Kimek confederation

Tribal confederation

880–1200

Capital

Khagan-Kimek
Imekia

Political structure

Tribal confederation

History

•

Established

880

•

Disestablished

1200

Preceded by

Succeeded by

	Turkic Khaganate
	Oghuz Yabgu State

Mongol Empire

The Kimek confederation was a medieval Turkic state formed by the Kimek and Kipchak people in the area between the Ob and Irtysh rivers. From the end of the 9th century to 1050, it existed as a khaganate, and as a khanate until the Mongol conquest in the early 13th century.

In historiography, the confederation or tribal union is known as that of the Kimek (Kimäk, Kīmāk). 10th-century Hudud al-'Alam mentions the "country of Kīmāk", ruled by a khagan (king) who has eleven lieutenants that hold hereditary fiefs. Turkic inscriptions do not mention the state with that name. According to Marquart, the name Kīmāk (pronounced Kimäk) is derived from Iki-Imäk, "the two Imäk", probably referring to the first two clans of the federation.

The Kimek confederation originated as a tribal union of seven tribes or clans. These tribes originated in the steppes of eastern Central Asia. The bulk of these migrated to present-day Kazakhstan after the destruction of the Uyghur Khaganate (840). The Kimek state was formed at the end of the 9th– and beginning of the 10th century composed out of tribal domains, ruled by a khagan who was the supreme among subject leaders.

From the 7th to the 12th centuries, Kimak and Kipchak culture was identical. The southern neighbors of Kimaks were Karluks, who preserved their independence for another 200 years. The Kimak Khakan's residence was in the city Imakia on the Irtysh.

In the middle of the 7th century the Kimaks lived near the Irtysh, north of the Altai, as part of the Western Turkic Khaganate. After the disintegration of the Western Türkic Kaganate in 743, a part of the Kimaks remained in its successor, the Uyghur Kaganate (740–840), and another part retained their independence. During that period a nucleus of the Kimak tribes was consolidated. The head of the Kimak confederation had the title shad tutuk, i.e., "Prince Governing, or Ruling”. The Imak (Yemak, Kimak) tribe became the head of the union, and later of the Kimak Kaganate. In another transcription the tribal name sounds like "Kai", which in Mongolian means "snake". Possibly it was during the consolidation of the seven tribes appeared the expression, "A snake has seven heads".

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Wikipedia