The Oghuz had expanded west and north of the Aral Sea and into the
steppe of present-day Kazakstan by the tenth century, absorbing not only Iranians but also Turks from the Kipchak and Karluk ethnolinguistic groups.

The name Turkmen had first appeared in written sources of the tenth century to distinguish those Oghuz groups who migrated south into the Seljuk domains and accepted Islam from those that had remained in the steppe.

The term has gradually taken on the properties of an ethnonym and is used exclusively to designate Muslim Oghuz, especially those who had migrated away from the Syr Darya Basin.

The term Turkmen supplants the designation Oghuz altogether by the thirteenth century.

The origin of the word Turkmen remains unclear. According to popular etymologies as old as the eleventh century, the word derives from Turk plus the Iranian element manand, and means "resembling a Turk."

Modern scholars, on the other hand, have proposed that the element man/ men acts as an intensifier and have translated the word as "pure Turk" or "most Turk-like of the Turks."

The renowned Muslim Turk scholar Mahmud al-Kashgari describes the language of the Oghuz and Turkmen in the eleventh century as distinct from that of other Turks and identifies twenty-two Oghuz clans or sub-tribes, some of which appear in later Turkmen genealogies and legends as the core of the early Turkmen.

The Turkic peoples who move into southern Central Asia, including what will later became Tajikistan, are influenced to varying degrees by Persian culture.

Some converted Turks change over the generations from pastoral nomadism to a sedentary way of life, which brings them into closer contact with the sedentary Persian-speakers.

Cultural influences flow in both directions as Turks and Persians intermarry.

Seljuk domains in the eleventh century had stretched from the delta of the Amu Darya delta into Iran, Iraq, the Caucasus region, Syria, and Asia Minor.

Seljuk forces had entered Baghdad in 1055, becoming masters of the Islamic heartlands and important patrons of Islamic institutions.

The last powerful Seljuk ruler, Sultan Sanjar (d. 1157), witnesses the fragmentation and destruction of the empire because of attacks by Turkmen and other tribes.

Until these revolts, Turkmen tribesmen had been an integral part of the Seljuk military forces.

Turkmen migrated with their families and possessions on Seljuk campaigns into Azerbaijan and Anatolia, a process that began the Turkification of these areas.

Turkmen also began to settle the area of present-day Turkmenistan during this time.

Most of this desert had been uninhabited prior to the Turkmen habitation, while the more habitable areas along the Caspian Sea, Kopetdag Mountains, Amu Darya, and Murgap River (Murgap Deryasy) are populated predominantly by Iranians.

The city-state of Merv is an especially large sedentary and agricultural area, important as both a regional economic-cultural center and a transit hub on the famous Silk Road.

A Turkic leader of Khwarezm, which is the region south of the Aral Sea, had united Khwarezm, Mawarannahr, and Iran under his rule in the late twelfth century.

Mawarannahr continues to be prosperous and rich under the rule of the Khwarezm shah Qutb ad-din Muhammad and his descendant Muhammad II.

A new incursion of nomads from the north soon changes this situation, however.

The invader this time is Genghis Khan with his Mongol armies.

The Mongol invasion of Central Asia is one of the turning points in the history of the region.

This event leaves imprints that will still be discernible in the early twentieth century.

The Mongols have such a lasting impact because they establish the tradition that the legitimate ruler of any Central Asian state can only be a blood descendant of Genghis Khan.

The Mongol conquest of Central Asia, which takes place from 1219 to 1225, leads to a wholesale change in the population of Mawarannahr.

The conquest quickens the process of Turkification in the region because, although the armies of Genghis Khan are led by Mongols, they are made up mostly of Turkic tribes that had been incorporated into the Mongol armies as they encountered them in their southward sweep.

As these armies settle in Mawarannahr, they intermix with the local populations, increasingly making the Iranians a minority.

Another effect of the Mongol conquest is the large-scale damage the warriors inflict on cities such as Bukhara and on regions such as Khwarezm.

As the leading province of a wealthy state, Khwarezm is treated especially severely.

The irrigation networks in the region suffer  extensive damage that will not be repaired for several generations.

The most powerful of the states established by the Uzbeks, the Khanate of Bukhara, centers on the city of Bukhara.

The khanate controls Mawarannahr, especially the region of Tashkent, the Fergana Valley in the east, and northern Afghanistan.

A second Uzbek state is established in the oasis of Khwarezm at the mouth of the Amu Darya.

Timur, who also invaded Russia before dying during an invasion of China in 1405, initiated the last flowering of Mawarannahr by gathering in his capital, Samarkand, numerous artisans and scholars from the lands he had conquered.

By supporting such people, Timur had imbued his empire with a very rich culture.

A wide range of religious and palatial construction projects are undertaken in Samarkand and other population centers during Timur's reign and the reigns of his immediate descendants.
Timur also patronizes scientists and artists; his grandson Ulugh Beg is one of the world's first great astronomers.

It is during the Timurid dynasty that Turkish, in the form of the Chaghatai dialect, becomes a literary language in its own right in Mawarannahr—although the Timurids also patronize writing in Persian.

Until this time only Persian had been used in the region.

The greatest Chaghataid writer, Ali Shir Nava'i, is active in the city of Herat, now in northwestern Afghanistan, in the second half of the fifteenth century.

The Timurid state quickly breaks into two halves after the death of Timur.

The chronic internal fighting of the Timurids attracts the attention of the Uzbek nomadic tribes living to the north of the Aral Sea, who begin a wholesale invasion of Mawarannahr in 1501.

The Uzbeks complete their conquest of Central Asia by 1510, including the territory of the present-day Uzbekistan.

Central Asia (1540–1683 CE): Silk Road Remnants, Steppe Khanates, and Early Imperial Shadows

Geography & Environmental Context

Central Asia covers the Kazakh steppe, the Karakum and Kyzylkum deserts, the Amu Darya and Syr Daryavalleys, the Ferghana Basin, the Tian Shan–Pamir–Alay mountains, and the Caspian east littoral. Anchors include the Aral Sea, Bukhara, Samarkand, Khiva, Tashkent, and caravan passes toward Kashgar and Herat. The region’s ecological zones ranged from grasslands sustaining nomadic herds to irrigated oases whose canals supported dense farming and urban life.

Climate & Environmental Shifts

This was the heart of the Little Ice Age, with colder winters and erratic precipitation. Harsh dzud winters killed herds across the Kazakh steppe. Oases along the Amu and Syr suffered from fluctuating river courses, drought pulses, and silting canals. The Aral Sea’s size oscillated. Yet the combination of irrigated farming, caravan redistribution, and pastoral mobility sustained resilience.

Subsistence & Settlement

• Nomadic herders: Kazakh and Turkmen groups herded horses, sheep, camels, and cattle, moving seasonally. Yurts provided mobility; fermented mare’s milk (kumis) and dried meat sustained diets.

• Oasis farmers: In Bukhara, Samarkand, Khiva, and Ferghana, wheat, barley, rice, cotton, melons, and fruit orchards were grown under irrigation.

• Mountain valleys: Terrace agriculture and pastoralism thrived in Alay and Pamir footholds.

• Desert margins: Salt, wool, and livestock were exchanged at caravanserai hubs.

Technology & Material Culture

• Nomadic toolkit: Saddles, composite bows, and gradually imported firearms from Persia and Russia.

• Agricultural irrigation: Canals, ditches, and karez sustained oases; flood irrigation recharged fields.

• Urban craft: Samarkand’s textiles, ceramics, metalwork, and leather goods were prized.

• Trade goods: Horses and hides went outward; silks, cottons, firearms, sugar, and tea came inward along caravan routes.

Movement & Interaction Corridors

• Caravan routes: The Silk Road waned as oceanic trade expanded, yet caravans still linked Bukhara and Samarkand to Persia, India, and China.

• Steppe highways: Kazakh clans moved between the Volga, Syr, and Altai, exchanging horses and captives.

• Khiva’s Amu corridor: Controlled routes to the Caspian and Persia.

• Ferghana gateways: Linked Kashgar to Transoxiana.

Cultural & Symbolic Expressions

• Islamic learning: Bukhara was a major madrasa center; Sufi orders (Naqshbandiyya) knit together oases and steppe.

• Oral traditions: Kazakh epics like Koblandy Batyr and genealogical lore preserved identity.

• Architecture: Timurid legacies—domes, tiled madrasas—still defined Samarkand and Bukhara skylines.

• Hybrid culture: Nomadic chieftains patronized Islamic scholars; sedentary elites employed steppe cavalry.

Environmental Adaptation & Resilience

• Mobility: Herd diversification and seasonal migration buffered dzud.

• Irrigation maintenance: Rebuilt canals and seasonal rotations ensured harvests despite drought.

• Salt and grain trade: Spread risk across zones.

• Reciprocal networks: Tribes and towns exchanged food, herds, and security pledges during crises.

Political & Military Shocks

• Kazakh steppe: The Kazakh Khanate fractured into three zhuzes (Great, Middle, Little), with alliances and rivalries shaping politics.

• Khanates:

  • Bukhara Khanate (Shaybanid then Janid dynasties) dominated Transoxiana, making Bukhara its capital.

  • Khiva Khanate controlled lower Amu routes, raiding steppe tribes and enslaving captives.

  • Ferghana Valley: Tashkent grew in importance as a contested hub.

• Turkmen tribes: Controlled desert corridors and raided for captives, supplying the slave trade.

• External pressures: Safavid Persia contested borders; the Mughal Empire influenced trade in the south; Muscovy began advancing forts along the Orenburg and Irtysh lines, probing Kazakh lands.

• Raiding and slavery: Khiva and Bukhara profited from slave markets, fueling endemic warfare on the steppe.

Transition

Between 1540 and 1683, Central Asia remained a world of steppe–oasis symbiosis, where nomads and towns exchanged horses, grain, salt, and textiles. Islamic scholarship in Bukhara and Samarkand provided intellectual prestige, while Kazakh and Turkmen tribes sustained mobility and oral epic traditions. But the caravan world shrank as European oceanic trade bypassed the Silk Road, and regional warfare deepened reliance on raiding and slaves. By 1683, the subregion’s khanates were strong yet vulnerable: fragmented steppe politics and creeping Russian, Persian, and Mughal encroachment foreshadowed the transformations of the next age.

Russian exploration and annexation by the middle of the seventeenth century had become very worrisome to the Mongols and the Turks to the southwest.

In response to this pressure, in 1672 Ayuka Khan of the Torgut Mongols raids through western Siberia, across the Urals and the Volga, and into Russia.

He then makes peace with the Russians on terms that enable him to continue to control his lands in relative tranquility for the remainder of the century.

The Manchus have by now conquered all of China and had established the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) with its capital in Beijing.

They have become concerned over the steady Russian expansion eastward that, up to this time, had remained far to the north.

The Russians had carefully avoided the still-formidable Torghut, who inhabit the region that now comprises central Siberia.

In this way, the Russians had reached the Amur Valley and the Pacific Ocean by mid-century.

In the period between 1641 and 1652, the Russians had gradually conquered the Buryat Mongols, thereby gaining control of the region around Lake Baikal.

The Manchus observe with considerable apprehension Russia's growing pressure on the Turkic peoples and the Mongols of Inner Asia.

As early as 1653, there had been clashes between Manchus and Russians in the Amur Valley.

In 1660 the Manchus had ejected the Russians from the Amur region, only to see them reappear when the Manchus become occupied with internal troubles in southern China.

..seizing Arbil and ...

Russian diplomatic and military interests subsequently turn to the East.

Russian troops occupy Turkmen lands on the Iranian and Afghan borders, raising British concerns, but German support of Russian advances averts a possible Anglo-Russian war.

The Bulgarians become angry with Russia's continuing interference in Bulgarian affairs and seek support from Austria.

In turn, Germany, displaying firmness toward Russia, protects Austria from the tsar while mollifying him with a bilateral defensive alliance, the Reinsurance Treaty of 1887 between Germany and Russia.

Within a year, Russo-German acrimony will lead to Bismarck's forbidding further Russian loans, and France will replace Germany as Russia's financier.