Chigil
Nation | Defunct
676 CE to 1259 CE
The Chigil (Chihil, and also Jigil, Djikil, Chiyal) are a Turkic tribe known from the 7th century CE as living around Issyk Kul lake area.
They are 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 languages.
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The Yagma people (a branch of the Toquz Oghuz, the later Uyghur) occupy the southern part of Zhetysu; they also hold Kashgar.
The Karluks had remained in the Chinese sphere of influence and an active participant in fighting the Muslim expansion into the area, up until their split from the Tang in 751.
Chinese intervention in the affairs of Western Turkestan had ceased after their defeat at the Battle of Talas in 751 by the Arab general Ziyad ibn Salih.
The Arabs had dislodged the Karluks from Ferghana to …
…the region known historically as Zhetysu (Kazakh: meaning "seven waters"), which corresponds to the southeastern part of modern Kazakhstan, owes its name, to the rivers that flow from the southeast into Lake Balkhash.
The Karluk tribes, after overrunning the Turgesh in Zhetysu, in 766 form a Khanate under the rule of a Yabgu, occupy Suyab, and transfer their capital there.
The bulk of the tribe has left the Altai by this time, and the supremacy in Zhetysu passes to the Karluks.
Most of Turkestan (former Onuq territory) comes under Karluk rule, except in the region west of the Aral Sea, where the Oghuz Turks will soon form a loose confederation.
The Karluks, who are hunters, nomadic herdsmen, and agriculturists, settle in the countryside and in the cities, which are centered around trading posts along the caravan roads.
The Karluks have inherited a vast multiethnic region, whose diverse population is not much different from its rulers.
Zhetysu is populated by the Turgesh, who are divided into two tribes, the Tukhshi and the Azes mentioned in the Orkhon inscriptions, the remnants of the Oghuz Turks whose main body had moved to the west, becoming the Shato Turks (i.e.
"Steppe Turks"), and interspersed with the Sogdian colonies.
In the north and west live the Kankalis.
A separate significant division of the Karluks are the Chigils, a tribe that had detached from the Karluk.
They reside around Issyk Kul.
The diverse population adheres to a spectrum of religious beliefs.
The Karluks and the majority of the Turkic population profess Tengrianism, considered as shamanism and heathen by the Christians and Muslims.
Chigils are Christians of the Nestorian denomination.
The majority of the Toquz Oghuz, with their khan, are Manicheans, but there are also Christians, Buddhists, and Muslims among them.
The peaceful penetration of Muslim culture through commercial relations plays a far more important role in their conversion than Muslim arms.
The merchants are followed by missionaries of various creeds, including Nestorian Christians.
Many Turkestan towns have Christian churches.
The Turks hold sacred the Qastek pass mountains, believing to be an abode of the deity.
Each creed carries its script, including Türkic runiform, Sogdian, Syriac, and later the Uyghur.