Khwarazmian Empire

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For other uses, see Khwarezmian (disambiguation).

Khwarazmian Empire
خوارزمشاهیان
Khwārazmshāhiyān
1077–1231
Khwarazmian Empire's area
Khwarazmian Empire's area
StatusEmpire
CapitalGurganj
(1077–1212)
Samarqand
(1212–1220)
Ghazna
(1220–1221)
Tabriz
(1225–1231)
Largest cityShahr-e Ray
Common languages
Religion
Sunni Islam
GovernmentAbsolute monarchy
Khwarazmshah or Sultan 
• 1077–1096/7
Anushtegin Gharchai
• 1220–1231
Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu
Historical eraMedieval
• Established
1077
1219-1221
1230
• Disestablished
1231
Area
1210 est.[4] or2,300,000 km2 (890,000 sq mi)
1218 est.[5]3,600,000 km2 (1,400,000 sq mi)
Population
• 1220[6][7]
5,000,000
CurrencyDirham
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
Seljuk Empire
Ghurid Dynasty
Mongol Empire

The Khwarazmian or Khwarezmian Empire[a] (English: /kwəˈræzmiən/),[8] was a Turko-Persian Sunni Muslim empire that ruled large parts of present-day Central Asia, Afghanistan, and Iran in the approximate period of 1077 to 1231, first as vassals of the Seljuk Empire[9] and the Qara Khitai (Western Liao dynasty),[10] and later as independent rulers, up until the Mongol conquest in the 13th century.

It is estimated that the empire spanned over an area from 2.3 million square kilometers[11] to 3.6 million square kilometers[12] in the beginning of the 13th century, effectively making it one of the largest land empires in history.

The date of the founding of the state of Khwarazmshahs remains debatable. The dynasty that ruled empire was founded by Anush Tigin (also known as Gharachai), initially a Turkic slave of the rulers of Gharchistan, later a Mamluk in the service of Seljuqs. However, it was Ala ad-Din Atsiz, descendant of Anush Tigin, who achieved Khwarazm's independence from its neighbors.

History of the Turkic peoples pre–14th century
History of the Turkic peoples
Tiele people
Göktürks
  • First Turkic Khaganate 552–581
  • Western Turkic Khaganate 581–657

(Tokhara Yabghus, Turk Shahis)

Khazar Khaganate 618–1048
Xueyantuo 628–646
Kangar union 659–750
Turk Shahi 665-850
Türgesh Khaganate 699–766
Kimek confederation 743–1035
Uyghur Khaganate 744–840
Oghuz Yabgu State 750–1055
Karluk Yabgu State 756–940
Kara-Khanid Khanate 840–1212
  • Western Kara-Khanid
  • Eastern Kara-Khanid
Ganzhou Uyghur Kingdom 848–1036
Qocho 856–1335
Pecheneg Khanates 860–1091
Ghaznavid Empire 963–1186
Seljuk Empire 1037–1194
  • Sultanate of Rum
Cuman–Kipchak confederation 1067–1239
Khwarazmian Empire 1077–1231
Kerait Khanate 11th century–13th century
Delhi Sultanate 1206–1526
Qarlughid Kingdom 1224–1266
Golden Horde 1240s–1502
Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo) 1250–1517

In 1220, the Mongols under their ruler Genghis Khan invaded the Khwarazmian Empire, successfully conquering the whole of it in less than two years. Mongols exploited existing weaknesses and conflicts in the empire, besieging and plundering the richest cities, while putting its citizens to the sword in one of the bloodiest wars in human history.

History[]

Early history[]

The title of Khwarazmshah was introduced in 305 AD by the founder of the Afrigid dynasty and existed until 995. After a short interval, the title was reinstated. During the uprising in Khwarazm in 1017, rebels killed the then Khwarazmian ruler Abu'l-Abbas Ma'mun and his wife Khurra-ji, the sister of Ghaznavids sultan Mahmud.[13] In response, Mahmud invaded the region to quell the rebellion. He later installed a new ruler and annexed a portion of Khwarazm. As a result, Khwarazm became a province of the Ghaznavid empire and remained so until 1034.[14]

In 1077, the control of the region, which previously belonged to the Seljuqs from 1042 to 1043, passed into the hands of Anushtegin Gharchai, a Turkic mamluk commander of the Seljuqs.[15] In 1097, the Khwarazm governor of the Turkic origin Ekinchi ibn Qochqar declared independence from the Seljuqs and proclaimed himself the shah of Khwarazm. After a short period of time, however, he was killed by several Seljuq amirs that had risen in revolt. He was subsequently replaced with Anush Tigin Gharachai's son, Qutb al-Din Muhammad by the Seljuqs, who had reconquered the region. Thus, Qutb al-Din became the first hereditary Khwarazmshah.[16]

Rise[]

Anushtegin Gharachai[]

Main article: Anushtegin Gharchai

Anushtegin Gharachai was a Turkic mamluk commander of the Seljuqs[17] and the governor of Khwarazm from approximately 1077 until 1097. He was the first member of his family to rule Khwarazm, and the namesake for the dynasty that would rule the province in the 12th and early 13th centuries.

Anushtegin was put in command together with his master Gumushtegin Bilge-Beg in 1073 by the Seljuq sultan Malik-Shah I to retake territory in northern Greater Khorasan that the Ghaznavids had seized.[18] He was subsequently made the sultan's tasht-dar (Persian: "keeper of the royal vessels"), and, as the revenues from Khwarazm were used to pay for the expenses incurred by this position, he was made governor of the province. The details of his tenure as governor are unclear, but he died by 1097 and the post was briefly given to Ekinchi bin Qochqar before being transferred to his son, Qutb al-Din Muhammad.

Ala ad-Din Atsiz[]

Main article: Atsiz

Atsiz gained his position following his father, Qutb al-Din's death in 1127. During the early part of his reign, he focused on securing Khwarazm against nomad attacks. In 1138, he rebelled against his suzerain, the Seljuq sultan Ahmad Sanjar, but was defeated in Hazarasp and forced to flee. Sanjar installed his nephew Suleiman Shah as ruler of Khwarazm and returned to Merv. Atsiz returned, however, and Suleiman Shah was unable to hold on to the province. Atsiz then attacked Bukhara, but by 1141 he again submitted to Sanjar, who pardoned him and formally returned control of Khwarazm over to him. The same year that Sanjar pardoned Atsiz, the Kara Khitai under Yelü Dashi defeated the Seljuqs at Qatwan, near Samarqand.Atsiz took advantage of the defeat to invade Khorasan, occupying Merv and Nishapur. Yelü Dashi, however, sent a force to plunder Khwarazm, forcing Atsiz to pay an annual tribute.[19] In 1142, Atsiz was expelled from Khorasan by Sanjar, who invaded Khwarazm in the following year and forced Atsiz back into vassalage, although he continued to pay tribute to the Kara Khitai until his death. Sanjar undertook another expedition against Atsïz in 1147 when the latter became rebellious again.[20]

Atsiz was a flexible politician and ruler, and was able to maneuver between the powerful Sultan Sanjar and equally powerful Yelü Dashi. He continued the land-gathering policy initiated by his predecessors, annexing Jand and Mangyshlak to Khwarazm. Many nomadic tribes were dependent on the Khwarazmshah. Towards the end of his life, Atsiz subordinated the entire northwestern part of Central Asia, and in fact, achieved its independence from the neighbors.[21]

Territorial expansion[]

Il-Arslan and Tekish[]

Mausoleum of Khwarazmshah, Il-Arslan, in present-day Turkmenistan
Main article: Il-Arslan
Main article: Ala al-Din Tekish

Il-Arslan was the Shah of Khwarazm from 1156 until 1172. He was the son of Atsïz. Initially, Il-Arslan was made governor of Jand, an outpost on the Syr Darya which had recently been reconquered, by his father. In 1156, Atsiz died and Il-Arslan succeeded him as Khwarazmshah. Like his father, he decided to pay tribute to both the Seljuk sultan Sanjar and the Qara Khitai gurkhan.

Sanjar died only a few months after Il-Arslan's ascension, causing Seljuq Khurasan to descend into chaos. This allowed Il-Arslan to effectively break off Seljuk suzerainty, although he remained on friendly terms with Sanjar's successor, Mas'ud. Like his father, Il-Arslan sought to expand his influence in Khurasan.

In 1158, Il-Arslan became involved in the affairs of another Qara Khitai vassal state, the Karakhanids of Samarqand. The Karakhanid Chaghri Khan had been persecuting the Qarluks in his realm, and several Qarluk leaders fled to Khwarazm and sought Il-Arslan's help. He responded by invading the Karakhnid dominions, taking Bukhara and besieging Samarqand, where Chaghri Khan had taken refuge. The latter appealed to both the Turks of the Syr Darya and the Qara Khitai, and the gurkhan sent an army, but its commander hesitated to enter into conflict with the Khwarazmians.

In 1172, the Qara Khitai launched a punitive expedition against Il-Arslan, who had not paid the required annual tribute. The Khwarazmian army was defeated, however, and Il-Arslan died shortly after. Following his death the state briefly became embroiled in turmoil, as the succession was disputed between his sons Tekish and Sultan Shah. Tekish emerged victorious and subsequently ruled the empire from 1172 to 1200.

Tekish stayed with the expansionist policies of his father Il-Arslan. Despite gaining his throne through the help from the Qara Khitai, he later relieved his state from their suzerainty and repulsed the subsequent Qara Khitai invasion of Khwarazm. Tekish maintained close relations with the Oghuz Turkmens and Turkic Qipchak tribes from the vicinity of the Aral Sea, and recruited them at times for his conquest of Iran. A great number of these Turkmens were still pagan, and they were known in Iran for their barbarism and intense ferocity.[22]

In 1194, Tekish defeated the Seljuq sultan of Hamadan, Toghrul III, in an alliance with Caliph Al-Nasir, and conquered his territories. After the war, he broke with the Caliphate and was on the brink of a war with it until the Caliph accepted him as the sultan of Iran, Khorasan, and Turkestan in 1198. Tekish died of a peritonsillar abscess in 1200.[23] and was succeeded by his son, Ala ad-Din Muhammad. His death triggered spontaneous revolts and widespread massacre of the hated Khwarazmian Turkic soldiers stationed in Iran.[24]

Decline and fall[]

Ala al-Din Muhammad[]

Death of Muhammad II of Khwarazm. From Jami' al-tawarikh by Rashid-al-Din Hamadani
Main article: Muhammad II of Khwarazm

After his father Tekish died, Muhammad succeeded him. In 1218, a small contingent of Mongols crossed borders in pursuit of an escaped enemy general. Upon successfully retrieving him, Genghis Khan made contact with the Shah. Genghis was looking to open trade relations, but having heard exaggerated reports of the Mongols, the Shah believed this gesture was only a ploy to invade Khwarazm.

Genghis sent emissaries to Khwarazm to emphasize his hope for a trade road. Muhammad II, in turn, had one of his governors (Inalchuq, his uncle) openly accuse the party of spying, seizing their rich goods and arresting the party.[25]

Trying to maintain diplomacy, Genghis sent an envoy of three men to the shah, to give him a chance to disclaim all knowledge of the governor's actions and hand him over to the Mongols for punishment. The shah executed the envoy (again, some sources claim one man was executed, some claim all three were), and then immediately had the Mongol merchant party (Muslim and Mongol alike) put to death. These events led Genghis to retaliate with a force of 100,000 to 150,000 men that crossed the Jaxartes in 1219 and sacked the cities of Samarqand, Bukhara, Otrar and others. Muhammad's capital city, Gurganj, followed soon after.

Turkan Khatun[]

Terken Khatun, captive of Mongols.
Main article: Terken Khatun (wife of Ala ad-Din Tekish)

On the eve of the Mongol invasion, a diarchy developed in the Khwarazmian Empire. Khwarazmshah Muhammad II was considered the absolute ruler, but the influence of his mother Turkan Khatun (Terken Khatun) was also great. Turkan Khatun even had the laqab: "the Ruler of the World" (Khudavand-e Jahaan), and another one for her decrees: "Protector of peace and faith, Turkan the Great, the ruler of women of both worlds." Turkan Khatun had a separate Diwan, separate palace and the orders of the Sultan were not considered to be effective without her signature. This fact, coupled with her conflicts with Muhammad II might have contributed to the impotence of the Khwarazmian Empire in the face of the Mongol onslaught.

In 1221, she was captured by the troops of Genghis Khan and died in poverty in Mongolia.

Mongol invasion and collapse[]

Main article: Mongol conquest of the Khwarazmian Empire

In 1218, Genghis Khan sent a trade mission to the state, but at the town of Otrar the governor, suspecting the Khan's ambassadors to be spies, confiscated their goods and executed them. Genghis Khan demanded reparations, which the shah refused to pay. Genghis retaliated with a force of 100,000-200,000 men, launching a multi-pronged invasion. In February 1220 the Mongolian army crossed the Syr Darya. The Mongols stormed Bukhara, Gurganj and the Khwarazmian capital Samarqand. The Shah fled and died some weeks later on an island in the Caspian Sea.

Eurasia c. 1200, on the eve of the Mongol invasions.

The son of Ala ad-Din Muhammad, Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu, became the new Sultan (he rejected the title Shah). He attempted to flee to India, but the Mongols caught up with him before he got there, and he was defeated at the Battle of Indus. He escaped and sought asylum in the Sultanate of Delhi. Iltumish however denied this to him in deference to the relationship with the Abbasid caliphs. Returning to Persia, he gathered an army and re-established a kingdom. He never consolidated his power, however, spending the rest of his days struggling against the Mongols, the Seljuks of Rum, and pretenders to his own throne. He lost his power over Persia in a battle against the Mongols in the Alborz Mountains. Escaping to the Caucasus, he captured Azerbaijan in 1225, setting up his capital at Tabriz. In 1226 he attacked Georgia and sacked Tbilisi. Following on through the Armenian highlands he clashed with the Ayyubids, capturing the town Ahlat along the western shores of the Lake Van, who sought the aid of the Seljuq Sultanate of Rûm. Sultan Kayqubad I defeated him at Arzinjan on the Upper Euphrates at the Battle of Yassıçemen in 1230. He escaped to Diyarbakir, while the Mongols conquered Azerbaijan in the ensuing confusion. He was murdered in 1231 by Kurdish highwaymen.[26]

Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu[]

Jalal al-Din crossing the Indus River, escaping Genghis Khan and the Mongol army.
Main article: Jalal al-Din Mangburni

Jalal al-Din was the last of Khwarazmshahs, who ruled the remnants of the Khwarazmian Empire and northwestern India from 1220 to 1231. He was reportedly the eldest son of Ala ad-Din Muhammad II, while his mother was a Turkmen concubine named Ay Chichek.[27] Due to the low status of Jalal al-Din's mother, his powerful grandmother and Qipchaq princess Terken Khatun refused to support him as heir to the throne, and instead favored his half-brother Uzlagh-Shah, whose mother was also a Qipchaq. Jalal al-Din first appears in historical records in 1215, when Muhammad II divided his empire amongst his sons, giving the southwestern part (part of the former Ghurid Empire) to Jalal al-Din.[28]

Following the defeat of his father, Ala ad-Din Muhammad II by Genghis Khan in 1220, Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu came to power and retreated with the remaining Khwarazm forces, while pursued by a Mongol army and at the battle of Parwan, north of Kabul, defeated the Mongols.[29] Having gathered an army and entered Persia, Jalal ad-Din sought to re-establish the Khwarazm kingdom, but he never fully consolidated his power. the rest of his days struggling against the Mongols, pretenders to the throne and the Seljuqs of Rûm. His dominance in the region required year-after-year campaigning. Jalal ad-Din was killed in 1231 by an unknown Kurd, allegedly employed by the Seljuqs.[30]

State apparatus[]

The head of the central state apparatus (al-Majlis al-Ali al-Fahri at-Taji) of Kharazmshahs was a vizier. Vizier was the first adviser to the head of state. All dignitaries of the state obeyed vizier. He was the head of diwan officials (askhab ad-dawawin), who appointed them and established salaries, pensions (arzak), controlling tax administration and the treasury.[31] The most prominent vizier of the Kharazmian Empire was Al-Harawi, who built a mosque for the Shafi'is in Merv, a huge madrassah, a mosque and a repository of manuscripts in Gurganj. He died at the hands of the Shia Ismailis.[32]

An important position in the state apparatus of the Khwarazmshahs was also held by the senior or great hajib, who most of the time, was a representative of the Turkic nobility. Hajib reported to the Khwarazmshah on issues related to the shah and his family. The Khwarazmshah could have several hajibs, who carried out the "personal" instructions of the sultan.[33]

Capital cities[]

Gurganj (present-day Koneurgench) was the first and most important capital of the Khwarazmian empire

Initially, the main city of the Khwarazmian Empire was Urganch or Gurganj. A prominent Middle Eastern biographer and geographer, Yaqut al-Hamawi, who visited Gurganj in 1219, wrote:

"I have not seen a city greater, richer and more beautiful than Gurganj."

Persian physician, astronomer, geographer and writer of Arab ancestry, Al-Qazvini states:

"Gurganj is a very beautiful city, surrounded by the attention of angels who represent the city in paradise just like a bride in a groom's house. The inhabitants of the capital were skillful artisans, especially the blacksmiths, carpenters and others. Carvers were famous for their products made of ivory and ebony. Workshops for the production of natural silk operated in the city."[34]

Cities of Samarqand, Ghazna and Tabriz also served as the capital of the Khwarazmian Empire in the later years of the state.

Population[]

Currency of the Khwarazmian Empire, dirham, during the reign of Jalal ad-Din

The population of the Kwarazmian Empire was consisted mainly of sedentary Iranian and half-nomadic Turkic peoples.[35]

The urban population of the empire was concentrated in a relatively small number of (by medieval standards) very large cities as opposed to a huge number of smaller towns. The population of the empire is estimated at 5 million people on the eve of the Mongol invasion in 1220, making it sparse for the large area it covered.[36][37] Historical demographers Tertius Chandler and Gerald Fox give the following estimations for the populations of the empire's major cities at the beginning of the 13th century, which adds up to at least 520,000 and at most 850,000 people:[38]

  • Samarqand: 80,000–100,000
  • Nishapur: 70,000
  • Rayy/Rey: 100,000
  • Isfahan: 80,000
  • Merv: 70,000
  • Balkh: c. 30,000
  • Bost: c. 40,000
  • Herat: c. 40,000
  • Otrar, Urgench, and Bukhara: unknown, but less than 70,000.[39]

Culture[]

The Mausoleum of the renowned sufi of Khwarazm, Najm-ad-Din al-Kubra, in old Gurganj (present-day Kunya-Urgench, Turkmenistan)

Although the Khwarazmshahs had a Turkic origin, just as their Seljuq predecessors, they adopted Persian culture, adhered to Sunni branch of Islam and had their richest and most populous cities in Khorasan. Thus, the Khwarazmshah era had a dual character, reflecting both its Turkic origin and the Persian high culture.

Language[]

During the Khwarazmshah era, Central Asian society was fragmented, unified under one banner only recently. The Khwarazmian military mostly consisted of Turks, while the civilian and administrative element was almost exclusively Persian. The spoken language of the Turkic population of Khwarazm was Kipchak Turkic and Oghuz, the latter being the legacy of the previous masters of the area - Seljuq Turkomans.[40]

However, the dominant language of the era and the one spoken by the majority in the important Khwarazmian cities was Persian. The language of the sedentary diwan was also Persian, and its members had to be well versed in Persian culture, regardless of their ethnic origin. Persian became the official state language of the Khwarazmshahs and served as the language of administration, history, fiction and poetry. The Turkic language was the mother tongue and "home language" of the Anushteginid family, while Arabic served primarily as the language of science, philosophy, and theology.[1]

Military[]

It is estimated that the Khwarazmian army, prior to the Mongol invasion, consisted of about 40,000 cavalry, mostly of Turkic origin. Militias existed in Khwarazm's major cities but were of poor quality. With collective populations of around 700,000, the major cities probably had 105,000 to 140,000 healthy males of fighting age in total (15–20% of the population), but only a fraction of these would be part of a formal militia with any notable measure of training and equipment.[41]

Mercenaries[]

After the Mongol invasion of the Khwarazmian Empire, many Khwarazmians survived by employing themselves as mercenaries in northern Iraq. Sultan Jalal ad-Din's followers remained loyal to him even after his death in 1231, and raided the Seljuq lands of Jazira and Syria for the next several years, calling themselves the Khwarazmiyya. Ayyubid Sultan as-Salih Ayyub, in Egypt, later hired them against his uncle as-Salih Ismail. The Khwarazmiyya, heading south from Iraq towards Egypt, invaded Crusader-held Jerusalem along the way, on 11 July 1244 (Siege of Jerusalem (1244)). The city's citadel, the Tower of David, surrendered on 23 August, and the Christian population of the city was expelled. This triggered a call from Europe for the Seventh Crusade, but the Crusaders would never again be successful in retaking Jerusalem. After being conquered by the Khwarazmian forces, the city stayed under Muslim control until 1917, when it was taken from the Ottomans by the British.

After taking Jerusalem, the Khwarazmian forces continued south, and on 17 October fought on the side of the Ayyubids at the Battle of La Forbie, as the Crusaders used to call Harbiyah, a village northeast of Gaza, destroying the remains of the Crusader army there, with some 1,200 knights killed. It was the largest battle involving the Crusaders since the Battle of the Horns of Hattin in 1187.[42]

See also[]

  • List of Turko-Persian states
  • Khwarazm
  • List of Sunni Muslim dynasties

Notes and references[]

  1. ^ Also known as Khwarazm (Persian: خوارزم‎, romanized: Khwārazm) or the Khwarazmshahs (Persian: خوارزمشاهیان‎, romanized: Khwārazmshāhiyān)
  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c Babayan, K. (2003). Mystics, monarchs, and messiahs: cultural landscapes of early modern Iran. Harvard Center for Middle Eastern Studies. p. 14.
  2. ^ Gafurov, B.G. Central Asia:Pre-Historic to Pre-Modern Times, Vol.2, (Shipra Publications, 1989), page 359.
  3. ^ Vasilyeva, G.P. "Ethnic processes in origins of Turkmen people." Soviet Ethnography. Publishing house: Nauka, 1969. pages 81-98
  4. ^ Turchin, Peter; Adams, Jonathan M.; Hall, Thomas D (December 2006). "East-West Orientation of Historical Empires". Journal of World-Systems Research. 12 (2): 222. ISSN 1076-156X. Retrieved 12 September 2016.
  5. ^ Rein Taagepera (September 1997). "Expansion and Contraction Patterns of Large Polities: Context for Russia". International Studies Quarterly. 41 (3): 497. doi:10.1111/0020-8833.00053. JSTOR 2600793.
  6. ^ Man, John (2007). Genghis Khan: Life, Death, and Resurrection. St. Martin's Press. p. 180.
  7. ^ Additionally, the population of roughly the same area (Persia and Central Asia) plus some others (Caucasia and northeast Anatolia) is estimated at 5–6 million nearly 400 hundreds later, under the rule of the Safavid dynasty. Dale, Stephen Frederic (15 August 2002). Indian Merchants and Eurasian Trade, 1600–1750. ISBN 9780521525978. Retrieved 15 April 2016. page 19
  8. ^ "Khwarazmian: definition". Merriam Webster. n.d. Retrieved 21 October 2010.
  9. ^ Rene Grousset, The Empire of the Steppes:A History of Central Asia, Transl. Naomi Walford, Rutgers University Press, 1991, page 159.
  10. ^ Biran, Michel, The Empire of the Qara Khitai in Eurasian history, (Cambridge University Press, 2005), 44.
  11. ^ Turchin, Peter; Adams, Jonathan M.; Hall, Thomas D (December 2006). "East-West Orientation of Historical Empires". Journal of World-Systems Research. 12 (2): 222. ISSN 1076-156X. Retrieved 12 September 2016.
  12. ^ Rein Taagepera (September 1997). "Expansion and Contraction Patterns of Large Polities: Context for Russia". International Studies Quarterly. 41 (3): 497. doi:10.1111/0020-8833.00053. JSTOR 2600793.
  13. ^ C.E. Bosworth, The Ghaznavids: 994-1040, Edinburgh University Press, 1963, page 237
  14. ^ Buniyatov, Z. The State of Khwarazmshah-Anushteginids. 1097—1231 М., 1986. pages 41-75.
  15. ^ Biran, Michel, The Empire of the Qara Khitai in Eurasian History, Cambridge University Press, 2005, 44.
  16. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica, "Khwarezm-Shah-Dynasty", (LINK)
  17. ^ Bosworth 1986.
  18. ^ Bosworth 1968, p. 93.
  19. ^ Biran, 44.
  20. ^ Grousset, Rene, The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia, (Rutgers University Press, 2002), 160.
  21. ^ Historical and Cultural Heritage of Turkmenistan: Encyclopedic Dictionary. ed. by: Gundogdyeva, O. A.; Muradova R. G. Istanbul: UNDP, 2000. pp 1-381. ISBN 975-97256-0-6
  22. ^ Bosworth, C.E (1968). The Political and Dynastic History of the Iranian World (A.D. 1000-1217). V. Cambridge. pp. 181–197.
  23. ^ Juvaini, Ala-ad-Din Ata-Malik, History of the World Conqueror, Manchester University Press, Manchester, 1997. p. 314.
  24. ^ Kafesoglu, Ibrahim (1956). The History of the State of Khwarazmshah (485-617/1092-1229) (in Turkish). Ankara: Turk Tarih Kurumu. pp. 83–146.
  25. ^ Svat Soucek (2002). A History of Inner Asia. Cambridge University Press. pp. 106. ISBN 0-521-65704-0.
  26. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 6 October 2008. Retrieved 1 March 2006.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  27. ^ Gundogdiyev, O. Historical and Cultural Heritage of Turkmenistan: Encyclopedic Dictionary. Istanbul. 2000. page 381. ISBN 9789759725600
  28. ^ Paul, Jürgen (2018). "Jalāl al-Dīn Mangburnī". Encyclopedia of Islam - 3. p. 142.
  29. ^ Man, John (2004). Genghis Khan: Life, Death, and Resurrection. St. Martin's Press. p. 181. ISBN 0-312-31444-2.
  30. ^ Paul 2017, p. 145.
  31. ^ Buniyatov Z.M. Selected works in three volumes, vol. 3. Baku, 1999, page 60
  32. ^ Buniyatov 1999, p. 61.
  33. ^ Buniyatov 1999, p. 62.
  34. ^ Buniyatov 1999, p. 65.
  35. ^ Gafurov, B.G. Central Asia: Pre-Historic to Pre-Modern Times. vol. 2. Shipra Publications, 1989. page 359.
  36. ^ John Man, "Genghis Khan: Life, Death, and Resurrection", February 6, 2007. Page 180.
  37. ^ Additionally, the population of roughly the same area (Persia and Central Asia) plus some others (Caucasia and northeast Anatolia) is estimated at 5–6 million nearly 400 hundreds later, under the rule of the Safavid dynasty. Dale, Stephen Frederic (15 August 2002). Indian Merchants and Eurasian Trade, 1600–1750. ISBN 9780521525978. Retrieved 15 April 2016. Page 19.
  38. ^ Tertius Chandler & Gerald Fox, "3000 Years of Urban Growth", pp. 232–236
  39. ^ Chandler & Fox, p. 232: Merv, Samarkand, and Nipashur are referred to as "vying for the [title of] largest" among the "Cities of Persia and Turkestan in 1200", implying populations of less than 70,000 for the other cities (Otrar and others do not have precise estimates given). "Turkestan" seems to refer to Central Asian Turkic countries in general in this passage, as Samarkand, Merv, and Nishapur are located in modern Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and northeastern Iran respectively.
  40. ^ Vasilyeva, G.P (1969). Ethnic processes in origins of Turkmen people; Soviet Ethnography (in Russian). Nauka (Science). pp. 81–98.
  41. ^ Sverdrup, Carl. The Mongol Conquests: The Military Operations of Genghis Khan and Sube'etei. Helion and Company, 2017. pages 148-150
  42. ^ Riley-Smith The Crusades, p. 191
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