The Qara Khitai or Kara Khitai, officially the Great Liao, also known as the Western Liao, was a dynastic state based in Central Asia, ruled by the Yelü clan of the Khitan people, a Sinicized Para-Mongolic people from modern day eastern Mongolia and Northeast China. The Khitans had ruled the Liao dynasty (907–1125), covering much of Northeast Asia, until they were defeated by the Jurchens. A group of displaced Khitans led by Yelü Dashi fled to Central Asia and continued to rule as a continuation of the Liao dynasty. The state developed into a multicultural empire synthesizing Khitan and Liao traditions with Chinese administrative forms while governing a predominantly Turkic and Iranian population.
The territories of the Qara Khitai corresponded to parts of modern-day China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The Anushtegin dynasty, the Karluks, Qocho kingdom, the Kankalis, and the Kara-Khanid Khanate were vassal states of the Qara Khitai at some point in history. Chinese and Muslim historiographical sources, such as the History of Liao, considered the Qara Khitai to be a legitimate Chinese dynasty.
The empire was usurped by the Naiman prince Kuchlug in 1211. Traditional Chinese, Persian and Arabic sources generally treat this usurpation as the end of the Khitan dynasty, although the state itself survived until the Mongol conquest of the Qara Khitai in 1218. Some western Khitan remnants later established the Qutlugh-Khanid dynasty in southern Iran.
Names
In 1124, the Qara Khitai established by Yelü Dashi continued to use the Chinese dynastic name of "Great Liao". In historiography, however, this regime is more commonly called the "Western Liao" or "Qara Khitai". The Qara Khitans used neither "Western Liao" or "Qara Khitai" to refer to themselves. They regarded themselves as the legitimate continuation of the Liao dynasty and continued to use the Khitan name "Great Liao Khitan" ("Great Liao" in Chinese) as their self designation. Western Liao is a Chinese designation and Qara Khitai is a Turko-Mongol term. "Qara Khitai" cannot be found in any Muslim sources before the Mongol invasions, after which Turko-Mongol speakers mistook the word for "Liao" (Hura) as qara (black). "Qara Khitai" became a common Central Asian name for the state and it is often translated as the "Black Khitans" according to the Turko-Mongol understanding of qara. "Black Khitans" (黑契丹) has also been seen used in Chinese. "Qara", which literally means "black", corresponds with the Liao's dynastic color black and its dynastic element water, according to the theory of five elements (wuxing). Muslim historians initially referred to the state as "Khitai", which may have come from the Uyghur form of "Khitan", in whose language the final -n or -ń became -y. They adopted the name "Qara Khitai" after the Mongol invasions.
Due to the dominance of the Khitans during the Liao dynasty in Northeast China and Mongolia and later the Qara Khitai in Central Asia where they were seen as Chinese, the term "Khitai" came to mean "China" to people near them in Central Asia, Russia and northwestern China. The name was then introduced to medieval Europe via Islamic and Russian sources, and became "Cathay". In the modern era, words related to Khitay are still used as a name for China by Turkic peoples, such as the Uyghurs in China's Xinjiang region and the Kazakhs of Kazakhstan and areas adjoining it, and by some Slavic peoples, such as the Russians and Bulgarians.
History
Origin
The Qara Khitai empire, also known as the Western Liao dynasty, was the remnant offshoot of the Khitan-led Liao dynasty. From 1114 to 1125, the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty conquered the Liao. In 1122, two groups of Khitans fled westward to escape the Jin invasion. One of these groups was led by Yelü Dashi, who joined the Liao emperor, Tianzuo, at the border of the Western Xia kingdom. Dashi was captured by the Jin in 1123 and forced to lead them to Tianzuo's camp, resulting in the capture of the entire Liao imperial family except for Tianzuo and one of his sons. Dashi later rejoined Tianzuo but the emperor was captured in early 1125 and died at the Jin court in 1128.
Founding of the Qara Khitai
In 1124, Yelü Dashi fled northwest and established his headquarter at the military garrison of Kedun (Zhenzhou) on the Orkhon River. Dashi secured the allegiance of the garrison forces numbering 20,000 and set himself up as gurkhan (universal khan). He conquered two Jin tribes in 1129. In 1130, Dashi led his host further west in search of new territory, whereupon he settled a town and his first base by the Emil river. Within a year, he had established himself as suzerain of Qocho and gained a foothold in Transoxiana. In 1131, he attacked the Karakhanids at Kashgar but was repelled. Later though, after being occupied by Yelü Yudu in the east, he returned and strengthened his forces to eventually expand his authority in Qayaliq and Almaliq regions. In 1134 he conquered the Karakhanid city of Balasaghun (in modern Kyrgyzstan), resulting in the vassalization of the nearby Kankalis, Karluks, Kyrgyz, and the Kingdom of Qocho. Kashgar, Khotan, and Beshbalik. In 1137, he defeated the Western Karakhanids near Khujand and annexed Fergana and Tashkent. Yelü Dashi's host was further bolstered by 10,000 Khitans who had previously been subjects of the Karakhanids. They went on to conquer Kashgar, Khotan, and Beshbalik.
Battle of Qatwan
The Western Karakhanids were vassals of the Seljuk Empire and the Karakhanid ruler Mahmud II appealed to his Seljuk overlord Ahmad Sanjar for protection. In 1141, Sanjar with his army arrived in Samarkand. The Khitans were invited by the Khwarazmians (also a vassal of the Seljuks) to conquer the lands of the Seljuks and responded to an appeal to intervene by the Karluks who were involved in a conflict with the Karakhanids and Seljuks.
Khitan forces ranging from 20,000 to 700,000 depending on the source met in battle with Seljuk forces numbering 100,000. While many Muslim sources suggested that the Khitan forces greatly outnumbered the Seljuks, some contemporary Muslim authors also reported that the battle was fought between forces of equal size. The Khitans were also said to have been given a reinforcement of 30,000–50,000 Karluk horsemen.
The Battle of Qatwan took place on the Qatwan steppe, north of Samarkand, on 9 September 1141. The Khitans attacked the Seljuk forces simultaneously, encircled them, and forced the Seljuq center into a wadi called Dargham, about 12 km from Samarkand. Encircled from all directions, the Seljuq army was destroyed and Sanjar barely escaped. Figures of the dead ranged from 11,000 to 100,000. Among those captured at the battle were Seljuq military commanders and Sanjar's wife. The Seljuk defeat resulted in the loss of all of Transoxiana to the Khitans.
After his victory, Yelü Dashi spent 90 days in Samarkand, accepting the loyalty of Muslim nobles and appointing Mahmud's brother Ibrahim as the new ruler of Samarkand. Dashi allowed the Muslim Burhan family to continue to rule Bukhara. After this battle, Khwarazm became a vassal state of the Khitans. In 1142, Dashi sent Erbuz to Khwarazm to pillage the province, which forced Atsiz to agree to pay 30,000 dinars annual tribute.
Territorial extent
The Qara Khitai in 1143 constituted a realm encompassing a territory roughly equivalent to modern Xinjiang, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and south Kazakhstan. Under the empire's direct rule was the region around their capital, Balasagun. Around it were the subject kingdoms of Qocho, the eastern and western Karakhanids, Khwarazm, and the Karluk tribes. Its western border was defined by the Amu Darya, but the Khitans were active in Khorasan until the 1180s while Balkh remained under their rule until 1198. In the north they bordered the Yenisei Kyrgyz north of Lake Balkhash until 1175 when they retreated further south. The southern boundary stretched from Balkh to Khotan to Hami. The boundary of the empire in the east is hard to define but the Khitans exercised some sovereignty over the Naimans east of the Altai Mountains until 1175.
Conflict with Jin
Simultaneously during the invasion of Central Asia, Dashi also sent invasion forces to attack the Jin and retake Liao territory, however these efforts proved fruitless and ended in defeat. Yelü Dashi had originally hoped to recapture northern China from the Jin dynasty and restore the territories once held by the Liao dynasty. However, he soon discovered the relative weakness of his empire vis-a-vis the Jin dynasty and gave up the idea after a disastrous attack on the Jin dynasty in 1134. The Western Liao continued to defy Jin supremacy in 1146, and continued sending scouts and small military units against the Jin in 1156, 1177, 1185, 1188. This indicates that for the first 2 generations there remained considerable interest in reconquest.
Xiao Tabuyan (r. 1143-1150)
When Yelü Dashi died, his wife and paternal cousin, Xiao Tabuyan (1143-1150), became regent for their son. Tabuyan used the honorific titles of empress Gantian, Gurkhan, and Dashi. Her successors retained the titles of Gurkhan and Dashi. While the History of Liao states that Tabuyan was merely a regent, Muslim sources state that she held unlimited power over the realm as is implied by her titles.
Taking advantage of Dashi's death, the Oghuz invaded Bukhara but were likely driven off sometime before 1152, when they were located in Khuttal and Balkh. In 1143, the Seljuk sultan Ahmad Sanjar attacked Khwarazm and occupied Khorasan. Although Atsiz once again became a Seljuk subject, in practice he continued to pay tribute to the Qara Khitai. According to Ibn al-Athir, Atsiz was only spared due to Sanjar's fear of the Khitans. Sanjar may have also wielded power in Transoxiana until his death, as implied by an 1148 coin minted in Bukhara. In 1144, Qocho offered tribute to the Jin. The Jin sent a messenger named Niange Hannu to the Qara Khitai. When he met Tabuyan in 1146, he refused to dismount in her presence and proclaimed that he had come from a superior court as an emissary of the Son of Heaven and demanded her to show obeisance to the Jin court. When he threatened that the Jin were ready to send an army to invade their lands, the empress executed him. His fate only became known to the Jin in 1175 as a result of deserters from the Qara Khitai.
Yelü Yilie (r. 1150-1163)
The son, Yelü Yilie, ruled from 1150 to 1163. The only known act he was involved in according to the History of Liao during his 13 year reign was taking a census of people over 18 years old. The result was 84,500 households in total. The small number, less than Samarkand's 100,000 households in the pre-Mongol era, was likely due to being geographically limited to only Balasagun and the surrounding area that the Khitans directly ruled. It is unknown if even the sedentary population was counted in the census.
During Yilie's reign, the Oghuz rebelled against Ahmad Sanjar in Khorasan. The Khitans were at least partly responsible for this due to displacing the Oghuz in Transoxiana and pushing them into Balkh, where they were heavily taxed by Sanjar due to his losses at Qatwan. The Oghuz rebellion was caused by the governor of Balkh, Amir Qumach, who had enlisted Oghuz support against the Ghurids in 1152. However the Oghuz defected to the Ghurids, allowing them to temporarily occupy Balkh. After retaking the city, Qumach increased the tax burdens on the Oghuz. In 1153, the Oghuz killed a Seljuk tax collector and Qumach retaliated by attacking them. In the conflict that followed, Qumach and his sons were killed, and Sanjar was defeated and captured. The Oghuz plundered Khorasan, while Sanjar escaped captivity in 1156 but failed to restore his former authority. He died the following year.
There is no evidence that the Khitans were directly involved in the conflict of Khorasan, however the Turkic leaders all paid tribute to them to gain their favor during this time. The lack of Khitan involvement may be due to conflict with the Jin to the east. In 1156, a Jin army led by Po Longdun met with a Qara Khitan raiding group several hundred strong at Kedun. The Khitan force withdrew after negotiations. Khitans under Jin rule rebelled in 1161. One of the rebel leaders, Saba, planned to defect to the Qara Khitai, but was killed by another Khitan leader, Yelü Wowo, who proclaimed himself the new Khitan emperor. Wowo was killed by the Jurchens in 1163.