Study of ethnogeny and ethnic history of the Uzbek people

Study of ethnogeny and ethnic history of the Uzbek people

It is generally known that the Uzbek nationality has been formed on a complex ethnic basis. Apart from Central Asian ancient indigenous I tribes and peoples (Sogdians. Baktrians. Khorezmians, Ferganians, Saks, I Massagets, Tokhars, etc.) its genesis was also formed by a number of I other ancient and Early Middle Ages components (Usun. Kangls. Argyns. j Tyurgeshes, Kipchaks and others) belonging in the past to various I ethnic groups and tribal unions.
In general all the researchers came to a single opinion about I indisputable indigenous character of the main population of the Uzbek ; people. The ancient Central Asian peoples Khorezmians. Sogdians. I Massagets, and Saks were the ancestors of the present-day Uzbeks. I Tadjiks and Turmens.
In the national historiography it was also established that the ancestors J of Mavarounnakhr's local population long ago were closely connected I to each other and the process of its formation went on, to all appearances, I on a common ethnic basis. More than two thousand years ago due to intensive movement of the Turkic tribes from west to east a local ethnic I habitat had absorbed a large conglomerate of turkic-speaking tribes and groups. As a result approximately by the 10th - 12th centuries in the I territory of Central Asia a group of Turkic-speaking nationalities had J formed, one of which started to call itself the Uzbeks.
Investigations made by K. Shaniyazov occupy a central part in the I historiography of ethnogeny of the Uzbek people. In his monography « I About Ethnic History of the Uzbek People (Historical-ethnographic I investigation into materials on Kipchak component)* [T, 1974] the I author minutely considered and enlightened an origination, settling, J main ethnic historical stages of Kipchaks, the ways of their integration with the Uzbek people.
Field materials collected by survey and the results of personal I observations in the course of expedition works of 1961-1971 served I for K. Shaniyazov as the main resources of ethnographic investigations. I At the same time the author widely used many historical, archeological, I linguistic, anthropologic, folklore, and other literature.
K. Shaniyazov has shown that in the 10th-13th centuries the I Kipchaks played a significant role in political life of Eastern Europe.
Kazakhstan's steppes, and Central Asia. Their unions waged constant j wars conquering alien territories and providing their stock-raising I business with best pastures. The author earnestly proved that the raids made by nomads on neighboring tribes and peoples served as a means I of feudal nobility enrichment. Investigation data show that the ethnical « composition of the Kipchak unions of that time was quite plural. They included remains of some former ethnopolitical conglomerations (Pechenegs, Kangles, Kimaks, Oguzes, Uzy, and others), including I non-turkic associations (for instance, Ugro-Finish). Many of them I during 10th-12th centuries gradually merged with the Kipchaks or I turned to be under their domination.
The researcher validly shows that in the 10th-16th centuries there j two groups of Kipchaks participated in Uzbeks' ethnogeny: the east group (or Syrdarya group), which was in contact with the populations I of Mavarounnakhr and Khorezm even in 10th-11th centuries, and the j west group (or East-European), which entered the ethnic sphere of the ' Uzbeks at the end of 14th century, and partly in he 15th- 16th centuries I constituting, together with other tribal unions, the latest component of j the Uzbek people ethnogeny .
Analyzing available material K. Shaniyazov concludes that Kipchaks in the 19-th century and in the beginning of the 20th century presented j a conglomerate of particles from various genus, tribes, and tribal unions. ! Ancient and Middle Ages elements, belonging to different ethnic I communities, are traced in their composition.
Based on in-depth study into the ethnographic materials the author states that at the end of the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century the main mass of Kipchaks in Uzbekistan was that of settled peasants. The author is right noting that the process of ethnic consolidation was connected with economic activities of separate groups of the Uzbek people.
Frankly speaking, the K. Shaniyazov's monograph is not deprived of some drawbacks and omissions. Thus, the author illustrated evenly deeply and fundamentally not all sides of social and family relations of Kipchaks. Too little is devoted to pre-Islamic beliefs.
Next to nothing is mentioned about traditional men's fellowships, recurrent meetings (Takuma, jury, gap, yogi, etc).
Another Monographic work by K. Shaniyazov is «Uzbeks-Karluks: historical-ethnographic essay « [Т.1964]. The author had profoundly investigated the history of Karluks using for this purpose a great number of recourses containing information about Karluks and he has shown that this people played a considerable role in the history of Central Asia. K. Shaniyazov demonstrates that the Karakul tribes used to settle over Ferghana and other region of Central Asia, they inhabited Tokharistan and next to it areas. As the author correctly shows «Karluks in the 10th century possessed not only Tokharistan but large territories in the north-
j east of present Afghanistan; Z the regions of Karluks' encampments were spread as far as northern and north-west parts of India - Kashmir and Peshawar. It is impossible not to agree with the author's affirmation that in new regions the alien population would mix with the settled aborigines adopting ancient culture of North India.
In the article «About the role of Karakul's component in ethnogeny of the Uzbek people» K. Shaniyazov writes: «Karluks played an essential role in the ethnogeny of the Uzbek people, the formation of which was completed in the first half of the 11th century; and further development of already formed Uzbek nation went on in the epoch of developed late feudalism».
The series of investigations into ethnogeny of the Uzbek people includes the book of M. Ermatov « Ethnogeny and formation of the ancestors of the Uzbek people* [Т.1968]. which may be called as «weighty» work for that times (1960 - 1970). In spite of the fact that the author had done a great deal in his work and truly indicated that ethnogeny has a deep history, at the same time M. Ermatov generally gives a confused and sometimes quite contradicted description of the processes of Uzbek people formation. Specifically, he mistakenly equates the issue of indigenous status of the people with eternity of its language.
M. Ermatov thought «an original ethnic element of the Uzbek people had been formed in extreme antiquity, in the period of primitive I slave-owing system. According to antique Persian-cuneiform sources (Zen-Avesta) and later sources, the first such ethnic elements were nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes of Central Asia. «. From the cited quotation it is clear that the author quite arbitrary combines the primitive society with the slave-owning system. Contrary to M. Ermatov's affirmation, the Persian-cuneiform writings in reality do not present the A vesta texts, i.e. the first written source about peoples of Central Asia and Eastern Iran.
Without exact references to information of ancient scientists the author alleges «Archeological, antique and Persian-Arabic sources confirm that man on the territory of Uzbekistan lived as far back as the ice age, in ancient quaternary time » However no such information is in the mentioned sources.
While speaking that «the Saks people was brave, adroit, courageous,f honest and steadfast « M. Ermatov suddenly makes the absolutely unpredictable and unfounded conclusion: « the above mentioned facts
J serve as the sign determining ethnical belonging of Saks people to the ancestors of Central Asian peoples, to the Uzbek people, in particular*.
M. Ermatov cites the message of Clavdiy Ellion that if a Sak wanted to get married; he had to go into wrestling with the girl. If he won. he became her husband, if failed - her slave. The author uses this fact as a proof that the Saks were Uzbeks" ancestors, who in ancientJ times also had a similar custom. Analogous traditions, however, existed
I within many other ancient peoples and. consequently such an «argumentation» of M. Ermatov is per se incorrect.
At the same time M. Ermatov contradicts to himself when he sometimes speaks about ethnic homogeneity of the people of Sogdiana,
and sometimes about its heterogeneity. He attributes the Syrdarya to Sogd but not to Bacteria, and he dates Teshiktash, Amankutan and Taliobarzu to the synchronous period. As a matter of fact the former two relate to paleolith and Talibarzu - to the first centuries A.D., that is, to the developed slave-owning society.
When affirming that Sogdians since olden days spoke Turkic, and when referring to V. Bartold's work «About the matter regarding Sogdian and Tekhar languages* [L., 1927J, the author distorts the sense
} of his words. Namely, V. Bartold writes that « Sogdians adopted the Persian language and became Tadjics; in Semirechye and, possibly, in other places they were thrusted on speaking Turkic*. M. Ermatov, omitting the second part of Bartold's citation, comes to conclusion on the basis of the first part: « in more ancient times a definite part of Sogdians was not Iranians and spoke no Persian but the ancient Turkic language*.
Just with same untidiness, if not to say arbitrary interpretation of I written sources. M. Ermatov cites the provisions of N. Bichurin.
Many extracts from works of different authors are very difficult to : be checked or they are untestable at all because some citations, mentioned j by M. Ermatov, are absent on the pages of original works. The names I of foreign scientists' works as a rule have been distorted and have j missed words.
As a whole M. Ermatov's work at present cannot be considered as J a well-prepared analysis that meet all up-to-date requirements.