Rise of the Khazar Khaganate
After the Western Turkic Khaganate broke up between 630 and 650, the Khazars built their own khaganate in the steppes between the Caucasus and the Volga; by about 670 they had subjugated the Bulgars of Old Great Bulgaria and become the dominant power of the Pontic–Caspian steppe.
- Date
- between 630 and 650 – c. 670start: exact date unknown: an interval is given; end: year known, approximate · duration: ≈ 30 years
- Place
- Steppes of the North Caucasus and the lower Volgaapproximate locationtoday: Dagestan, Kalmykia and Astrakhan Oblast, Russia · Eastern Europe
- Participants
- Khazar Khaganate
- Threads
- Eastern Europe and Rus’ before the Baptism (1st–10th c.)
- Also known as
- Khazaria; Pax Khazarica; Хазария
The Khazar ruling house may have come from the Ashina clan of the Turkic khagans, although this is disputed. Emerging as an independent power between 630 and 650, the Khazars fought the Arabs in the Caucasus (the first Arab–Khazar war, c. 642–652) and the Onogur-Bulgar union of Kubrat’s sons for mastery of the steppe. Around 670 the Bulgars were defeated: some submitted, Asparukh’s horde moved west across the Danube and founded the Bulgarian state there, and others went north to the Middle Volga.
For three centuries the “Pax Khazarica” protected trade between the Caspian, the Black Sea and the forest zone. According to the Primary Chronicle the Polans, Severians, Radimichs and Vyatichs paid tribute to the Khazars, and in the 9th century the Rus’ borrowed the Khazar title of khagan. The dates of the formation of the Khazar state are approximate and differ between authors.
Connections
Consequences
- Founding of the First Bulgarian Empirebetween 680 and 681 · Balkans and AnatoliaKhazar pressure broke up Kubrat’s Great Bulgaria and drove Asparuh’s Bulgars west
Related events
- Kyi, Shchek and Khoryv: the legendary founding of Kyivbetween 500 and 700 · Eastern Europethe chronicle says the Polans later paid tribute to the Khazars
- The Khazar rulers adopt Judaismbetween 740 and 861 · Eastern Europe
Adjacent events in the thread
- Avar campaign against the Antes602 · Eastern Europe
- Founding of Ladoga753 · Eastern Europe
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within 25 years of this event
Balkans and Anatolia
- First Arab siege of Constantinople674–678
- Founding of the First Bulgarian Empirebetween 680 and 681
- Avar–Persian siege of Constantinople29 June – 7 August 626
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Khazars
- Wikipedia (English): Arab–Khazar wars
- Wikipedia (Russian): Хазарский каганат
- Wikipedia (Russian): Арабо-хазарские войны
- Артамонов М. И. История хазар. — Л.: Изд-во Государственного Эрмитажа, 1962.
- Golden P. B., Ben-Shammai H., Róna-Tas A. (eds.) The World of the Khazars: New Perspectives. — Leiden: Brill, 2007.