µþ´¡³¢Ä€³§Ä€á¸ ű·, a town of Central Asia, in early Islamic times the main settlement of the region known as Yeti-su or Semirechye “the land of the seven rivers,” now coming mainly within the eastern part of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The exact site of BalÄsÄḡūn is uncertain. Barthold, followed by subsequent Soviet scholars, suggested that its site is modern Aq-peshin near Frunze on the northern edge of the Kirgiz SSR, whilst O. I. Smirnova places it 15 miles/24 km to the southwest of Toqmaq (see JovaynÄ«, tr. Boyle, I, p. 58 n. 21). The early Islamic sources clearly locate it in the valley of the ÄŒu river, but only MoqaddasÄ« (MaqdesÄ«), p. 275, gives any description of it; he calls ValÄsakÅ«n large, populous, and prosperous. It must have been a Sogdian foundation, and in MaḥmÅ«d KĚḡarÄ«’s time (second half of the 5th/11th century), Sogdian was still spoken there, together with Turkish; he states that the town also had the Turkish names of Quz-Ordu and Quz-Uluš (DÄ«vÄnloḡÄt al-Tork, tr. Besim Atalay, Ankara, 1939-41, I, pp. 30, 62, 64).
BalÄsÄḡūn is first mentioned by Muslim historians towards the end of the Samanid Amir Naá¹£r b. Aḥmad’s (q.v.) reign, i.e., ca. 330-31/942-43, when it was overrun by infidel Turks and its Muslim inhabitants (probably trading elements operating from there, since BalÄsÄḡūn at this time lay well outside the DÄr al-EslÄm) appealed to Bukhara for help (NeẓÄm-al-Molk, ³§Ä«Äå²õ²¹³Ù-²ÔÄå³¾²¹, chap. 46, ed. H. Darke, Tehran, 1340 Š./1961, pp. 290, 295, tr. idem, London, 1960, pp. 220, 224). These Turks were probably the Qarluq founders, some decades later, of the Qarakhanid tribal confederation, who, from a military base at BalÄsÄḡūn, succeeded to the Samanid heritage in Transoxania; both BalÄsÄḡūn and the nearby town in FarḡÄna of Ūzgand (Özgend) were to be important centers for the Qarakhanids, held by various members of the ruling family, such as Aḥmad ṬoḡÄn Khan b. HÄrÅ«n BoḡrÄ Khan, brother of Ê¿´¡±ôÄ«³Ù¾±²µ¾±²Ô, who was in 416/1025 driven out of BalÄsÄḡūn by his other brother and rival YÅ«sof Qadïr Khan of KĚḡar and Ḵotan (BayhaqÄ«, cited in Barthold, Turkestan3, pp. 285, 294), so that henceforth, it seems to have fallen within the eastern Qarakhanid khanate. It was still only just within the boundaries of Islamic lands, and Ebn al-Aṯīr, ed. Tornberg, IX, pp. 355-56, ed. Beirut, IX, 520, records in 435/1043-44 the conversion of 10,000 tents of Turkish nomads who spent the summer in BolḡÄr on the Volga and the winter around BalÄsÄḡūn, and who had been harrying the Muslims in BalÄsÄḡūn and KĚḡar. The region played a significant cultural role amongst the Qarakhanids. The lexicographer MaḥmÅ«d KĚḡarÄ« came from the nearby town of µþ²¹°ù²õḵÄn, and the Turkish language which he describes in his dictionary is essentially that of the local ÄŒegel, akin to the Qarluq; and YÅ«sof ḴÄṣṣ ḤÄjeb, author of the pioneer Turkish Mirror for Princes, the Qutaá¸gu bilig, was actually a native of BalÄsÄḡūn and presented his book to the Qarakhanid ruler of KĚḡar.
In 531/1137 the GÅ«r Khan of the Qara Khitays (q.v.) conquered BalÄsÄḡūn from the Qarakhanids and set up his army camp, the Ḵosun-ordu (lit., strong ordu) in the ÄŒu valley near the town (JovaynÄ«, tr. Boyle, I, p. 355; Barthold, Four Studies on the History of Central Asia, tr. V. and T. Minorsky, Leiden, 1962, I, pp. 102-03). In the fighting between the Qarakhanids and the ḴᵛÄrazmšÄh Sultan Ê¿AlÄʾ-al-DÄ«n Moḥammad (q.v.) in the opening years of the 7th/13th century, the GÅ«r Khan reconquered BalÄsÄḡūn with great slaughter in 607/1210, according to JovaynÄ« (tr. Boyle, I, p. 360; Barthold, Turkestan3, pp. 326, 367); but shortly afterwards, it passed into the hands of Jengiz Khan’s Mongols as they advanced against the NÄymÄn Mongol rival commander KüÄlüg, although the sources give no explicit details of the process (pace Barthold, ibid., p. 402, cf. Boyle, “BalÄsÄghÅ«n,” in EI2). Whether BalÄsÄḡūn was destroyed at this time or not, it certainly did not flourish under the Mongols, and it now disappears from historical mention.
Bibliography:
Given in the text. See also Le Strange, Lands, p. 487.
Ḥodud al-Ê¿Älam, tr. Minorsky, pp. 280, 291.
E. Bretschneider, Mediaeval Researches from Eastern Asiatic Sources, London, 1910, I, pp. 226-28.
Sir Henry Yule and H. Cordier, Cathay and the Way Thither, London, 1914-15, repr. Taipei, 1966, IV, pp. 163-64.
Search terms:
| &²Ô²ú²õ±è;بلاساغون | balasaghoun | balaasaaghoon | balasaghoon |
(C. E. Bosworth)
Originally Published: December 15, 1988
Last Updated: December 15, 1988
