Sighnaq

Sighnaq was an ancient city in Central Asia (in modern Kazakhstan, Kyzylorda Region), it was the capital of the Blue Horde (i.e., the White Horde of Persian sources), although the city is almost unknown. The region in which Sighnaq was situated was called Farab, it was located between Isfijab and Jand. The name means 'place of refuge', a name that is found also in other regions, especially in Transcaucasia.

According to Hathon, Sighnaq was located in the Karatau Mountains, from where the river Kara Ichuk, a tributary of Syr Darya, emanates. Klaproth says that the city was located on the banks of Mutkan, a right hand side tributary of Syr Darya, that emanates from the Karatau mountains, but he does not mention his source. Sherif al-Din speaks of Sabran and Sighnaq as two border cities of Turkestan and says that Sighnaq was located 40 km from Otrar; the biographical book called Tabakatol hanefiyet, by Ketevi, placed it near the town of Yassy (i.e. the modern city of Turkistan). The 19th century Hungarian turkologist and traveller Vámbéry says, without mentioning the source, that Jand was connected to a channel. It seems to have been one of the main Turkish settlements of the region east of the Caspian Sea together with Yengikent, Sawran or Sabran and others. Mahmud Kashghari expressly stated it was a town of the Oghuz, al-Muqaddasi also associates it with Otrar and says that it was "24 farsakhs further up the Syr Darya". On the basis of all of this information, the most reasonable localization appears to be the area around Babai Kurgan, and finally, Sunak Kurgan, a few kilometers northeast of Tyumen Arik along the Orenburg-Tashkent railway, was identified as the ruins of Sighnaq.

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