Yagma

The Yagma were a medieval tribe of Turks whose members are among the ancestors of modern Uigurs and Uzbeks. Yagma is one of the Turkic tribes that came to the forefront of history after the disintegration of the Western Turkic Kaganate. They were one component of a three-member confederation known as "Uch Oguz", which consisted of Yagma, the Karluks, and the Chigils. From the seventh century until the Karakhanid period, the Yagma were recorded in Arabic, Muslim, and Chinese accounts as a prominent and powerful political entity in the Tarim Basin, Dzungaria, and Jeti-su. Along with the Karluks and Chigils, the Yagma founded the Karakhanid state.

Etymology

According to Yury Zuev, a semantic meaning of the word yagma (yaγgma) in the ancient Türkic language, is "attack, onslaught." [Yu. Zuev, "Early Türks: Essays on history and ideology", Almaty, Daik-Press, 2002, p. 227, ISBN 9985-441-52-9] .

History

Mahmud al-Kashgari mentioned the Yagma and Tukhsy (Tukhsi) tribes, with a clan of Chigils, along the Ili River [1, 85] . In the tenth century the Yagma tribe lived in the Kashgar area and further northwest. The Yagma leader had the title Bugral, which allowed V.Bartold to suggest that Karakhanid Il-khans were from the Yagma tribe. Al Gardezi, who used sources composed in the eighth century, wrote that the Yagma united numerous tribes between the Uyghurs and Karluks in the larger part of the eastern Tian Shan, including Kashgar City and District. Gardezi called the Yagma a "rich people with large herds of horses" in a country of "one month of travel". The Yagma constantly clashed with the Karluks and the Kimaks, and were a dependent of the Western Turkic Kagans until their demise.

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