Origin
The Karakhanids were a confederation formed some time in the ninth century of Karluk, Yaghma, Chigil, and other tribes living in Semirechye, Western Tian Shan (modern Kyrgyzstan), and Western Xinjiang (Kashgaria). The name of the royal clan is not actually known; the term Karakhanid is artificial - it was derived from Qara Khan or Qara Khaqan (the word "Qara" means "black") which was the foremost title of the rulers of this dynasty, and was devised by European Orientalists in the nineteen century to describe both the dynasty and the Turks ruled by it. Arabic Muslim sources called this dynasty al-Khaqaniya ("That of the Khaqans"), while Persian sources often preferred the term Al-i Afrasiyab ("The Family of the Afrasiyab") on the basis of the legendary kings (though actually unrelated to the Karakhanids and authentic Turkics) of pre-Islamic Transoxania.
Read more about this topic: Kara-Khanid Khanate
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