Naimans
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Naimans, also Naiman Turks[1][2] or Naiman Mongols[3], (Mongolian: naiman, "eight"[4], Kazakh: Найман) was a Mongolian name given to a group of people dwelling on the steppe of Central Asia, having diplomatic relations with the Kara-Khitai, and subservient to them until 1177. The Naimans are most often classified as a Turkic people from Sekiz Oghuz (means 'Eight Oghuz' in Turkic),[5][6][7][8] but there are also sources that count them as Mongols.[8] Like the Khitai, many of them were Nestorian Christians.
More than 400,000 of the Kazakh population are Naimans (see Modern Kazakh tribes or Middle Juz). They originate from eastern Kazakhstan. Some Naimans dissimilated with the Kyrgyz and Uzbek ethnicities.
There is a small population of Naimans in Afghanistan. They belong to the Hazara tribe and reside in a small village called Naiman. They are Sunni Muslims.
The following map shows the approximate location of the Naimans at about the year 1200, before the Mongol unification by Genghis Khan.
[edit] Religion
By the time they were conquered by Genghis Khan most of the Naimans were Christians. They remained so after the Mongol conquest and were among the second wave of Christians to enter China with Kublai Khan.[9]
[edit] See also
Other pre-Genghis Mongolian tribes include
[edit] References
- ^ Runciman, Steven (1987). A History of the Crusades (in English). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-5213-4770-9. Retrieved on 2008-03-16.
- ^ Gibbon, Edward (1920). The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (in English). Methuen Publishing. Retrieved on 2008-03-16.
- ^ Mongolia
- ^ Janhunen, Juha (2003). The Mongolic Languages (in English). Routledge. ISBN 978-0-7007-1133-8. Retrieved on 2008-03-16.
- ^ Ratchnevsky, Paul. "Genghis Khan: His Life and Legacy". 2000, pp.1-4.
- ^ Roemer, Hans Robert; Scharlipp, Wolfgang-Ekkehard (2000). History of the Turkic Peoples in the Pre-Islamic Period (in English). Klaus Schwarz Verlag. ISBN 3879972834. Retrieved on 2008-03-16.
- ^ Halsey, William Darrach; Friedman, Emanuel (1984). Collier's Encyclopedia: With Bibliography and Index (in English). P. F. Collier. Retrieved on 2008-03-16.
- ^ a b Czaplicka, Marie Antoinette (2001). The Turks of Central Asia in History and at the Present Day (in English). Adamant Media Corporation. ISBN 978-1402163326. Retrieved on 2008-03-16.
- ^ Cary-Elwes, Columba. China and the Cross. (New York: P. J. Kenedy and Sons, 1956) p. 37
