XTS as a “tribe” or “tribes” (bu 部), while as a “clan” or “clans” (zu 族) once in ZZTJ (JTS 180.4678; XTS 212.5981; ZZTJ 247.7973). The title carried by Ögä Qaghan prior to his rulership is given as Tele Wujie 特勒烏介 in JTS, Wujie Tele 烏介特勒 in XTS and Wuxi Tele 烏希特勒 in ZZTJ (JTS 195.5213; XTS 217B.6131; ZZTJ 246.7949). Since the pre-qaghanal title of a qaghan was different from his qaghanal title among the early Turkic peoples, perhaps the form in ZZTJ could be the correct one. The Wujie 烏介 seen among the title Tigin in JTS and XTS looks similar to the Wuxi 烏希 in ZZTJ; perhaps it is the case that there is some confusion among the sources here. Hence, Tsai pointed out this situation and noted that the form in JTS is wrong, while Ögä Qaghan's title prior to his rulership should have been Wuxi Tigin: Tsai, Li Tê-yü’nün Mektuplarına Göre Uygurlar, 75. There are also conflicting records in the sources about where and by whom this ruler was killed. It is written in JTS's Account of the Uyghurs that the qaghan was killed in the Altai Mountains (Jinshan 金山) by Yiyin Chor (Yiyin Chuo 逸隱啜). However, according to XTS's Account of the Uyghurs, the qaghan was murdered by the Black Carts, with whom he had taken refuge. The information in JTS is repeated in the ZZTJ, but where this information is given, a note explains that the qaghan was killed after he had taken refuge with the Black Carts. The title carried by Ögä Qaghan's successor before he became ruler is given as Tele Enian 特勒遏捻 in JTS and ZZTJ, while as Enian Tele 遏捻特勒 in XTS (JTS 195.5215; XTS 217B.6133; ZZTJ 248.8025). The character nian 捻 seen in this title can also be read in Chinese as nie. Thus, this title is given as Ngo-nie (Enie) by Hamilton, O-nieh (Enie) by Tsai, O-nie (Enie) by Taşağıl and E-nie by Drompp: Michael R. Drompp, Tang China and the Collapse of the Uighur Empire: A Documentary History (Leiden, Boston, 2005), 155; Hamilton, James Russell, Les Ouïghours à l’époque des Cinq dynasties d'après les documents chinois (Paris, 1955), 142, 189Google Scholar; Taşağıl, Eski Türk Boyları–Çin Kaynaklarına Göre-, 100, 204; Tsai, Li Tê-yü’nün Mektuplarına Göre Uygurlar, 49, 185–6, 220. Tsai remarked that the information in XTS regarding Ögä Qaghan's murder by the Black Carts is wrong, and he has accepted the records in other sources that he was murdered by Yiyin Chor as correct: Tsai, Li Tê-yü’nün Mektuplarına Göre Uygurlar, 192. However, Drompp supports an opposite view. According to him, because Ögä Qaghan had taken refuge with the Black Carts, who were a Shirvi grouping, the record about him being killed by Yiyin Chor in the far west Altais must be wrong. As the qaghan's grouping took refuge with the Qai after his death, this Uyghur grouping still must have been located in the east at that time. Drompp, Tang China, 155. It is recorded in Zhang Zhongwu's 張仲武 biographies in JTS and XTS that Ögä Qaghan wanted to flee to Kängü 康居 following his defeat and thus he took refuge with the Black Carts: JTS 180.4678; XTS 212.5981.

27 CFYG 980.11518a; HCYPJ 6.9a; JTS 180.4678, 195.5215; XTS 212.5981. Drompp is of the opinion that the information given in the Biographies of Zhang Zhongwu regarding the qaghan's flight to Kängü is wrong: Drompp, Tang China, 117.

28 For the Black Carts living in the Khingan Mountains, see also Drompp, Tang China, 217.

29 JTS 18B.640; ZZTJ 249.8066; Tsai, Li Tê-yü’nün Mektuplarına Göre Uygurlar, 197.

30 Ye Longli 葉隆禮, QDGZ (n.p., 1933) (accessed through http://taiwanebook.ncl.edu.tw/en/book/NCL-001685037/reader), 25.321-322; Ouyang Xiu 歐陽修, Xin Wudaishi 新五代史 (Shanghai, 1974), 73.907.

31 Hejie 和解 was one of the Shirvi tribes (bu 部/buluo 部落): JTS 199B.5357-5358; XTS 219.6177.

32 ZZTJ 247.7973. For the part of the Account of the Uyghurs in JTS where this incident is narrated, see 195.5214-5215. According to this source, Ögä Qaghan was killed in the Altai Mountains by Yiyin Chor following the formation of the aforementioned alliance (195.5215). According to Tsai, the record in JTS stating that Ögä Qaghan took refuge with the Shirvi after his defeat is wrong and that the qaghan took refuge with the Heichezi is narrated in other sources: Tsai, Li Tê-yü’nün Mektuplarına Göre Uygurlar, 192. However, as understood from the record in JTS, Ögä Qaghan first formed an alliance with the Shirvi and attacked You Prefecture, and he was murdered by Yiyin Chor in the Altai Mountains after his defeat. The fact that You Prefecture is close to Shirvi lands and that Ögä Qaghan's troops surrendered to the Chinese at You Prefecture after the defeat demonstrate that this information is correct. It is understood that the qaghan must have taken refuge with the Black Carts while planning to flee westwards after these developments. The fact that his people took refuge with the Qai and Shirvi indicates that these Black Carts were living in the east. As already mentioned above, it is the case that there might have been more than one Black Cart grouping. For discussions about this issue, see also Drompp, Tang China, 156. Drompp thought that the information given about the qaghan's desire to take refuge with the Dingling was not a realistic expression, that this is rhetoric to demonstrate a parallel between him and Zhizhi Chanyu, and that it was actually the Kyrgyz that were meant here: Drompp, Tang China, 192.

33 脫脫, Tuotuo, LS (Beijing, 1974), 1.2-4Google ScholarPubMed, 69.1077, 73.1220; Karl A. Wittfogel and Fêng Chia-shêng, History of Chinese Society Liao (907–1125) (Philadelphia, 1961), 573–4.

34 LS 4.44, 48, 54, 56, 69.1084, 1086; Wittfogel-Fêng, History of Chinese Society Liao, 320, 349.

35 LS 36.429.

36 LS 46.758.

37 Gülçin Çandarlıoğlu, Sarı Uygurlar ve Kansu Bölgesi Kabileleri (9.-11. Asırlar) (İstanbul, 2004), 17; Wittfogel and Fêng, History of Chinese Society Liao, 106.

38 Wittfogel and Fêng, History of Chinese Society Liao, 160–1.

39 Çandarlıoğlu, Sarı Uygurlar, 16–17.

40 Taşağıl, Eski Türk Boyları–Çin Kaynaklarına Göre-, 98; Tsai, Li Tê-yü’nün Mektuplarına Göre Uygurlar, 75. Here the character zi 子 is used as a diminutive, so it is sufficient to render Heichezi simply as “Black Carts”.

41 Drompp, Tang China, 105, 114, 116, 148, 217.

42 Drompp, Tang China, 217.

43 JTS 199B.5357-5358; TD 200.5487-5488; THY 96.1720-1722; XTS 219.6176-6177. Drompp also pointed out that the Black Carts are not mentioned in the lists of Shirvi tribes in these sources: Drompp, Tang China, 156. In THY's Account of the Shirvi, it is remarked that the Shirvi ride carts drawn by oxen (niuche 牛車) and that these are similar to the felt carts (zhanche 氈車) of the Türks 突厥. It is also recorded in XTS's Account of the Shirvi that the Shirvi ride carts drawn by oxen. The QDGZ's Account of the Shirvi remarks that the Shirvi's carts drawn by oxen are similar to felt carts, but it is seen that the name Tujue 突厥 (Türk) is not written here, perhaps forgotten (QDGZ 26.328; THY 96.1721; XTS 219.6176).

44 Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam, ‘The Regions of the World’: A Persian Geography 372 A.H.–982 A.D., (trans. V. Minorsky) (London, 1970), 94–101.

45 Zhang Guangda 張廣達 and Rong Xinjiang 榮新江, “Youguan Xizhou Huigu de Yi Pian Dunhuang Hanwen Wenxian 有關西州回鶻的一篇敦煌漢文文獻: S6551 Jiang Jingwen de Lishixue Yanjiu S6551 讲经文的历史学研究”, Beijing Daxue Xuebao 北京大學學報 1989/2, 26–38, at 26.

46 Maḥmūd bin al-Ḥusayn bin Muḥammad al-Kāšγarī, Kitāb Dīwān Luγāt al-Turk, Millet Yazma Kütüphanesi, AEA 4189, 20–21; Maḥmūd al-Kāšγarī, Compendium of the Turkic Dialects (Dīwān Luγāt at-Turk) (trans Robert Dankoff and James Kelly), 3 vols (Duxbury, 1982, 1984, 1985), I: 1984, 82.

47 Yorulmaz, Geçmişten Günümüze Kanglı Türkleri, 39–42.

48 AEA 4189, 609; al-Kāšγarī, Compendium of the Turkic Dialects, II, 343. Pelliot and Hambis considered Qaŋlï given as an anthroponym to be a mistake by Maḥmūd, suggesting that an ethnonym was meant here: Histoire des campagnes, 112–13.

49 Yorulmaz, Geçmişten Günümüze Kanglı Türkleri, 39–42.

50 Peng Daya 彭大雅, HDSL (Liu Jing Kan Congshu 六經堪叢書, 1927), 11a–b.

51 Çandarlıoğlu, Sarı Uygurlar, 25–6.

52 Çandarlıoğlu, Sarı Uygurlar, 29–30.

53 Ögel, Bahaeddin, Sino-Turcica: Çingiz Han’ın Türk Müşavirleri (İstanbul, 2002), 245–74Google Scholar; Yorulmaz, Geçmişten Günümüze Kanglı Türkleri, 50–1, 69–77, 143–8. Pelliot and Hambis noted that the Qaŋlïs were mentioned in the Chinese sources even before the Mongol period. For example, according to the biography of Zhange Hannu 粘割韓奴 in Jinshi 金史, the chieftain of the Qaŋlï tribe (Kangli bu 康里部), named Bögü (Bogu 孛古), renounced his loyalty to the Qara Khitans and submitted to the Jin Dynasty of the Jurchens as their vassal between 1161 and 1189. Tuotuo 脫脫, Jinshi 金史 (Beijing, 1975), 121.2637; Histoire des campagnes, 116. Although the geographic location of these Qaŋlïs is not given, they must have been close to China.

54 Song Lian 宋濂, YS (Beijing, 1976), 123.3039, 130.3163, 133.3238, 134.3251, 3263, 135.3275, 3281, 136.3295, 3299, 138.3321, 142.3398, 205.4581; Ögel, Sino-Turcica, 245, 249–50, 257, 263, 265, 267–8, 270, 272–4.

55 YS 136.3295; Ögel, Sino-Turcica, 245, 248.

56 YS 136.3296, 138.3321; Ögel, Sino-Turcica, 247, 250.

57 YS 130.3163; Ögel, Sino-Turcica, 257, 260; Yorulmaz, Geçmişten Günümüze Kanglı Türkleri, 52. Marquart thought that a simple semantic connection between the terms “High Cart” and “Qaŋlï” is not enough to prove that the latter descended from the former: Marquart, “Über das Volkstum der Komanen”, 169. Agreeing with him, Pelliot and Hambis noted that stating the usage of the ethnonym “High Carts” during the Han period is an anachronism, as this name was not in use yet. They also stated that this expression in YS is not sufficient to prove that the Qaŋlïs of the tenth to thirteenth centuries were the descendants of ancient High Carts: Histoire des campagnes, 114. As Pelliot and Hambis already mentioned, the Qaŋlïs are also found in YS as Kangli 康禮. This form of the ethnonym is in a passage regarding Qaŋlï Guards (Kangli Wei 康禮衞) serving in the Mongol armies of China (YS 99.2528; Histoire des campagnes, 114).

58 YS 121.2976, 122.3008; Histoire des campagnes, 115. It is noted in YS that Hangjin 杭斤 is a different translation of Kangli 康里 (YS 122.3018).

59 YS 120.2970.

60 HDSL 11a.

61 HDSL 11b.

62 The Secret History of the Mongols [SHM], (trans.) Igor de Rachewiltz, 2 vols (Leiden, 2004), I, 126. While listing the regions inhabited by the Naimans, Rašīd al-Dīn Faḍlullāh-i Hamadānī stated in his Jāmiʿ al-Tavārīχ that they lived at Kök Irtysh together with the Qaŋlïs: Rašīd al-Dīn Faḍlullāh-i Hamadānī, Jāmiʿ al-Tavārīχ, (eds) Muḥammad Rūšan and Muṣṭafā Mūsavī, 4 vols (Tahrān, 1373), I, 126; Fazlullah, Rashiduddin, Jami‘u't-Tawarikh: Compendium of Chronicles: A History of the Mongols (trans. W. M. Thackston), 3 vols (Harvard, 1998–1999), I: 1998Google Scholar, 68.

63 The Secret History of the Mongols, I, 194, 201. See also Histoire des campagnes, 114.

64 The Secret History of the Mongols, I, 205. See also Histoire des campagnes, 114.

65 Ioannes de Plano Carpini 7.3. See also Plano Carpinili Johannes, Tatarlar Olarak Andığımız Moğolların Tarihi, 88; Beazley, C. Raymond (ed.), The Texts and Versions of John de Plano Carpini and William de Rubruquis as Printed for the First Time by Hakluyt in 1598 Together With Some Shorter Pieces (London, 1903), 68Google Scholar; Histoire des campagnes, 114; Marquart, “Über das Volkstum der Komanen”, 79.

66 C. de Bridia section 34. See also C. de Bridia, “The Tartar relation”, in The Vinland Map and the Tartar Relation, (trans.) George D. Painter (New Haven, 1966), 19–106, at 85–6.

67 C. de Bridia section 20. See also de Bridia, “The Tartar relation”, 72–3. Painter erroneously matched the Qaŋlïs with Pechenegs: de Bridia, “The Tartar relation”, 72. The same error was made by some scholars in the nineteenth century as well, and Marquart demonstrated that this was wrong: Marquart, “Über das Volkstum der Komanen”, 79, 168.

68 C. de Bridia section 25. See also de Bridia, “The Tartar relation”, 78–9.

69 Ioannes de Plano Carpini 9.5. See also Plano Carpinili Johannes, Tatarlar Olarak Andığımız Moğolların Tarihi, 112; Beazley (ed.), The Texts and Versions of John de Plano Carpini and William de Rubruquis, 74, 96–7, 132–3.

70 Willelmus de Rubruc 18.4. See also Michel, Francisque and Wright, Thomas, “Voyage en Orient du Frère Guillaume de Rubruk”, in d'Avezac-Macaya, M.A.P. (ed.), Recueil de Voyages et de Mémoires, (Paris, 1839), IVGoogle Scholar, 205–396, at 265; Beazley (ed.), The Texts and Versions of John de Plano Carpini and William de Rubruquis, 170, 216; Peter Jackson and David Morgan (eds), The Mission of Friar William of Rubruck: His Journey to the Court of the Great Khan Möngke 1253–1255, (trans.) Peter Jackson (London, 1990), 128; Marquart, “Über das Volkstum der Komanen”, 79; Histoire des campagnes, 113. The information regarding Cuman being the other name for the Qaŋlïs does not exist in Hakluyt's edition and translation. Here, it is only recorded that a people named Qaŋlïs lived in the aforementioned region prior to the Mongols. This information about Cuman being the other name of the Qaŋlïs is in William's Latin edition by Michel-Wright, and it must also be in Van den Wyngaert's edition used by Jackson which I could not access.

71 Willelmus de Rubruc 20.7. See also Michel and Wright, “Voyage en Orient du Frère Guillaume de Rubruk”, 274; Beazley (ed.), The Texts and Versions of John de Plano Carpini and William de Rubruquis, 174, 222; Jackson and Morgan (eds), The Mission of Friar William of Rubruquis, 137. Yorulmaz also mentioned the records about the Qaŋlïs and Cumans seen in John of Plano Carpini, Benedykt Polak (Benedictus Polonus) and William of Rubruck: Yorulmaz, Geçmişten Günümüze Kanglı Türkleri, 85–6.

72 The reading qaŋa and Qaŋaluγ belongs to Ağca; Danka reads them as qanq˚ and qanq˚luɣ.

73 This name corresponds to the plural form of Jurčen (Jurchen).

74 Supplément turc 1001, lines 257–88, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris (https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b84150175.image); Ağca, Ferruh, Uygur Harfli Oğuz Kağan Destanı: Metin-Aktarma-Notlar-Dizin-Tıpkıbasım (Ankara, 2019), 121Google Scholar, 123, 125, 127; Danka, Balázs, The ‘Pagan’ Oɣuz-nāmä: A Philological and Linguistic Analysis (Wiesbaden, 2019), 109–15CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

75 Fazlullah, Jami‘u't-Tawarikh, I, 30. For the text's Persian edition, see Hamadānī, Jāmiʿ al-Tavārīχ, I, 52–3. For Togan's Turkish translation, see Oğuz Destanı: Reşideddin Oğuznâmesi, Tercüme ve Tahlili, (trans.) A. Zeki Velidî Togan (İstanbul, 1972), 20. Barmaqlïγ Čosun Billig, who is mentioned in the Uyghur script version of Legend of Oghuz Qaghan, can also be seen in Togan's translation of Rašīd al-Dīn. According to this narrative, when Oghuz Khan reached Darband on the Caspian coast during a campaign, he loaded the booty he had acquired through the campaign on carts and had it sent home. The commander of Qaŋlï unit who transferred the booty was this aforementioned person (Oğuz Destanı, 27–8).

76 This is my English translation based on Kargı Ölmez's edition. Ebulgazi Bahadır Han, Şecere-i Terākime (Türkmenlerin Soykütüğü), (ed.) Zuhal Kargı Ölmez (Ankara, 1996), 237–8.

77 Supplément turc 1001, lines 201, 214, 246, 255, 286–287; Ağca, Uygur Harfli Oğuz Kağan Destanı, 109, 111, 119, 121, 127; Danka, The ‘Pagan’ Oɣuz-nāmä, 97, 99, 107, 109, 115. Contrary to Rašīd al-Dīn and Abū al-Γāzī, the Uyghurs are not counted in this list. However, according to the legend, Oghuz Qaghan described himself as the qaghan of the Uyghurs (Uyγur-nïŋ qaγanï). Supplément turc 1001, line 106; Ağca, Uygur Harfli Oğuz Kağan Destanı, 87; Danka, The ‘Pagan’ Oɣuz-nāmä, 75. For me, the reason for the lack of Uyghur among the people given names by Oghuz Qaghan in the Uyghur script version of the legend might be because of this. Besides, Slav is not listed among the people bestowed with names by Oghuz Khan in the legend's Islamic versions. According to Abū al-Γāzī, Saqlap is one of the eight sons of Yāfäs (Japheth) son of Nūḥ (Noah), and the brother of Türk: Ebulgazi Bahadır Han, Şecere-i Terākime, 118, 234.

78 Oğuz Destanı, 20, 26, 45–7; Hamadānī, Jāmiʿ al-Tavārīχ, I, 52–4; Fazlullah, Jami‘u't-Tawarikh, I, 30–1.

79 Hamadānī, Jāmiʿ al-Tavārīχ, I, 40; Fazlullah, Jami‘u't-Tawarikh, I, 24.

80 Hamadānī, Jāmiʿ al-Tavārīχ, I, 42, 48; Fazlullah, Jami‘u't-Tawarikh, I, 25, 27. The Aghachäris are not mentioned in the second place where Rašīd al-Dīn gave this information.

81 Han, Şecere-i Terākime, 129, 132, 134, 139, 141, 237–8, 240–1.