Kimek Khanate

Origins

The Kimek confederation formed in the mid-8th century on the Irtysh River from tribes, including the Imek and Kipchaks, who left the Mongolian steppe as the Uyghur Khaganate rose. By the 9th century their ruler held the title khagan.

Rule and society

Arab and Persian geographers such as Gardizi and the Hudud al-Alam describe the Kimek as a confederation of seven tribes, pastoral but with towns along the Irtysh, with Imakiya as the ruler's seat. They traded furs and slaves south to the Samanid Empire and the Oghuz. Religion included Tengrism and Manichaean and Buddhist influences, and they burned their dead.

Decline and legacy

In the early 11th century the confederation broke up as the Kipchaks, its western component, moved west across the steppe. Pressure from the Qai and other peoples of the east also played a part. The Kipchaks became the Cumans, who dominated the Pontic steppe until the Mongol conquest.

Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.