History
The Yenisei Kirghiz may perhaps be correlated to the Tashtyk culture. They were known as Jiegu (Chinese: 結骨) or Xiajiasi (Chinese: 黠戛斯) in Chinese historical texts, but first appeared as Gekun (Chinese: 鬲昆) or Jiankun (Chinese: 堅昆) in Han period records. By the fall of the Gokturk empire in the eighth century CE, the Yenisei Kirghiz had established their own thriving state based on the Gokturk model. They had adopted the Orkhon script of the Gokturks and established trading ties with China and the Abbasid Caliphate in Central Asia and Middle East.
The Kirghiz Khagans of the Yenisei Kirghiz Khaganate claimed descent from general Li Ling, grandson of the famous Han Dynasty general Li Guang. Li Ling was captured by the Xiongnu and defected in the first century BCE. And since the Tang royal Li family also claimed descent from Li Guang, the Kirghiz Khagan was therefore recognized as a member of the Tang Imperial family. Emperor Zhongzong of Tang had said to them that "Your nation and Ours are of the same ancestral clan (Zong). You are not like other foreigners."
In 758, the Uyghurs killed the Kirghiz Khan and the Kirghiz came under the rule of the Uyghur Khaganate. However, the Yenisei Kirghiz spent much of their time in a state of rebellion, and in 840 they succeeded in sacking the Uyghur capital Ordu-Baliq in Mongolia's Orkhon valley, and driving the Uyghurs out of Mongolia entirely. But rather than replace the Uyghurs as the lords of Mongolia, the Yenisei Kirghiz continued to live in their traditional homeland and exist as they had for centuries.
When Genghis Khan came to power in the early 13th century, the Yenisei Kirghiz submitted peacefully to him and were absorbed into his Mongol Empire, putting an end to their independent state. During the time of the Mongol Empire the Yenisei Kirghiz's territory in northern Mongolia was turned into an agricultural colony called Kem-Kemchik. Kublai Khan (who founded the Yuan Dynasty) also sent Mongolian and Chinese officials (along with colonists) to serve as judges in the Kyrgyz and Tuva regions.
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