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{{refimprove|date=August 2011}}
{{Infobox Former Country
|common_name  = Kangar Union
|native_name  = Kangar Odagy
|continent    = Asia
|region       = Central Asia
|status       = Federation
|capital      = located in Ulutau mountains
|common_languages = [[Old Turkic language|Old Turkic]]
|year_start   = 659
|year_end     = 750
|p1           = Turkic Khaganate
|flag_p1      =
|s1           = Western Turkic Khaganate
|s2           = Kimak Khanate
|s3           = Western Kangar State
|s4           = Oghuz Yabgu State
|image_map    = AD 659KangarUnion.png
|image_map_caption = Kangar Union after fall of Western Turkic Khaganate, 659-750
|image_flag   =
|religion     = [[Tengriism]]
|currency     =
|legislature  = [[Kurultai]] ''(Qurultay)''
|title_leader = [[Khan (title)]]
|leader1      =
|year_leader1 =
|leader2      =
|year_leader2 =
|stat_year1   =
|stat_area1   = 5000000
}}
{{History of the Turkic peoples}}
{{History of Kazakhstan}}

'''Kangar union, {{lang-kk | Қaңғar Odaғy }}''' (''Kanghar Odaghü'') was a [[Turkic people|Turkic]] state in the territory of the entire modern [[Kazakhstan]] without [[Zhetysu]]. The ethnic name Kangar is a medieval name for the [[Kankalis|Kangly]] people, who are now part of the [[Kazakhs|Kazakh]], [[Uzbeks|Uzbek]],<ref>Tolstoi V.P. ''Origin of the Karakalpak people''//KSIE, Moscow, 1947. p.75</ref> and [[Karakalpaks|Karakalpak]] nations. The '''Kangly''' ('''Qangly''', '''Kang''', '''Kangar''', '''Kengeres''', '''Kangdy''', '''Kangarlyk''', '''Kankalis''') were a Turkic tribe known from the 2nd century BCE to past the 12th century CE. The [[Pechenegs|Western Branch of Kangars]] after a defeat from [[Kypchaks]] of the [[Kimek Khanate|Kimek Kaganate]] attacked and defeated the [[Bulgars]], establishing the Kangar state in Eastern Europe (840-990 CE). The capital of the Kangar union was located in the Ulytau mountains.

== Etymology ==
A modern interpretation of the etymology is that ethnonym ''Kangar'' consists of two roots, ''Kang/Kang'' (''Qang/Qang''), a Turkic for "father, primogenitor", and ''ar'' "people, men",'''Kanger'''.<ref>M.Zakiev, ''Origin of Türks and Tatars'', p.361, Moscow, "Insan", 2002, ISBN 5-85840-317-4</ref> An alternate etymology is that the word ''kangly'' in Old Turkic meant "wagon, vehicle", and is homonymous with the name of the Kangly tribe.

'''Kengeres'''' of the [[Orkhon inscriptions]] were known in the Islamic world and in the west as [[Bajanaks]] (Lat. ''[[Pechenegs|Besenyo]]'',  Turcic ''Pechenek'', ''[[Pechenegs]]'') whose self-designation was Kangar.<ref>P.Golubovsky, ''Pechenegs, Torks, and Polovetses before Tatar invasion'', SPb, 1884. p.55, in L.Gumilev, ''Ancient Türks'', [http://gumilevica.kulichki.net/OT/ot20.htm Ch.20] (In Russian)</ref> [[Constantine Porphyrogenitus]] wrote that "Kangar" meant nobleness and bravery.<ref>Constantine Porphyrogenitus, ''[[De Administrando Imperio]]''</ref>

== Independence ==
After the capture of [[Zhetysu]] by the [[Tang Empire|Chinese]], Kangars become independent from the [[Göktürks|Turkic Kaganate]]. They repulsed Chinese from the southern [[Kazakhstan]] and [[Syr Darya]] cities. The Syr Darya cities retained their autonomy. The [[Oghuz Turks|Oguzes]] in the southern [[Kazakhstan]], [[Kimek Khanate|Kimaks]] in the [[Irtysh River]] valley, [[Cumans]] in Mugodjar, and [[Kypchaks]] in the northern Kazakhstan became the vassals of the Kangar union.

At the end of the 7th century the Syr Darya cities rebelled and formed an alliance with the [[Sogdiana]]. The revolt was successful, but the [[Moslem]] [[Arab]] armies attacked Sogdiana from the south. The revolt has waned, and Kangars consented to the continued autonomy of the Syr Darya cities.

== Fall of the Union ==
At the beginning of the 8th century the [[Oghuz Turks|Oghuz]] confederation and the city of [[Tashkent]] seceded from the Kangar union. The Arabs continued raiding [[Sygnakh]], [[Khojent]] (Jend, Jent), [[Iași]], and other rich Kangar cities.

After the [[Arabs]] captured [[Sogdiana]], they attacked the Kangar cities along the Syr Darya. The [[Arabs]] captured the southern [[Kazakhstan]], and the [[Oghuz Yabgu State|Oguz confederation]] took control over the other Kangar cities along the Syr Darya. The Oguzes formed an alliance with the [[Kimek Khanate|Kimak Kaganate]]. The Kangar Union dissolved. The western branch of the Kangars, known in the west under the name of their allied tribe of [[Pechenegs]], captured the lands of the [[Khazars|Khazar Kaganate]], and created a Kangar successor state in the Eastern Europe.

==Kangar migration and  North Pontic Kangar state==
{{Unreferenced section|date=September 2016}}
A mass migration of the Oghuz tribes in the middle of the 8th c. displaced population of the [[Kangar Union]] on the eastern borders of the Khazar Kaganate, forcing it to move into Khazarian territories.  At first, [[Kangar people|Kangars]] settled in the territory between [[Yaik]]-[[Emba River|Emba]] ''(Geeh)'' and [[Itil (river)|Itil]] ''(Volga)'' rivers, then they advanced into the Khazar domain territories. The forceful influx of Kangars and their allied tribes seriously impacted Khazar populations with destruction of settlements and population, and the population mass escape to safer areas to the north and south, and the [[Magyars]] of Lebedia to the west. The Kangar tribal Union, better known in Europe as [[Pechenegs]] under a Slavic name of their subject allies, occupied a large swath of Khazaria extending from [[Don River (Russia)|Don]] in the east to [[Pannonia]] in the west. Between the rivers Yaik and Emba, they controlled the Khazar trading route from Itil to Khorezm, dealing a hard blow to the Khazarian trade. The North Pontic Kangar state eventually established coexistent with Khazaria, while dominating North Pontic area of Khazaria from ca. 750 to ca. 900. [[Constantine Porphyrogenitus]] named three Kangar tribes ''(Chor (Charvat), Ertim, Yula)'', and four Bechen tribes ''(Kapan, Karabai, Kulbei, Tolmach)'', and their respective locations. [[Gardizi]] (ca. 1050) reported on the situation around 950: "Bechens are nomads following rain and pasturage. Their territory extends a distance of thirty days in either direction ''(i.e. about 1,000x1,000 km)'', bordering Kipchaks in the north, Khazars on southwest, Oguz in the east, and Saqlabs ''(bilad as-Saqaliba, Bulgars)'' to the west. All these peoples raid Bechens, who likewise raid them...". At the end, Kangars were displaced further west by the migration of the [[Kipchaks|Kipchak]] tribes, who ca. 990 embarked on a massive migration into the E.Europe, supplanting Kangars-Bosnyaks in the east of the Kangar North Pontic state.

== See also ==
* [[Western Kangars]]
* [[Kangju]]
* [[Great jüz|Senior Juz]]
* [[Turkic peoples]]
* [[Timeline of Turks (500-1300)]]
* [[List of Turkic dynasties and countries]]

== Notes ==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* Gumilev L.N., ''History of Hun People'', Moscow, 'Science', (In Russian) [http://gumilevica.kulichki.net/HPH/hph11.htm Ch.11].
* Kadyrbaev A.Sh. ''Chinese sources of Mongolian epoch about foreign political relations of Kazakhstan Türkic nomads (Kypchaks-Kangly) with peoples of Central Asia and Far East''//Society and state in China. Moscow, 1982, (In Russian)
* Zuev Yu.A., ''Early Turks: Essays on history and ideology'', Almaty, Daik-Press, 2002, (In Russian), {{Listed Invalid ISBN|9985-4-4152-9}}

== External links ==
* [http://history1997.forum24.ru/?1-15-0-00000011-000-0-0-1221844706 State Kang-kü/Kangju (Kangar) in the history of Kazakhstan]

{{Turkic topics}}
{{Kazakhstan topics}}

{{coord missing}}

[[Category:Turkic states]]
[[Category:Historical Turkic states]]
[[Category:History of the Turkic peoples]]
[[Category:History of Kazakhstan]]
[[Category:History of Uzbekistan]]
[[Category:Turkic dynasties]]
[[Category:Nomads of the Eurasian steppe]]
[[Category:Nomadic groups in Eurasia]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Asia]]