nomadic confederation · Poland, Lithuania and Russia

Cumania

1060 CE – 1241 CE (approx.)

The vast steppe confederation of the Cumans or Polovtsians, partners and enemies of Rus', Hungary and Byzantium until the Mongols swept it away.

Origins

The Cumans, called Polovtsians by the Rus' and Kipchaks in eastern sources, were Turkic nomads who moved west from the steppes of Kazakhstan in the 11th century. Around 1060 they displaced the Oghuz and Pechenegs north of the Black Sea, and in 1068 they defeated the sons of Yaroslav the Wise on the Alta river.

Rule and society

Cumania was never a single state but a shifting union of tribes and clans under their own khans, such as Boniak, Sharukan and Konchak. They herded horses and sheep, traded through the Crimean ports and set up stone statues of ancestors on the steppe. Rus' princes fought them but also married their daughters and hired them in civil wars.

Decline and legacy

Cumans and Rus' were defeated together by the Mongols at the Kalka in 1223, and the Mongol campaign of 1237 to 1241 conquered the steppe. Khan Kotyan led thousands into Hungary, and many Kipchaks were sold to Egypt, where they became Mamluks. Their language became the common speech of the Golden Horde and is recorded in the Codex Cumanicus.

Lineage

Kimek Khanate 743 CE – 1050 CECumaniaGolden Horde 1242 CE – 1502 CE

Connections (3)

More states of Poland, Lithuania and Russia →

Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Cumania. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/cumania
MLA
“Cumania.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/cumania. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Cumania.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/cumania.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Cumania’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/cumania (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻