Dulu Turks
From Kazakhstan Encyclopedia
The Dulu Turks (c603-651 as a minimum) (also Tu-Lu, Tulo, Dulo and other spellings) were a tribal confederation in the Western Turkic Khaganate (c581-659). The Turgesh Khaganate (699-766) may have been founded by Dulu remnants. A relation to the Dulo clan of the Bulgars is possible but not proven.
They lived between Lake Balkash and the Tian Shan Mountains. Their western neighbor was the Nushibi confederation which extended west to the Syr Darya and southward. The boundary between the two was around the Ili River and the Chu River, that is, near a line running south from the southwest corner of Lake Balkash. The Nushibi had connections southwest with the literate Sogdian merchants. The Dulu were probably more pastoral. Rivers running down from the Tianshan supported agriculture and towns and thus a natural caravan route. The Dulu presumably taxed these people. The West Turkic Khagans had a sort of capital at Suyab near the Dulu-Nushibi boundary.
The Western Turks were also called the Onoq or 'ten arrows', that is 'ten tribes', possibly five for the Dulu and five for the Nushibi. There is confusion, or possibly connection, with the earlier Onogurs which also means 'ten tribes'.
From at least the time of Heshana Khagan (603) new Khagans were usually supported by either the Dulu or Nushibi faction. In 638 there was an ill-documented Ili River Treaty that separated the two factions along the Ili River.
References
- Yuri Bregel, Historical Atlas of Central Asia, 2003, maps 7 and 8, with text.
