The Eastern Hemisphere in 600 AD, showing the location of the Karluks.
Karluks were a Turkic tribal confederacy in present-day Kazakhstan, also known as Qarluqs, Gelolu, or Harluut. Modern-day Uyghurs and Uzbeks are descended from the Karluks.
History[]
Two Karluk Hazaras in Afghanistan
Karluks inhabited Central Asia in present-day Kazakhstan, and they were a nomadic people that were not a major military power. The Karluks were subjugated by the Tang Dynasty in 744 AD and forced to become a vassal state, and in 745 they rose in rebellion against the Gokturk Khaganate. The Karluks assisted their Chinese allies against the Arabs of the Abbasid Caliphate, and in 751 they were defeated at the Battle of Talas. In 766 the Karluks formed a khanate after making the city of Suyab (present-day Ak Beshim, Kyrgyzstan) their capital following the eviction of the Turgesh Khaganate from the region.
The Karluks could field up to 50,000 warriors around 840 during their war with Kirghiz. They were later defeated by the Kirghiz, but the Qarakhanid Beylerbeylik became a new representative of the Karluks when they took power. The Karluks resumed conflict with the Kirghiz in 1079 when Arslan Chigil was supplanted as chief of Chuy by High Chief Girgen of Kirghiz, their sworn enemy. The Karluks were later conquered by the Mongol Empire during the course of the 13th century under Genghis Khan, and they were absorbed into the Mongol Chagatai Khanate after the division of the empire.