When are the Qarlugs shown on the map?

The border data draws the Qarlugs AD 793–849. The source samples borders at fixed dates, so a span can begin late or run on past the end.

How large were the Qarlugs?

At their greatest extent drawn on this map, the Qarlugs covered about 405,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives them across the years they are drawn, not necessarily their greatest extent in history.

Central Asia · Turkic khaganates and Islam

Qarlugs

drawn on the map AD 793–849

The Karluks (Qarluqs; Old Turkic 𐰴𐰺𐰞𐰸 Qarluq; Chinese 葛邏祿 Geluolu; Arabic Qarluq) were a prominent nomadic Turkic tribal confederacy residing around the Kara-Irtysh (Black Irtysh) and the Tarbagatai Mountains west of the Altai from at least the 5th–8th centuries. Also styled Uch-Oghuz ("Three Oghuz") for their three original tribes, they successively formed the autonomous Karluk Yabghu state (from 766), and became a core element of the Kara-Khanid Khanate.

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Shown on the map: AD 793–849
Peak area: 405k km²
Region: Central Asia

Overview and identity

Origins and etymology

The etymology is debated: Golden (citing Németh) suggested qarluq "snowy" (from qar "snow"), but Erdal rejects this as folk etymology and argues the trisyllabic Chinese transcriptions point to Qaraluq, "the mingled ones" — a tribe formed from the mingling of discrete groups. In 644 the Chinese first mention them as the "Lion Karluks" (Shi-Geluolu; the lion/arslan association persisted to Mongol times). Three member tribes of the Göktürk Khaganate formed the Uch-Karluk union — Mouluo (Bulaq), Chisi (Sebeg), and Tashili (*Taşlïq) (as listed at their 650 submission to Tang) — led first by an Elteber, later a Yabghu. After the Göktürk split (c. 600) they were subordinate to the Western Turkic Khaganate.

Chronology

In 630 they were conquered by Hubo (Yizhuchebi Khagan), heir of Ashina Helu; they then allied with the Tiele and Uyghurs against the Eastern Khaganate. In 745 they joined the Uyghur-Basmyl coalition that destroyed the Second Turkic Khaganate, but were themselves defeated and forcibly incorporated into the Uyghur-led Toquz Oghuz confederation. They fought Muslim expansion as Tang clients until the Battle of Talas (751), after which the Arabs dislodged them from Fergana. In 766, having overrun the Türgesh in Jetisu, they formed their own khanate under a Yabghu, occupying Suyab as capital — supremacy in Jetisu passed to the Karluks, now independent of both Arabs and Chinese. After the Uyghur Khaganate's fall (840), Muslim historians state that supreme authority among the Turkic tribes passed to the Karluk leaders, whose claimed Ashina connection let them adopt the title Khagan. Around 840 Karluk independence was curtailed by the Kyrgyz occupation of Jetisu; after the Kyrgyz were destroyed by the Qara Khitai (1124), the Karluks predominated again. Toward 940 the Yagma seized the Chu valley and Balasagun; the lands both sides of the Tian Shan were then united under the Kara-Khanids — a confederation of Karluks, Chigils and Yagmas — whose ruler Satuq Bughra Khan converted to Islam, made the state religion in 960 under his son Musa. In 1130–1141 the Qara Khitai took Balasagun and defeated the Seljuks at Qatwan; Karluk principalities survived autonomously under the Gurkhans. In 1211 the Karluk Arslan Khan killed the Qara-Khitai governor of Kayalik and voluntarily submitted to Genghis Khan, easing Zhetysu's peaceful incorporation into the Mongol Empire.

Government, economy, religion

The Karluk Yabghu state was an association of semi-independent districts and cities, each with its own militia: Suyab could field 20,000 warriors, Beglilig 10,000, Panjikat 8,000, Barskhan 6,000. Karluks were hunters, herders and agriculturists, settled in trading-post cities; they grew rich on the Taraz–Issyk-Kul transit trade to China and on slave markets of the Syr Darya. Religious life was strikingly diverse: Tengrism predominated, but the Karluks converted substantially to Nestorian Christianity at the end of the 8th century — the first major sponsorship of the Church of the East by an eastern power (the Chigils were notably Nestorian; cf. the Anikova dish and Grigorovskoye plate); Islam spread via merchants (al-Ya'qubi reports the Karluk Yabghu's conversion under Caliph al-Mahdi, 775–785), and mosques stood east of Talas by the 10th century. Scripts in use included Turkic runiform, Sogdian, Syriac and later Uyghur.

Legacy

The Karluks were absorbed into the Chagatai Khanate, which was progressively "Karlukified": the Karluk language became the basis of the Chagatai literary lingua franca of the Timurid Empire, Moghulistan and the Mughal Empire. Their descendants are today's Uzbeks and Uyghurs; a section of the Hazaras is also considered Karluk-descended.

Common questions

What were the Qarlugs?: The Karluks (Qarluqs; Old Turkic 𐰴𐰺𐰞𐰸 Qarluq; Chinese 葛邏祿 Geluolu; Arabic Qarluq) were a prominent nomadic Turkic tribal confederacy residing around the Kara-Irtysh (Black Irtysh) and the Tarbagatai Mountains west of the Altai from at least the 5th–8th centuries. Also styled Uch-Oghuz ("Three Oghuz") for their three original tribes, they successively formed the autonomous Karluk Yabghu state (from 766), and became a core element of the Kara-Khanid Khanate.
When are the Qarlugs shown on the map?: The border data draws the Qarlugs AD 793–849. The source samples borders at fixed dates, so a span can begin late or run on past the end.
How large were the Qarlugs?: At their greatest extent drawn on this map, the Qarlugs covered about 405,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives them across the years they are drawn, not necessarily their greatest extent in history.
Who ruled the Qarlugs?: In 630 they were conquered by Hubo (Yizhuchebi Khagan), heir of Ashina Helu; they then allied with the Tiele and Uyghurs against the Eastern Khaganate. In 745 they joined the Uyghur-Basmyl coalition that destroyed the Second Turkic Khaganate, but were themselves defeated and forcibly incorporated into the Uyghur-led Toquz Oghuz confederation.
How did the Qarlugs end?: The Karluks were absorbed into the Chagatai Khanate, which was progressively "Karlukified": the Karluk language became the basis of the Chagatai literary lingua franca of the Timurid Empire, Moghulistan and the Mughal Empire. Their descendants are today's Uzbeks and Uyghurs; a section of the Hazaras is also considered Karluk-descended.
How were the Qarlugs governed?: The Karluk Yabghu state was an association of semi-independent districts and cities, each with its own militia: Suyab could field 20,000 warriors, Beglilig 10,000, Panjikat 8,000, Barskhan 6,000.

Sources

Every source below was consulted while writing this entry.

Wikipedia: Karluks en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karluks
Wikipedia: Mongol invasion of Central Asia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_invasion_of_Central_Asia originally supplied link; tangential to the Karluks
S. G. Agajanov, "The States of the Oghuz, the Kimek, and the Kipchak", History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Vol. IV (UNESCO) unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000105704

This entry was written from the sources above and last updated 27 September 2026.

This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made

Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.

Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).

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