Taraz: Difference between revisions

The discovery of [[chest]] ornaments, [[bronze]] statues of kings and remnants of [[ceramic]] products in separate parts of the Talas river valley are the evidence of the existence of the life in Taraz region in the bronze epoch. According to the archaeological excavation and available written sources, tribal unions of Saka Scythians had been formed in this territory by the 7th-8th centuries B.C. {{Citation needed|date=February 2007}}

However scarcity of information, inaccuracy of descriptions, and weakness of geography made it impossible to know the location until 1936. Professor [[Wilhelm Barthold]]'s research established that the location of ancient Taraz was under the Green Bazaar. Further research and archaeological excavations, which were made by an expedition of The USSR Academy of Science in 1938 under the supervision of A. Bernshtam and G. Patsevich to the depth 2–6 meters, made it possible to reconstruct the appearance and cultural – economic importance of ancient Taraz. The latest archaeological data has considerably expanded ideas about Taraz.{{cn|date=May 2023}}

At that time the Great [[Silk Road]] ran across Southern Kazakhstan. It played a major role in trade and cultural exchange between China, India, [[Byzantium]], and [[Persia]].{{cn|date=May 2023}} Taraz developed as a fortified tradecraft city on this massive transcontinental artery. Comparatively gentle [[climate]], [[fertile soil]] and rich pastures attracted many stock-breeder and farmers. In the 60-s of the 6th century the territory of the [[First Turkic Kaganate]] section included Taraz. The [[Sogdiana|Sogdian]] merchants, who controlled the Central Asian section of the caravan route, were interested in easier access to [[Byzantium]], and initiated trade negotiations first with the [[Persia]]ns, and then with Byzantium. In response, Byzantium sent ambassadors to the [[Turkic Kaganate]], and in the 568 the embassy led by Zemarchus and Maniach to the [[Muhan Khan]] arrived in Taraz at the court of Istemi [[Yabgu]]. The Persian ambassador also appeared at the court of the Turkic Kagan at the same time, but [[Istemi]] [[Yabgu]] allied with Byzantium.{{cn|date=May 2023}}

Unfortunately, it is not illustrated in the written sources of that time what Taraz looked like but it is said to have been a big city {{Citation needed|date=February 2007}}. The Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang, who passed through Taraz in 630 came to the Ta-lo-se and noticed that the perimeter of the wall is 8 to 9 ''li''(according to the Chinese measures one tang li is about 453 meters) in this city alternately. Due to written sources and archaeological investigation it is known from the 1st BC to 5th AD [[Kangui]] (Kanglu) tribes lived in the Talas River Valley. Similarity between the excavated materials of Taraz and the Kurgans of the [[Gynskyi]] and [[Usunskyi]]-[[Kanguiskyi]] tribes show the introduction of Turkic language. Mongolian features and elements appear in the settled culture of local mainly European population. According to A. N. Bernshtam's statement, it was a period of ethnogenesis for Central Asia's modern Turkic populations{{Citation needed|date=February 2007}}. <!--- Such theories of ethnogenesis are a highly suspect strand of Soviet historiography --> Taraz was joined to the Western Turk Khanate. It felt, like other cities of the region, the influence of Sogdian culture.{{cn|date=May 2023}}

Written sources of Paleo-Anthropological material collected from Kurgans in Southern Kazakhstan show the existence of close ties between Taraz and the [[Kypchaks]], [[Karluks|Qarluq]] populations of nearby valleys.{{cn|date=May 2023}} As a result of an internecine struggle amongst Turkish tribal leaders at the beginning of the 8th century the Turkish tribe in the Ili River Valley was divided into two branches: Yellow and Black. The black (kara) Turkish owned the Talas River Valley and made Taraz their capital in the middle of the 7th century. In 751 in the Talas River region, upstream from the modern city of Taraz, an army comprising Tang Dynasty troops from China and Kara Turkish mercenaries fought an army from the Abbasid Caliphate. Despite winning the battle, the Caliphate forces withdrew from the region. In 766 the Kara-Turkish tribes were defeated by Qarlugs from the northwest. Later, nearly all the tribes of the former Western Turk Khanate were conquered.{{cn|date=May 2023}}

The development of Taraz as a city arose as the result of the development and strengthening of political and economic ties linked to trade along the Silk Road. As a major halt, it flourished amidst a comparatively gentle [[climate]], [[fertile soil]] and rich pastures, which attracted many stockbreeders and farmers. The struggle between Persia and Byzantium for control of the route forced both sides to look for allies. Byzantium sent ambassadors to the Western Turk Khanate, and Zemarkha Kililyskyi arrived in Taraz in 568. Simultaneously the Persians sent their ambassador to the Turks, but Istemi Khan was on the side of Byzantium.{{cn|date=May 2023}}