AHistoryIndependent states
Kara-Khanid Khanate
A Turkic khanate that ruled Central Asia from the 9th to the 13th century, with Balasagun in the Chüy Valley as one of its capitals.
The Kara-Khanid state was founded by the Karluk Turks; its highest royal title was Kara Khagan, and in the 10th century it became one of the first Turkic dynasties to adopt Islam.
In 999 it took Bukhara, the Samanid capital, and Transoxiana — a decisive shift to Turkic rule in Central Asia. The state later split into Eastern and Western khanates, with Balasagun and Kashgar as centres of the east.
Under the Karakhanids Turkic produced its first great literary works — Yusuf Balasaguni's Kutadgu Bilig and Mahmud al-Kashgari's Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk. The Burana Tower and the Özgön mausoleums are monuments of this era in Kyrgyzstan.
Sources
Updated: October 3, 2026