When is Western Göktürk Khaganate shown on the map?

The border data draws Western Göktürk Khaganate AD 587–660. The source samples borders at fixed dates, so a span can begin late or run on past the end.

How large was Western Göktürk Khaganate?

At its greatest extent drawn on this map, Western Göktürk Khaganate covered about 4.3 million km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.

Central Asia · Turkic khaganates and Islam

Western Göktürk Khaganate

drawn on the map AD 587–660

See it on the map → Wikipedia ↗

Shown on the map: AD 587–660
Peak area: 4.3M km²
Region: Central Asia

Overview and identity

The Western Turkic Khaganate (581–657), known in Old Turkic as On oq budun ("Ten Arrow People"), emerged from the Göktürk civil war that split the First Turkic Khaganate. It was an administrative region of the united empire until 603, an independent empire 603–657, and a Tang vassal zone 657–742. Its peak area is given in the Taagepera growth-decline series as ~3.5 million km² in 630 (the project's figure of ~4.3 million km² reflects the same order of magnitude for its maximal sphere of influence).

Origins and structure

The polity originated when Bumin gave the west to his younger brother Istämi (553–576). From a spring 554 campaign the Turks took Semirechye and by 555 reached the Aral Sea, driving Xionites, Uar, Oghurs and others before them — refugees who merged into the Avars pushed across the Volga in 558. In alliance with Khosrow I, they crushed the Hephthalites (560–565; Qarshi), and by 571 fixed a Turco-Persian border along the Oxus, gaining the Sogdian merchant cities and control of the central Silk Road. Around 567–576 they took the region between the Caspian and Black Seas.

Government

The "ten arrows" organization is described in Chinese sources (Tongdian, Jiu Tangshu): the western tribes were divided into ten divisions, split into two wings — the five Duolu tribes east of the Chu River (led by five churs) and the five Nushibi to the west (led by five irkins). Chinese sources give two accounts of its origin: one tracing the ten tribes to Istämi's original following, another crediting the administrative reform of Dielishi Kehan (from 635). Syriac and Greek sources (John of Ephesus, Menander Protector) confirm an initial eight-tribe division in Istämi's lifetime. Capitals were Suyab (principal) and Navekat (summer), both in the Chu River valley of modern Kyrgyzstan.

Chronology and rulers

Istämi was succeeded by his son Tardu (576–603), who briefly reunited the whole khaganate (599–603) before the split recurred. Independent khagans included Niri, Heshana (604–611), Shikui (611–618, who vanquished the Sasanians c. 616–617 and raided as far as Ray and Isfahan), and Tong Yabghu Qaghan (618–628/630), under whom the khaganate peaked: it ruled from the Tarim Basin to the Caspian, received the pilgrim Xuanzang, and in 627 — allied with Byzantium and the Khazars — stormed Derbent, entered Azerbaijan and Georgia, and (via Böri Shad and Chorpan Tarkhan) overran Armenia. Tong's murder in 630 triggered decades of Duolu–Nushibi factional war. Ashina Helu unified the tribes in 651 but was defeated and captured by the Tang general Su Dingfang at the Battle of the Irtysh River in 657.

Tang conquest and aftermath

Tang campaigns took Gaochang (640), Karasahr (644, 648) and Kucha (648) before the 657 conquest. Puppet Ashina qaghans (Ashina Buzhen over the Nushibi, Ashina Mishe over the Duolu, and their sons) failed to hold power; Ashina Duzhi's rebellion (676–679) was neutralized by Pei Xingjian's ruse. Leadership passed to the Turgesh by 699. Suyab became one of the Four Garrisons of Anxi.

Economy, culture, religion

Sogdian was the language of coinage and administration alongside Old Turkic; a recently noted bronze coin from Tashkent bearing "Türk-Kagan" in Sogdian script (580–610) may carry the earliest known usage of the word "Turk" on coinage. Religions included Tengrism, a revived Buddhism in Tokharistan (monasteries such as Ajina Tepe), Zurvanism and fire worship. The Afrasiab murals of Samarkand (648–651) depict Western Turk officers — East Asian-featured, beardless, with long plaits and double-lapelled ankle-length coats — attending King Varkhuman.

Legacy

The khaganate transmitted Silk Road wealth, spawned the Tokhara Yabghus and Turk Shahis in Afghanistan, and its breakup enabled the rise of the Khazar Khaganate, the Kangar union, the Oghuz and the Second Turkic Khaganate.

Common questions

What was Western Göktürk Khaganate?: The Western Turkic Khaganate (581–657), known in Old Turkic as On oq budun ("Ten Arrow People"), emerged from the Göktürk civil war that split the First Turkic Khaganate. It was an administrative region of the united empire until 603, an independent empire 603–657, and a Tang vassal zone 657–742.
When is Western Göktürk Khaganate shown on the map?: The border data draws Western Göktürk Khaganate AD 587–660. The source samples borders at fixed dates, so a span can begin late or run on past the end.
How large was Western Göktürk Khaganate?: At its greatest extent drawn on this map, Western Göktürk Khaganate covered about 4.3 million km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.
Who ruled Western Göktürk Khaganate?: Istämi was succeeded by his son Tardu (576–603), who briefly reunited the whole khaganate (599–603) before the split recurred.
How did Western Göktürk Khaganate end?: The khaganate transmitted Silk Road wealth, spawned the Tokhara Yabghus and Turk Shahis in Afghanistan, and its breakup enabled the rise of the Khazar Khaganate, the Kangar union, the Oghuz and the Second Turkic Khaganate.
How was Western Göktürk Khaganate governed?: The "ten arrows" organization is described in Chinese sources (Tongdian, Jiu Tangshu): the western tribes were divided into ten divisions, split into two wings — the five Duolu tribes east of the Chu River (led by five churs) and the five Nushibi to the west (led by five irkins).
What did the economy and culture of Western Göktürk Khaganate rest on?: Sogdian was the language of coinage and administration alongside Old Turkic; a recently noted bronze coin from Tashkent bearing "Türk-Kagan" in Sogdian script (580–610) may carry the earliest known usage of the word "Turk" on coinage. Religions included Tengrism, a revived Buddhism in Tokharistan (monasteries such as Ajina Tepe), Zurvanism and fire worship.

Sources

Every source below was consulted while writing this entry.

Wikipedia: Western Turkic Khaganate en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Turkic_Khaganate
Encyclopaedia Iranica: TURKO-SOGDIAN COINAGE (L. Baratova) www.iranicaonline.org/articles/turko-sogdian-coinage

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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