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Kara-Khitai / Western Liao

Kara-Khitai existed as a great empire in Central Asia during the latter two-thirds of the 13th century. The word Khitan (or Khitai) is the source of Cathay, the name for North China in medieval Europe (as reported by Marco Polo), and of Kitai, the Russian name for China.

After the fall of the Tang dynasty five petty lines followed one another on the throne of Kai fong fu in the course of five decades. On the ruins of these dynasties in 960 the house of Sung united nearly all China. This house made war on the Kitans, but failed to win back the districts previously ceded to them, and in 1004, because of hostile action by the Kitans, the Sung Emperor, to gain peace, engaged to pay an annual tribute both in silk and silver. The Kitan Empire lasted two centuries and assumed in its functions Chinese forms, at least externally, but Chinese methods made it feeble.

The empire which held the dominant position at the accession of Jingis was that of Kara Khitai, a short-lived, but also an important power, which held sway with more or less authority from the Caspian to the borders of China, and thus formed in some measure a model, upon which the later Mongol Empire was framed, assisting, also, very considerably in its formation, since, when it fell, a large, disciplined and compact territory was added to it.

Kara-khitai is the name applied by the Mohammedan, and other western authors of the 13th century, to a people originating from eastern Asia, who in the beginning of the 11th century, after an audacious expedition westward, subjugated the territories of central Asia, and penetrated even to Transoxiana. For nearly a century the Kara-khitai maintained their power in Turkistan, until their empire was destroyed by Chinghiz khan, who, after having subdued the Tartar tribes in Mongolia, and made several irruptions into China and the Tangut empire, directed his armies towards the west; and there it was next the turn of the Kara-khitai — whose dominions then bordered upon the expanding empire of the conqueror—to experience the invincibleness of his arms. The Kara-khitai in the 12th century had caused much trouble in the Mohammedan countries.

It is needless to say that the name of Kara-khitai was not invented in western Asia; it seems to be of Turkish or Mongol origin; for kara means "black" in both languages, and khitai is intended for K'itan, a people whose original seats were in southern Manchuria, and who in the 10th and 11th centuries were in possession of the northern part of China. Their dynasty in the Chinese annals is called Liao; and as the founder of the dynasty of the Kara-khitai was a prince of the Liao, the Kara-khitai are always called Si Liao or Western Liao by Chinese authors; the other name being unknown to them. The ancient Mongol records style this people Karakitat; which is the plural form of Karakita. The reason why in the middle ages the Western Liao of the Chinese were termed Black Kitan by other Asiatic nations is unknown.

Kara Khitai, or Black Khitai, is a correlative term to Khitai, and the empire was so named because it was founded by a member of the Imperial family of the Liau or Khitan dynasty, who escaped from China when that dynasty was overthrown by the Kin or Golden Tatars. The term Black was applied to it by the Muhammedan historians, either because of its inferior and secondary position to Khitai proper (in the same way that they speak of Kara Kirghises, etc.), or because the Kara Khitai were Kaffirs or infidels.

The founder of the empire, according to the Chinese narrative, which on such a point is very conclusive, was Yelu Taishi. Yelu was the family name of the Liau Imperial family, borne apparently by all its members. Taishi is assuredly the Mongol title, Taishi meaning lord or grandee. Among the Persian writers he was known by a slightly different name. One of the copies of Raschid at Paris, according to Klaproth, calls him Nushi thaifu, another Nushi thalfun or thaifun; the Kazan edition of Abulghazi calls him Nusi Thaifda, the Berlin MS. of the same author calls him Nusi thaifdan; while the two translations of the same author call him Nusi taigir ili.

In 1122 Yelu yen hi, the Liau Emperor, who was a frivolous person, being hard pressed by the Kin Tatars, abandoned the province of Yen, i.e. Peking, and fled with the Imperial seal to the district of Yun chong. Several of the grandees of the empire upon this met together and elected Yelu chun in his place. Yelu chun gave Yelu Taishi charge of the war department. Visdelou says he was named viceroy and generalissimo. And the same year, in conjunction with Siu warhe defeated a vast army of the Kin Tatars who had invaded the empire. Almost directly after this Telu chun died, and his widow Siao ti was declared regent. She was soon attacked in her capital by the Kin Tatars, and forced to fly. She escaped to the Emperor who had fled, i.e. to Telu yen hi, who put her to death. This Emperor had apparently fled to the Inshan mountains, where he was pursued by the Kin generals, who captured Yelu Taishi at the fortress of Kiu yong koan; and soon after they captured the Imperial camp, with the harem, etc., etc., and more than 10,000 carts filled with valuables, etc. The Liau Emperor fell ill, and died.

The deputies of these various tribes having assembled together raised Yelu Taishi an army of picked horsemen which numbered 10,000 men, and which Yelu Taishi distributed into companies and regiments, giving it officers and arms. In 1125, on the day of the second month called Kia u, Yelu Taishi sacrificed a black calf and a white horse to the sky, the earth, and his ancestors, and having ranged his army in order of battle, set out. They arrived in the country of Hui ho, took possession of the land, and founded an empire.

The Kara Khitais, having increased very much, rebelled against the authority of Sultan Sanjar, and fought a battle against him. The Sultan's forces, from a long period of inaction, and from being enervated by protracted ease and luxury, were unable to cope with or stand before the enemy, and were overthrown. Among the prisoners captured was Turkan Khatun, who was the Malikah i Jahan (Queen of the Universe), and consort of Sultan Sanjar, the Malek of Nimruz, and many other great men. Sanjar himself retreated to Termez, while the Kara Khitai overran Maver al Nahar, slaying, devastating, and making the people captive, and killing many great men.

Though the Gur Khan himself is not described as having extended his conquests into Persia, the shah of Kharezm followed up the victory by invading Khorasan and plundering the cities and treasuries of Sanjar. In this event—the defeat of Sanjar, whose brother's son, Mas'ud, reigned over western Persia—occurring four years before the story of the Eastern conqueror was told at Rome to Bishop Otto, we seem to have the destruction of the Samiardi fratres or Sanjar brothers, which was the germ of the story of Prester John.

The ruler of Kara Khitai adopted the title of Gur Khan (which was after the great battle) in the year 525 of the Hejra (i.e. in 1129). He was proclaimed emperor when he was thirty-eight years of age, and he took the Tatar title of Gur Khan, a title of which the great Timur himself was so proud, and which is found on his coins, the legend on them reading thus: "Emir Timur Gur Khan." According to some, this title designated in Central Asia, where it was native, those independent Princes who were allied by marriage with the Emperors of China, and is, therefore, equivalent to son-in-law, and hereditary in the dynasty of Kara Khitai. Rashid says, it means the honored Emperor; Abulghazi, Great Emperor. The Manchu history of the Liau dynasty states that, in the language of the people who lived north of the Shamo desert, it was the honorary title of the Emperor. Besides the title of Gur Khan, which was given him by his followers, he also took the Chinese one of Thien yeou wangti, i.e. Emperor aided by the sky, and gave the years of his reign the title of Yen king, that is to say, extended felicity. The Gur Khan died in the year 1136.

Yelu Taishi fills a notable place in Asiatic history, and may be ranked among the fortunate conquerors of the world's history. In a very short time he succeeded in founding an empire which stretched from the borders of China to those of the Caspian, and by consolidating and welding together the many small Turkish communities of Central Asia, greatly facilitated the course of Jingis Khan, whose predecessor in the Empire of Asia he may well claim to have been.

The valleys of the Chu and the Lower Hi and the vast plains that border the Balkhash on the south-west seem to have been the principal camping ground of the Kara Khitai. Their empire extended southwards to the Oxus; but the part between that river and the Jaxartes, Transoxiana in fact, was really an appanage ruled, immediately, by the dispossessed Khan of Turkestan, who had his seat of empire at Samarkand. North of the Jaxartes, their country extended to the Alakul lake and the valley of the Emil. It was probably bounded on the west by the Sea of Balkhash and the Steppe of Karakorum, and on the east by the Alatau range, beyond which were the dependent Khanats of Almaligh and Bishbaligh. On the north they were bordered by the Naimans and Kazaks, and on the west by the Kankalis. The capital of Kara Khitai is otherwise known as Balasaghun, which merely means "the city." The site of Balasaghun has been much debated.

Yelu Taishi left a son named Yili, but he was too young to undertake the government, and Yelu Taishi nominated his Empress as regent. Her name was Ta hu yen, and she bore the title of Kan thien hoam heou, i.e. the Empress who propitiates the sky. She gave the name of Hien tsin (i.e. complete purity) to the years of her reign. She reigned for seven years, after which, namely, in 1142 or 1143, her son Yelu Yili mounted the throne. He had a census made of his people who were over eighteen years old, and there were found to be 84,500 families paying tribute, without counting the officials, literati or soldiers. He gave the years of his reign the honorary name of Chao hin, or continued exaltation, and died after a reign of thirteen years. This was in 1155 or 1156, and his posthumous title was Gin tsun, or the venerable charitable one. By other accounts, Yelü Yiliu, died in 1163, but in any event he was succeeded by his sister, Yelü Pusuwan.

The Empress Pusuwan reigned fourteen years (r. 1164-77). She was succeeded by Chikulu, the second son of Yelu Yili. He gave the years of his reign the name of Tien hii (i.e. celestial happiness). The Gur Khan Chikulu was a frivolous person, chiefly occupied in hunting, and at his Court he was rapidly losing his authority, while the sun of the great Asiatic conqueror Jingis Khan was as rapidly rising. This great conqueror in the space of six years overran the entire country from Azerbijan on the west to tho Indus on the east, and from the steppes of Kinchak on the north to Set'stan on the south, laying waste and butchering with a ferocity which is said to have left its traces for centuries after. The destruction of the empire of the Kara-khitai by the Mongols was completed in 1218.

It is well known that when the dynasty of Kara Khitai was destroyed by Jingis Khan, it revived again on a smaller scale in the Persian province of Kerman, and continued there for some time.