The Qara-Khitai, Part Two: Decline, 1143-1211

[@TheJackmeisterMongolHistory]

Part one, the Rise of the Qara-Khitai: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oWOVc4OFpc6bnrM Part way through working on this my laptop, the mutinous bastard that it is, froze, and restarting caused me to lose most of my work on this video. Ultimately I decided to re do it in two parts. In case some of my points became unclear in this video, feel free to ask and I will explain them better in the comments. The Qara-Khitai I find incredibly fascinating, and this small series provides an opprotunity to not just introduce them, but also provide more context on the Central Asian and Persian political scene on the eve of the Mongol invasion. Dr. Michal Biran has done some phenomenal work on the Qara-Khitai and other Central Asian polities. If you're interested in seeing more of her work, you can find links to pdf copies to her articles (and links to book availible on Amazon) here: mongol.huji.ac.il/publications/list-publication-michal-biran My next videos will hopefully be shorter. Originally this one was around 16 minutes before I split it in two, and that just takes too long to do. I do however, hope you enjoy these ones and learn something from them!

[@apache1434]

Very good set of videos, I've been researching the Kara-Khitai for awhile now out of fascination. When I initially found your channel a few weeks ago, the first thing I did was scour for a video involving the Kara-Khitai, seeing their influence in setting up the stage, so to speak, of Central Asia for Genghis's conquests. Thanks for a great upload!

[@TheJackmeisterMongolHistory]

Thank you, I am very glad you liked it. These have to be about the first actual videos about the Qara Khitai that have ever been put on KZbin, as far as I could tell from my searches (I found a few which were just the Wikipedia article read through an automated voice thing). It is a lot of fun, and a great privilege, to be able to bring this information to KZbin. After covering the Mongol Conquest of the Khitan territories, I hope to do another on the influence of the Liao/Qara Khitai on the Mongol Empire. A popular trend in historiography of the Mongol Empire some years ago was to basically attribute everything associated with the Mongol to originating with the Liao or Qara-Khitai. I would very much like to have a look at what the current viewpoints on this are, and what the actual influence was on the administration of the empire.

[@nazar5323]

Some quality stuff in here. Keep it up mate.

[@TheJackmeisterMongolHistory]

Thank you sir! I am glad my efforts are appreciated.

[@TheJackmeisterMongolHistory]

A Jackmeister double feature

[@SkyCaststeelNichijou]

This channel is the most promising history channel I’ve ever seen. Please set up a patreon I would love to support you in any way.

[@TheJackmeisterMongolHistory]

Sorry for the late response, I didn't see this until now. Thank you for the generous offer! I have been thinking about setting one up for some time now, and I will probably do so within the next few weeks (or at least before the end of year) just to at least get a feel for it.

[@Reader_curiosity]

The history of Central Asia and Asia's interior is beautiful, worth highlighting and revealing its mysteries. Qara Khitai from the remnants of the Liao dynasty migrated from Mongolia to Central Asia and defeated the Karakhani and took from the Balagasun as their capital. The breed maintained its Steppes/ Chinese culture and its Buddhist religion and quoted its political traditions and was not influenced by the Turkish / Persian Islamic civilization. Kyrgyzstan's Central Asian region, although it has an important location on the Silk Road, large agricultural areas and an important political center in the Middle Ages. But there is a great disregard for its civilization history and the lack of archaeological research.

[@uxaines8910]

there is a tribe called Kytai in Kyrgyz nation today

[@Willxdiana]

@@uxaines8910 I will find that tribe in bishkek. I will ask them if they are chinese

[@Willxdiana]

@@uxaines8910 khitay is still call china today

[@uxaines8910]

@@Willxdiana they will answer "No" khitans are mongolian nation, not chinese. Kyrgyz nation integrated many tribes of mongolian and turkic nations who lost their state, like Naimans, khitans who came to central asia with Yēlǜ Dàshí and found western Liao. And etc tribes who call themselves kyrgyz now.

[@uxaines8910]

@@Willxdiana it passed thousands years since they left east asia. and tribe is not in Bishkek, they're in Batken, they call themselves Kut-ai. And completely mixed with other turkic(kazakh,baskir, uzbek, kyrgyz), persian(tajik), kalmyks. Now they don't have anything that connects them with china. They are very fanatic muslims.

[@YY-ug9mv]

as always high quality video very informative

[@bulganavarzed7031]

Interesting! Thank you.

[@wnd9434]

Are they without honor?

[@Brandonhayhew]

Honor is the least of their worry

[@shockdrake]

Please show me a drawing of Yelu Yilie

[@ElBandito]

Mongolians pronounce the "ch" in Kuchlug as in the word chapter.

[@TheJackmeisterMongolHistory]

Thanks for letting me know: I've never heard Kuchlug said out loud by anyone else and couldn't find suggestions on how to say it properly. Further, there's at least half a dozen spelking variations I've found which make it a tough one to sound out: Kuchlug, Güchülüg, Quqluq, to name but a few.

[@Saikhnaaaaa]

The Jackmeister: Mongol History Mongolian here. In Modern Mongolian, at least, it's pronounced Khuchleg or Who-ch-leg. The "ch" sound being, as El Bandito correctly pointed out, the "ch" from "chapter". The "who" part has a rough stopping sound too. Think more of a surprised "who?" than an owl.

[@TheJackmeisterMongolHistory]

Saikhnaa Much appreciated, I will use the proper pronunciation in the next video. I wonder if, while we're on the topic of pronunciation, you could describe how Jebe is pronounced in Mongolia. I've seen it as 'Jay-bay' or 'Dzeeb,' but I am still uncertain over this.

[@Saikhnaaaaa]

The Jackmeister: Mongol History His name, in Modern Mongolian at least, is pronounced "Zev". The "Z" sound has no real equivalent in English because it's a much rougher, harsher version compared to "zoo" or "zone". Also his name means "rust" in Modern Mongolian supposedly because of the old arrowhead he used to pierce Chinggis Khaan's throat. If you want an audio file of how to pronounce Jebe's name, check here: vocaroo.com/i/s1BizcwxVnhz

[@ElBandito]

Kuchlug belonged to the Naiman tribe, and that tribe was a mix between Turks and Mongols. Scholars debate their true origins.

[@iraqimapper8625]

Why not one video ??

[@TheJackmeisterMongolHistory]

It was originally, but my computer froze during editing and lost most of my work aside from the audio. I split it in two after that as I thought it would be easier on my computer (and I wasn't sure if people would watch a whole 16 minute video on this relatively unknown topic). I decided to upload them together, in the end.

[@anjavinding5412]

I wonder what the world would be like today if the Qara Khitai was still here...

[@middleeastrenwarriormen1017]

Battle of Katwan the fall of Seljuk in Central Asia

[@liyawei]

It’s ok to pronounce xiao as siao

[@Nomadicenjoyer31]

The Qara Khitai are often referred to as " the infidel Turks ” ( kāfir al - Turk , al - Atrāk al - kuffār ) , or simply as Turks . Jūzjānī described several Shamsī mamluks of the Delhi sultanate as “ a Turk from the Qara Khitai , ” or a “ Khitan Turk ” ; 92 and in the fifteenth century even the Gürkhan of the Qara Khitai was said to be handsome Turk. Imād al - Dīn al - Isfahānī , a thirteenth - century historian of the Saljūqs , turning to the Mongols after he had recounted the expulsion of the Qara Khitai from Transoxania , described the former as “ another kind/race (jins) of the infidel Turks. Empire Qara Khitai Eurasian History: Between China and the Islamic World (Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization) [Paperback] Biran, Michal pp.143

[@DimitarFCBM]

They weren't turks at all

[@iraqimapper8625]

Your map of khwarazmian empire is wrong still good informative video well done

[@TheJackmeisterMongolHistory]

Oh dear, could you point out where exactly? I had some trouble with showing their growth here, as I could only find maps that showed the empire at its greatest extent late in Shah Muhammad's reign. Most of the maps I found for the Khwarezmians and Qara-Khitai were also quite inconsistent, as we don't know the exact borders.

[@iraqimapper8625]

2:42 Khwarzmia controled all of Iran but your map show the empire as central asia+north Iran

[@TheJackmeisterMongolHistory]

@@iraqimapper8625 you're right, it did come to control most of modern Iran, but not until late in the empire. Shah Muhammad expands the empire to control the rest of Iran in his reign (up to Iraq, and he has a disatrous march towards Baghdad through the Zagros mountains in 1217). I don't know the exact years when he incorporated the south though. I'm assuming after this video, as he was quite preoccupued with the Ghurids and the Qara-Khitai over this period (by 1215 he incorporates remaining Ghurid territories). The region of Khwarezm, from where the empire gains its name, is just south of the Aral Sea between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khwarazm

[@TheJackmeisterMongolHistory]

@@iraqimapper8625 this video is meant to show these empires up to 1211, and their borders will change quite a bit in the next one detailing from 1211-1218