Chumuhun
Encyclopedia
Chuban "Weak Huns" was the name used by Chinese historians for the Chuy tribes: Chuyue, Chumi, Chumuhun, and Chuban. They were also collectively named Chuyue (Pinyin: Chuyue, Ch. 處月 Chuyue = 'abode of the Moon [god]'). The present endoethnonym of the Chuy descendents is Chuy Kiji, Turkic for "Chuy People". The Chuy tribes gained their own visibility after disintegration of the Eastern Hun state, because unlike the main body of the Northern Huns, who escaped from the Chunese sphere of knowledge, the Chuy tribes remained closer to China.
Descended from the Dingling
, the Chuban emerged after the disintegration of the Xiongnu
confederation. They underwent a strong influence of the Sogdian
culture.
The Chuy-descended Shato
played an important role in Chines dynastic history. In the 10th c. the remaining Shato branch of the Chuy tribe joined Tatar confederation in the territory of the modern Mongolia, and became known as White Tatars branch of the Tatars.
Another Chuy-descendent tribe, Kimek
was one of the Turkic
tribes known from Arab and Persian Middle Age writers as one of the seven tribes in the Kimek Kaganate
in the period of 743-1050 AD. The other six constituent tribes of the Kimek Kaganate per Abu Said Gardizi
(d. 1061) were the Kipchaks
, Imi
, Tatars
, Bayandur
, Lanikaz
, and Ajlad
.
Between 155 and 166 a former vassal tribe Syanbi (Ch. Xianbei
) of the Huns (Ch. Xiongnu
), known collectively as Huns
, united under Tian-Shih-huai
conducted a series of campaigns against Northern Huns, eventually defeating them and forcing them to flee west, which started a series of the Hun's westward migrations (93-c.380) to the S. Siberia and Middle Asia
The defeat ended the prominence of the Eastern Huns (Ch. Xiongnu
) as a major power in inner Asia. Tian-Shih-huai expelled the Huns from Dzungaria
to beyond the Tarbagatai Mountains
, and pushed the Dingling
beyond the Sayan mountains. The defeat had cost the Xiongnu their revenue from the Silk Road in the agricultural dependencies in the Tarim Basin ("Western Territories", Xiyu or Xinjian of the Chinese annals), forcing them to find new dependencies, and the Xiongnu split again.
The Chuban tribes, or "Weak Huns", took advantage of Uar
(Hephthalites) weakness and conquered Zhetysu, where they established the principality of Chuban (in Chinese literature commonly called Yueban), which existed until the 480es CE. Later, some Uar returned to Zhetysu, and in cooperation with the Mukrins, a Xianbei tribe, occupied the Tianshan slopes in the 2nd century AD, retaining their independence for some time as the Western Xianbei Horde.
The "Strong Huns" migrated westward, conquering the Iranian Alans
and Germanic Goths
, and later attacking the Roman Empire
. This Hunnic invasion of Europe led to severe upheavals among European peoples, giving the Huns a reputation in Europe as bandits and robbers, while the Chinese authors characterized them as the most cultured of all "barbarians".
In literature, the Chu tribes of the Late Antique period are also called by the generic appellation Central Asian Huns.
In the 5th century the Chuban were conquered by the Uigurs and split into four tribes: Chuyue, Chumi, Chumuhun, and Chuban. The Chuyue branch, intermixing with Turkuts
, formed the Shato tribe in Southern Dzungaria
, west from the lake Barkul.
The Zhetysu was also populated by remnants of the Yuezhi tribes, the Tukhsi and Azi, whose armies had conquered Bactria
centuries before. The Azi lived between Suyab
and Uzket. Mahmud Kashgari, who can be named a founder of comparative linguistics science, in the 11th century listed Tukhsi, a male dynastic tribe of the Az-Tochar composition, as a group of tribes with pure Turkic language.
In 448 the Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei
received an envoy from the Chuban to negotiate a war with the Rouran
. If the Chubans would pressure them from the west, the Rourans would lose any freedom to maneuver. Though no direct records exist about the war in Dzungaria, by the course of the events, there was no peace, and the nomadic empire of Rouran began to decline.
Based on his reconstructions of the events of Chuban history, Lev Gumilev
argued against a widespread view that the Rouran were the "Abars" who attacked the Sabirs, starting a "Great Migration of people
", because the Chuban state separated the Rouran Empire from the Sabirs.
By the 6th century CE the Chuy Huns, Uar Hephthalites, and Mukrin tribes merged to form the Turgesh
people.
The Chuban state survived to the end of 480s, until its independence was destroyed by the Teleuts
, who had split from the Rouran in 487. But the Teleuts' dominance was short-lived, first the Hephthalite
conquered them in 495-496, then Rouran crushed them, and finally in 547, the Turkut Uyghur people
conquered the Teleuts. But the Chuban lived on, forming four tribes - Chuyue, Chumi, Chumuhun and Chuban. These tribes became major players in the later Turkic Khaganate and thereafter
range.
Main article Ongut
The branch of the Chuy tribes that remained in the Western Turkic Kaganate as part of On-Ok (Ten Tribes) union occupied territory east of the lake Barkul, called in Chinese Shato ("sand masses", i.e. desert), formed of three sub-tribes. Shato participated in suppressing many uprisings on behalf of China, and for that the Chinese emperors granted their leaders various titles and rewards. After a defeat of Chuy by Tibetians in 808, Chuy Shato branch asked for protection from China, and moved into Inner China. It is known that after suppression of Huang-Chao uprising in 875-883, and establishing three out of five dynasties during the Five Dynasties Era
(907-960), their number in China fell down to between 50-100,000, which ruled a Chinese population of about 50 million people. In the 13th c. a part of Chuy Shato were included in the Mongol Empire
as an Ongut
tribe, another part as White Tatars
. During Mongolian time, a part of the Chuy Onguts were resettled in Khorazm, to eventually become a part of Kazakhs
, and another fraction remained in Mongolia, in the 15th c. they were called Tumed Mongols, and eventually they become a part of Mongolian people.
sorcerers in their war with the Francs, and Naiman
sorcerers against Chingis-Khan.
The reigning clan of the western Turkic, initially Manichaean Chigil
(Persian cihil "forty") tribe was Shato (Persian Sada "Hundred"), which later founded the Chinese state Hou-Tang (Later Tang, 923-936) in Northern China, and adopted a Chinese surname Li. The Shato had a predominant Dragon cult. Later Tang's founder Li Keiun also came from the Dragon tribe. The annals even noted that the Shato were praying "old services following the custom of the North" at the Thunder-mountain, at the Gates of Dragon. Within China, Chuy Shato became active adherents and protectors of Buddhism
and Taoism
, and initiated construction of many Buddhist temples. Subsequent to Shato, most of these temples were demolished.
Descended from the Dingling
Dingling
The Dingling were an ancient Siberian people. They originally lived on the bank of the Lena River in the area west of Lake Baikal, gradually moving southward to Mongolia and northern China...
, the Chuban emerged after the disintegration of the Xiongnu
Xiongnu
The Xiongnu were ancient nomadic-based people that formed a state or confederation north of the agriculture-based empire of the Han Dynasty. Most of the information on the Xiongnu comes from Chinese sources...
confederation. They underwent a strong influence of the Sogdian
Sogdiana
Sogdiana or Sogdia was the ancient civilization of an Iranian people and a province of the Achaemenid Empire, eighteenth in the list on the Behistun Inscription of Darius the Great . Sogdiana is "listed" as the second of the "good lands and countries" that Ahura Mazda created...
culture.
The Chuy-descended Shato
Shatuo
The Shatuo were a Turkic tribe that heavily influenced northern Chinese politics from the late ninth century through the tenth century. They are noted for founding 3 of the 5 dynasties and 1 of the kingdoms during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period....
played an important role in Chines dynastic history. In the 10th c. the remaining Shato branch of the Chuy tribe joined Tatar confederation in the territory of the modern Mongolia, and became known as White Tatars branch of the Tatars.
Another Chuy-descendent tribe, Kimek
Kimek
The Kimek or Kimak were one of the Turkic tribes known from Arab and Persian medieval geographers as one of the seven tribes in the Kimek Khanate in the period of 743-1050 AD. The other six constituent tribes, according to Abu Said Gardizi The Kimek or Kimak (Yemek, Yamak, Djamuk) were one of the...
was one of the Turkic
Turkic peoples
The Turkic peoples are peoples residing in northern, central and western Asia, southern Siberia and northwestern China and parts of eastern Europe. They speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family. They share, to varying degrees, certain cultural traits and historical backgrounds...
tribes known from Arab and Persian Middle Age writers as one of the seven tribes in the Kimek Kaganate
Kimek Khanate
The Kimek Khanate, also spelled Kimäk Khanate and Kimak Kaganate was a prominent medieval Turkic state formed by the Kimek and Kipchak people in the area between the Ob-Irtysh....
in the period of 743-1050 AD. The other six constituent tribes of the Kimek Kaganate per Abu Said Gardizi
Abu Said Gardizi
Abu Saʿīd Abdul-Hay ibn Dhaḥḥāk ibn Maḥmūd Gardēzī, Gardīzī or Gurdēzī was a Persian Muslim geographer and historian of the early 11th century from Gardēz who wrote the book Zayn al-Akhbār...
(d. 1061) were the Kipchaks
Kipchaks
Kipchaks were a Turkic tribal confederation...
, Imi
Imi
Imi was a king of the Akkadian Empire from 2257 to BC. He fought for the power in Akkad after the death of Shar-kali-sharri.-See also:*History of Sumer*Akkadian Empire*Sumerian king list*Igigi*Nanum*Ilulu...
, Tatars
Tatars
Tatars are a Turkic speaking ethnic group , numbering roughly 7 million.The majority of Tatars live in the Russian Federation, with a population of around 5.5 million, about 2 million of which in the republic of Tatarstan.Significant minority populations are found in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan,...
, Bayandur
Bayandur
Bayandur is one of Turkic tribes known from Arab and Persian Middle Age geographers and writers as being one of the seven tribes in the Kimak Kaganate in the period of 743-1050 AD. The other six constituent tribes per Abu Said Gardizi were Kimaks, Yamaks, Kipchaks, Tatars, Lanikaz, and Ajlad...
, Lanikaz
Lanikaz
Lanikaz is one of supposedly Turkic tribes known from Arab and Persian Middle Age geographers and writers as being one of the seven tribes in the Kimak Kaganate in the period of 743-1050 AD...
, and Ajlad
Ajlad
Ajlad is one of supposedly Turkic tribes known from Arab and Persian Middle Age geographers and writers as being one of the seven tribes in the Kimak Kaganate in the period of 743-1050 AD. The other six constituent tribes per Abu Said Gardizi were Kimaks, Yamak, Kipchaks, Tatars, Bayandur, and...
.
History
Xianbei
The Xianbei were a significant Mongolic nomadic people residing in Manchuria, Inner Mongolia and eastern Mongolia. The title “Khan” was first used among the Xianbei.-Origins:...
) of the Huns (Ch. Xiongnu
Xiongnu
The Xiongnu were ancient nomadic-based people that formed a state or confederation north of the agriculture-based empire of the Han Dynasty. Most of the information on the Xiongnu comes from Chinese sources...
), known collectively as Huns
Huns
The Huns were a group of nomadic people who, appearing from east of the Volga River, migrated into Europe c. AD 370 and established the vast Hunnic Empire there. Since de Guignes linked them with the Xiongnu, who had been northern neighbours of China 300 years prior to the emergence of the Huns,...
, united under Tian-Shih-huai
Change of Xianbei names to Han names
The Change of Xianbei family names to Han names was part of a larger sinicization campaign. It was at its peak intensity under Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei dynasty in 496.-Background:...
conducted a series of campaigns against Northern Huns, eventually defeating them and forcing them to flee west, which started a series of the Hun's westward migrations (93-c.380) to the S. Siberia and Middle Asia
The defeat ended the prominence of the Eastern Huns (Ch. Xiongnu
Xiongnu
The Xiongnu were ancient nomadic-based people that formed a state or confederation north of the agriculture-based empire of the Han Dynasty. Most of the information on the Xiongnu comes from Chinese sources...
) as a major power in inner Asia. Tian-Shih-huai expelled the Huns from Dzungaria
Dzungaria
Dzungaria, also called Zungaria, is a geographical region in northwest China corresponding to the northern half of Xinjiang. It covers approximately , lying mostly within Xinjiang, and extending into western Mongolia and eastern Kazakhstan...
to beyond the Tarbagatai Mountains
Tarbagatai Mountains
Tarbagatai Mountains is a range of mountains located in the north-western parts of Xinjiang, China and East Kazakhstan....
, and pushed the Dingling
Dingling
The Dingling were an ancient Siberian people. They originally lived on the bank of the Lena River in the area west of Lake Baikal, gradually moving southward to Mongolia and northern China...
beyond the Sayan mountains. The defeat had cost the Xiongnu their revenue from the Silk Road in the agricultural dependencies in the Tarim Basin ("Western Territories", Xiyu or Xinjian of the Chinese annals), forcing them to find new dependencies, and the Xiongnu split again.
The Chuban tribes, or "Weak Huns", took advantage of Uar
Uar
The Uar were the largest of three ethnic components constituting the confederation known to the west as the Hephthalites and to the Chinese as Yanda and the dominant ethnicity of Khwarezm...
(Hephthalites) weakness and conquered Zhetysu, where they established the principality of Chuban (in Chinese literature commonly called Yueban), which existed until the 480es CE. Later, some Uar returned to Zhetysu, and in cooperation with the Mukrins, a Xianbei tribe, occupied the Tianshan slopes in the 2nd century AD, retaining their independence for some time as the Western Xianbei Horde.
The "Strong Huns" migrated westward, conquering the Iranian Alans
Alans
The Alans, or the Alani, occasionally termed Alauni or Halani, were a group of Sarmatian tribes, nomadic pastoralists of the 1st millennium AD who spoke an Eastern Iranian language which derived from Scytho-Sarmatian and which in turn evolved into modern Ossetian.-Name:The various forms of Alan —...
and Germanic Goths
Goths
The Goths were an East Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin whose two branches, the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, played an important role in the fall of the Roman Empire and the emergence of Medieval Europe....
, and later attacking the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
. This Hunnic invasion of Europe led to severe upheavals among European peoples, giving the Huns a reputation in Europe as bandits and robbers, while the Chinese authors characterized them as the most cultured of all "barbarians".
In literature, the Chu tribes of the Late Antique period are also called by the generic appellation Central Asian Huns.
In the 5th century the Chuban were conquered by the Uigurs and split into four tribes: Chuyue, Chumi, Chumuhun, and Chuban. The Chuyue branch, intermixing with Turkuts
Uyghur people
The Uyghur are a Turkic ethnic group living in Eastern and Central Asia. Today, Uyghurs live primarily in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China...
, formed the Shato tribe in Southern Dzungaria
Dzungaria
Dzungaria, also called Zungaria, is a geographical region in northwest China corresponding to the northern half of Xinjiang. It covers approximately , lying mostly within Xinjiang, and extending into western Mongolia and eastern Kazakhstan...
, west from the lake Barkul.
The Zhetysu was also populated by remnants of the Yuezhi tribes, the Tukhsi and Azi, whose armies had conquered Bactria
Bactria
Bactria and also appears in the Zend Avesta as Bukhdi. It is the ancient name of a historical region located between south of the Amu Darya and west of the Indus River...
centuries before. The Azi lived between Suyab
Suyab
Suyab was an ancient Silk Road city located some 50 km east from Bishkek, and 8 km west southwest from Tokmok, in the Chui River valley, present-day Kyrgyzstan.- History :...
and Uzket. Mahmud Kashgari, who can be named a founder of comparative linguistics science, in the 11th century listed Tukhsi, a male dynastic tribe of the Az-Tochar composition, as a group of tribes with pure Turkic language.
In 448 the Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei
Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei
Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei , personal name Tuoba Tao , nickname Foli , was an emperor of the Chinese/Xianbei dynasty Northern Wei...
received an envoy from the Chuban to negotiate a war with the Rouran
Rouran
Rouran , Mongolia name Jujan or Nirun Ruanruan/Ruru , Tan Tan , Juan-Juan or Zhu-Zhuwas the name of a confederation of nomadic tribes on the northern borders of Inner China from the late 4th century until the middle 6th century...
. If the Chubans would pressure them from the west, the Rourans would lose any freedom to maneuver. Though no direct records exist about the war in Dzungaria, by the course of the events, there was no peace, and the nomadic empire of Rouran began to decline.
Based on his reconstructions of the events of Chuban history, Lev Gumilev
Lev Gumilev
Lev Nikolayevich Gumilev , was a Soviet historian, ethnologist and anthropologist. His unorthodox ideas on the birth and death of ethnic groups have given rise to the political and cultural movement known as "Neo-Eurasianism".-Life:His parents were two prominent poets Nikolay Gumilev and Anna...
argued against a widespread view that the Rouran were the "Abars" who attacked the Sabirs, starting a "Great Migration of people
Migration Period
The Migration Period, also called the Barbarian Invasions , was a period of intensified human migration in Europe that occurred from c. 400 to 800 CE. This period marked the transition from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages...
", because the Chuban state separated the Rouran Empire from the Sabirs.
By the 6th century CE the Chuy Huns, Uar Hephthalites, and Mukrin tribes merged to form the Turgesh
Turgesh
The Türgesh, Turgish or Türgish were a Turkic tribal confederation who emerged from the ruins of the Western Turkic Kaganate...
people.
The Chuban state survived to the end of 480s, until its independence was destroyed by the Teleuts
Teleuts
Teleuts are a Turkic people people living in Kemerovo Oblast, Russia. According to the 2002 census, there were 2650 Teleuts in Russia. Their language is classified as a southern dialect within the group of dialects which is called Altay language....
, who had split from the Rouran in 487. But the Teleuts' dominance was short-lived, first the Hephthalite
Hephthalite
The Hephthalites or Hephthalite is a pre-Islamic Greek term for local Abdali Afghans, who's famous ruler was Nazak Abdali . Hephthalites were a Central Asian nomadic confederation of the AD 5th-6th centuries whose precise origins and composition remain obscure...
conquered them in 495-496, then Rouran crushed them, and finally in 547, the Turkut Uyghur people
Uyghur people
The Uyghur are a Turkic ethnic group living in Eastern and Central Asia. Today, Uyghurs live primarily in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China...
conquered the Teleuts. But the Chuban lived on, forming four tribes - Chuyue, Chumi, Chumuhun and Chuban. These tribes became major players in the later Turkic Khaganate and thereafter
Altai Chumuhuns
An 8th century Tibetan geographer mentioned Chumuhuns in Altai and south of it as the Ibilkur, and associated them with Külüg-Külchur. They were the only Chuy tribe that in the middle of the 8th century preserved their independence, in spite of being sandwiched between Karluks and Turgesh. Their possessions were on the west side of the TarbagataiTarbagatai Mountains
Tarbagatai Mountains is a range of mountains located in the north-western parts of Xinjiang, China and East Kazakhstan....
range.
Chuy Shato
Main article Shato TurksMain article Ongut
Ongud
The Öngüd, or Öngüt, or Ongot were a Mongolic tribe, active in Mongolia around the time of Genghis Khan . Many members were Nestorian Christians. They lived in an area lining the Chinese Great Wall, in the northern part of the Ordos and territories to the northeast of it...
The branch of the Chuy tribes that remained in the Western Turkic Kaganate as part of On-Ok (Ten Tribes) union occupied territory east of the lake Barkul, called in Chinese Shato ("sand masses", i.e. desert), formed of three sub-tribes. Shato participated in suppressing many uprisings on behalf of China, and for that the Chinese emperors granted their leaders various titles and rewards. After a defeat of Chuy by Tibetians in 808, Chuy Shato branch asked for protection from China, and moved into Inner China. It is known that after suppression of Huang-Chao uprising in 875-883, and establishing three out of five dynasties during the Five Dynasties Era
Five Dynasties History
The Five Dynasties History was an official history of the Five Dynasties , which controlled much of northern China. It was compiled by the Song Dynasty official-scholar Xue Juzheng in the first two decades of the Song Dynasty, which was founded in 960...
(907-960), their number in China fell down to between 50-100,000, which ruled a Chinese population of about 50 million people. In the 13th c. a part of Chuy Shato were included in the Mongol Empire
Mongol Empire
The Mongol Empire , initially named as Greater Mongol State was a great empire during the 13th and 14th centuries...
as an Ongut
Ongud
The Öngüd, or Öngüt, or Ongot were a Mongolic tribe, active in Mongolia around the time of Genghis Khan . Many members were Nestorian Christians. They lived in an area lining the Chinese Great Wall, in the northern part of the Ordos and territories to the northeast of it...
tribe, another part as White Tatars
Mongol Empire
The Mongol Empire , initially named as Greater Mongol State was a great empire during the 13th and 14th centuries...
. During Mongolian time, a part of the Chuy Onguts were resettled in Khorazm, to eventually become a part of Kazakhs
Kazakhs
The Kazakhs are a Turkic people of the northern parts of Central Asia ....
, and another fraction remained in Mongolia, in the 15th c. they were called Tumed Mongols, and eventually they become a part of Mongolian people.
Theism, spirits, and magic
No records address the Chuy religion, though Chinese annals depict some manifestations of religious rites and magic. A narration about the Chubans tells about sorcerers, able to cause frost and rainstorm. During a war with the Rouran, Chuban sorcerers incited a snowstorm against them, making the Rouran so frost-bitten they had to stop their campaign and retreat. A similar legend is later told about the Eurasian AvarsEurasian Avars
The Eurasian Avars or Ancient Avars were a highly organized nomadic confederacy of mixed origins. They were ruled by a khagan, who was surrounded by a tight-knit entourage of nomad warriors, an organization characteristic of Turko-Mongol groups...
sorcerers in their war with the Francs, and Naiman
Naimans
The Naimans, also Naiman Turks or Naiman Mongols, was a Mongolian name given to a group of people dwelling on the steppe of Central Asia, having diplomatic relations with the Kara-Khitan, and subservient to them until 1177...
sorcerers against Chingis-Khan.
The reigning clan of the western Turkic, initially Manichaean Chigil
Chigils
The Chigil were a Turkic tribe known from the 7th century CE as living around Issyk Kul lake area. They were considered to be descended from two of the "Six Chuy tribes" of the Chuban, the Chuyue and Chumi. They are known to have been speakers of the Oghuz group of the Turkic...
(Persian cihil "forty") tribe was Shato (Persian Sada "Hundred"), which later founded the Chinese state Hou-Tang (Later Tang, 923-936) in Northern China, and adopted a Chinese surname Li. The Shato had a predominant Dragon cult. Later Tang's founder Li Keiun also came from the Dragon tribe. The annals even noted that the Shato were praying "old services following the custom of the North" at the Thunder-mountain, at the Gates of Dragon. Within China, Chuy Shato became active adherents and protectors of Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
and Taoism
Taoism
Taoism refers to a philosophical or religious tradition in which the basic concept is to establish harmony with the Tao , which is the mechanism of everything that exists...
, and initiated construction of many Buddhist temples. Subsequent to Shato, most of these temples were demolished.