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Section 4. History
Eshonkulov Sh. E.,
Institute of History of Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan
E-mail: [email protected]
THE MAIN STAGES OF ETHNIC HISTORY OF ZARAFSHAN OASIS AND ITS ROLE IN THE FORMATION OF OASIS TOPONOMIES
Abstract. This article presents interesting facts about historical sources of ethnic history, ethnic composition, ethnology, ethnonymy and ethnic background of Zarafshan oasis. Particularly, the majority of the ethnic toponims in the region have been identified by names of places belonging to the Turkic ethnoses, among which are ethnic populations such as nayman, bahrini, kungrad, kipchoq, and so on. The article also describes the role played by various ethnic groups who participated in the ethnic formation of the Uzbek nation in ethnic and migratory processes in Zarafshan oasis (translated into English).
Keywords: etnonim, toponim, etnogenesis, archaeological research, ethnic composition, ancient ethnoses, medieval ethnic processes.
The Zarafshan oasis, like the Fergana valley, Chach, Tukhoriston, and Khorezm oasis, is one of the most densely populated regions of Central Asia. Especially Samarkand and Bukhara regions of Zarafshan valley, mainly due to its irrigated agriculture, it involves a number of pastures which were attractive for a continental and nomadic ethnos. In particular, by familiarizing with the ethnotoponyms presenting in the Zarafshan oasis, it is possible to gain some insight on the ethnic processes that took place not only in the oasis, but between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya.
Looking back at Central Asia's nearly three millennium history, it is evident that regular migratory processes are taking place in the history of the region. In other words, written sources indicate that the population of the northern and northwestern parts of the Central Asian region has been migrated to the Chach oasis, the Fergana valley, the Zarafshan oasis and the lower reaches of the Amudarya river [3; 12].
In the middle of the last millennium BC, whether in the 1st millennium or in the Middle Ages, the large-scale population movements from the Central Eurasian region (mainly Central Kazakhstan), South Siberia, Mongolia, Altay, and Ye-tisuv to the climate-friendly and the fertile oasis between the northern and northwestern regions of the Amu Darya and Syr Darya happened almost every century. This phenomenon is reflected not only in the written sources of the epoch, but also in the region of today, especially in the Zarafshan oasis toponymy [11, p. 144-184]. When we look at these migratory processes in the example of the Zarafshan oasis, we can
see that the region is characterized by the following major general ethnocultural processes, which include several stages [4, p. 81-91; 1, p. 73-98]:
1) From the middle of the last millennium BC to the last centuries of that millenium. At the beginning of the first millennium BC, the Scythian and Sarmatian tribes from the Eurasian steppes initially migrated to the Syr Darya River, then in the III-II centuries, the tribes of Yueji, Kang, Dung from Yettisu and its suburbs began to migrate to the places between Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers, including the Zarafshan basins;
2) From the first centuries to the middle of the 1st millennium BC, the Himalayan, Cyrus, and Eftalian) tribes from Altai and East Turkestan settled down in the southern region of the region and upper basin of the Amudarya river [8, p. 179-192; 5, p. 19-21];
3) In the first Middle Ages, especially in the VI-VIII centuries BC, owing to regime of the Greater Turkic Khanate in the region increased the number of ethnic groups migrating from Mongolia, Altai, and Yettisu to the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers, including in the Zarafshan basins [13, p. 15-24]. Especially the participation of the Turks in the governance of Samarkand, Bukhara and a number of Sughd rulers have been intensified [6, p. 119-129]. As a result, significant changes have taken place in the ethnic composition of the population and the prestige of the existing Turkic peoples in the region increases;
4) In the Middle Ages, during the governance of the Karakhanids, and later Saljuqids, Karakhitas, Khorezmshah-Anushteginiys', we can see migration of a lot of Turkic tribes to
the Zarafshan and Amudarya basins from Yettisu, East Turkestan, the middle and lower basins of Syrdarya [7, p. 28-32]. Meanwhile, mainly Qarluq, Yagmo, Chighil and partly Oguz tribes of the Turks were populated in the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers and adjacent areas [14, p. 152-153];
5) In the XIII-XV centuries the Turkic and Turkic Mongolian tribes increased in the Syrdarya, Zarafshan and Amudarya basins during the invasion of Mongols and in the period of Chagatay's and later in the Temurids. Especially Mongolian, Southern Siberian and Far Eastern nomads (mainly Turkic-Mongolian, partly-tungus-manjur), begin to settle in the south-western region of the region, forming numerous Turkic tribes in the Altai, Eastern Turkestan, and Yettisu. In the Timurid era this process continued, and migratory processes became regular between the Volga-Ural River and the Yettisu and the Amudarya-Syrdarya River. During this period, dozens of other Turks and Turkic Mongols, such as Kungrad, Arghun, Jaloir, Uyshun, Nayman, Barlas, Arlot, are in the center ofthese processes [15, p. 165-176; 7, p. 36-41];
6) During the Shaibaniyes - Ashtarkhons period - in the XVI-XVIII centuries several dozens of Turkic and Turkic Mongolian tribes from the Volga-Ural region and parts of the Sariarka (Central Kazakhstan) and western Siberia are located in the Amudarya-Syrdarya interconnection and adjacent territories [2, p. 50-54]. In this period, the Turkic Kipchak tribes are intensively active and spread in the Jizzakh, Zarafshan, Kashkadarya and Surkhandarya regions [9, p. 25].
Thus, along centuries with the ancient nomadic ethnic groups of Central Asia, the percentage of the Turkic tribes -the Karluk, Oguz and Kipchak tribes, which are direct or indirect hereditary successors, increased between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya, including the Zarafshan Oasis. The composition of the 20th century ethno-populations also proves this. In particular, in several cities of the oasis and relatively old and large villages were used Karluk dialect of the Uzbek language, and in the desert and steppes of the oasis, as well as in relatively smaller villages, the Uzbek language is mostly seen in Kipchak and partly Oghuz dialects or their elements. In the period of the Shaybani, Ashtarkhon and Bukharan emirates, the share of nomadic Uzbek tribes speaking in Kipchak dialect in the Zarafshan valley has increased, and in almost every part of the area - the upper Zarafshan River (Panjikent, Urgut), Middle (Samarkand - Kattakurgan Range) and the Lower Basin (Bukhara oasis) there were originated hundreds of villages named by name of Uzbek tribes [11, p. 58-70].
Despite the fact that the Uzbek population of Zarafshan oasis speaking in the Kipchak dialect occupied lifestyle of the ancient Turkic and Tajik inhabitants of the region and the culture of this land, in the early 20th century they kept the traditions and lifestyle of nomadic Turkic tribes of Dashti Kip-
chak. Especially, they kept their speech language, tribal system (Uzbeks of 92 breed), people's names, folklore, wedding ceremonies, sports and entertaining games (wrestling, kupkari/ uloq), craftsmanship (horse gear, carpet weaving), funeral ceremonies (tradition of "bone asking"), clothing, cooking (mainly meat dishes) and so on. Nomadic traditions of Turkic peoples of Central Asia dominate till the Middle Ages.
It is noteworthy that there are no significant differences between the traditions of the Turkic and Turkic-Mongolian tribes as the Kazakh, Karakalpak, Nogai, Boshkird, Karachay-bulgur and Kumuk Turks, that formed a large part of the Dashti Kypchak population in the Middle Ages and traditions of the Uzbek population, which preserved their own tribal system in the oasis - languages, weddings and funerals, folklore, and so on. Especially the Kypchak Uzbeks, the Kazakh, Nogai and Karakalpak traditions are very close. For example, there are a lot of generalities in wrestling and kupkari, names of people (mainly, Eshqul, Eshpulat, Yarlakab, Edige, Cengil, Suluv, etc.), yurta and related terms (keraga, uvuk, changa-rok), names of tribes (Kungrad, Mangit, Kenagas, Naiman, Kypchak, Jetiuruv, Tama, Tabin, Ramadan) [15, p. 167-175], horse equipments' names (jazlik, terlik, yapugh, jalduruk), clothing (jelak, yakhtak/jiyda, cholvor, kalpok, etc.), singing and musicianship (bashikish, drum, poetry) and doston singing (eg. Alpomish). This situation was preserved not only in the Zarafshan oasis, but also in the Uzbek population of the late XIX - early 20th centuries, kept the tribal-relativeness system in Jizzakh, Kashkadarya, Surkhandarya and other regions.
It is true that Zarafshan oasis and nomadic Uzbeks of the mentioned provinces did not differ greatly from the peripheral population of the region, in particular from the stable Uzbeks, and though the difference between them disappeared over time, there are some differences in tradition and tradition. For example, among the settled Uzbeks there are more Islam-based (Arabic) names, relatively serious adherence to the Muslim traditions in wedding and funeral ceremonies (akika-ceremony for a newborn, donation), presence of Persian-Tajik names, words, terms and phrases.
In short, in the twenty-first century Zarafshan oasis, it is clear that the ethnopolitical processes that took place in the ancient and medieval centuries in the region were more prominent. For example, the place names originated from the names of the nomadic Turkic ethnoses - Karluk, Uighur tribes who had moved between the Amu Darya and Syrdarya during the Karakhanids, or Barlos, Kovchin, Arlot, Arghin, Chigatai, Kerayit, Kiyot tribes, who played dominative role in the political life of the region during the Mongolian invaders and Temuridhs periods, relatively little. However, at the predominantly mountainous areas of Surkhandarya and partly in Kashkadarya, the place names relevant to the tribal-
relativeness system before the Shaybani period such as Karlyk, Barlas, Kovchin, Kerayit, Merkit, Chigatai and Toghchi are of common occurance [10].
The Oghuz elements or ethnotoponyms belonging to the Olot and Karakul of Bukhara oasis and to the central and southern parts of the Khorezm oasis, played relatively smaller role in the 20th century ethnotopony of the upper and middle basins of the Zarafshan oasis. Its cause of the migratory processes from the northern and northwestern parts of Central Asia to the southern and south-western parts of it are primarily occurred through the Nurata and Zarafshan oasis, and these processes, which have often been carried out through the Syrdarya river basin, have also been reflected in the eth-nosopoeos of our country. That is, during the last major migratory process in the region - on the Shaiban era, Uzbeks tribes speaking in the Kipchak dialect widely settled between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya, The role of the Nurota and Zarafshan oasis as a "gateway" was the basis for the relative widely popularization of ethnotoponims related ethnic Uzbeks.
Also, the lack of high mountains in the middle and lower basins of the Zarafshan oasis has prevented the formation of a chain of ethnotoponyms associated with ancient Turkic tribes. Indeed, in some districts of the oasis we can meet partially belonged to ancient Turkic ethnonyms (eg. Karluk), but ethnotoponyms related to the Temurids, such as Kataghon, Kovchin, Toghchi, Siljiut [16, p. 16-21; 11, p. 143-148], are almost lost.
However, the most ancient sorts of Uzbeks - the "Turkic group" and the ethnotoponies associated with the Timurid era (Turkic, Karluk, Barlos, Musabozori, Kaltatoy, Chigatay, Tac-chi, Qovchin and others) [9, p. 72-80] were found in Zaamin, Jizzakh Province, Urgut in Samarkand Province, Gissar in Kash-kadarya Province, etc.). The same situation appears in the Fergana valley, particularly in Andijan, Osh, Uzgen and Khujand. If
you look at the Osh-Andijan-Mastchoh-Zomin-Urgut-Gissar-Baysun Mountains, it will be understood that the surnames of the "Turkish group" of Uzbeks (Turk, Barlos, Karluk, etc.) are quite common [7, p. 70-71; 9, p. 72-79]. It is worth mentioning that in the Shaybanid period, nomadic Uzbeks often resorted to self-restraint as a new venue - pastures, mountainous terrain, and steppe plains, as well as steep slopes and steep cliffs that are relatively difficult for livestock populations.
At the same time, however, it is known that, apart from the Kungrad Uzbeks, they chose mountainous and steppe zones, and most of them are in the later periods - in the 17th century, in the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers. They actually lived in the middle basin of the Syrdarya River earlier, and as a result of the raids (XVI-XVIII centuries) [7, p. 56-57] they traveled to the southern regions along the Nurata-Zarafshan highway, where the vast oasis - mountainous steppes and the steppes were mostly immigrant Uzbeks busy, so the rangers and peasants tried to settle down. In fact, the Kungrads, part of the nomadic Uzbeks, have been occupied in the XVII century, although the Shaibanids, even the Chigatay elder and the Temurids, occupy a significant place in the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers, in the Zarafshan, Kashkadarya and Sur-khandarya rivers. Although the "jelathesh" speaks in the sheva, as well as other nomadic Uzbek breeds, the bungalows are more likely to preserve "ethnographic features" than nayman, mangit, palace, thousand, forty, hundred and dozens of "Kip-choq Uzbeks" it's because of their relative "late migrations" and the fact that they live in compact conditions, occupying the mountainous and mountainous places.
Thus, the unique feature of many places of the world is relative to ancient places, and the traces of relatively recent epochs in the oasis are more apparent in the example of our region - Zarafshan oasis.
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