The Uzbek Character Plan: Etymology Ancient history

The Uzbek Character
Plan:
1. Etymology
2. Ancient history

T he Uzbeks (Uzbek: Oʻzbek, Ўзбек, اوزبک, plural: Oʻzbeklar, Ўзбеклар, اوزبکلر) are a Turkic ethnic group native to the wider Central Asian region, being among the largest Turkic ethnic group in the area. They comprise the majority population of Uzbekistan, next to Kazakh and Karakalpak minorities, and are also found as a minority group in: Afghanistan, Pakistan Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Russia, and China.^[11] Uzbek diaspora communities also exist in Turkey, Saudi Arabia, United States, Ukraine, and other countries.

Etymology

The origin of the word Uzbek still remains disputed. One view holds that it is eponymously named after Oghuz Khagan, also known as Oghuz Beg, became the word Uzbek.^[14] Another theory states that the name means independent, genuine man, or the lord himself, from Öz (self) and the Turkic title Bek/Bey/Beg. A third theory holds that the variant Uz, of the word Uğuz, earlier Oğuz, united with the word Bek to form Uğuz-bek > Uz-bek, meaning "leader of an oguz".^[15]
The personal name "Uzbek" is found in Arabic and Persian historical writings. Historian Usama ibn Munqidh (died in 1188), describing the events in Iran under the Seljukids, notes that one of the leaders of Bursuk's troops in 1115-1116 was the "emir of the troops" Uzbek, the ruler of Mosul.^[16] According to Rashid ad-din, the last representative of the Oghuz dynasty of Ildegizids who ruled in Tabriz was Uzbek Muzaffar 1210–1225.^[17]
The name Uzbek seems to have become widely adopted as an ethnonym under the rule of Ozbeg Khan, who converted the Golden Horde to Islam.
Origins
Before the 5th century, what is today's Uzbekistan was part of Sogdia, Khwarazm, Bactria mainly inhabited by Sogdians, Bactrians, and Khwarazmians, all Indo-Iranian peoples. It was part of the Achaemenid Empire in the 6th-4th centuries BC and, by the 3rd century CE, part of Sasanian Empire.^[20]
From 5th to 6th century, what is today's Uzbekistan was part of the Hephthalite Empire. From 6th to 8th century, what is today's Uzbekistan was under the rule of Göktürk Khanate.
The Turkic component was part of the Kidarite tribes in the 5th century. The seal of the Kidarites, made in the 5th century in Samarkand, has a Bactrian inscription containing the title of the ruler: "Oglar Khun", of Turkic origin.^[21]
Since the entry of Central Asia into the Turkic Kaganate (6th century), the process of Turkicization has intensified. In subsequent centuries, the main ethnocultural process that took place on the territory of the Central Asian interfluve was the convergence and partial merging of the settled, Iranian-speaking and Turkic-speaking, with the nomadic, mainly Turkic-speaking population.^[22]
Turkic and Chinese migration into Central Asia occurred during the Chinese Tang Dynasty, and Chinese armies commanded by Turkic generals stationed in large parts of Central Asia. But Chinese influence ended with the An Lushan rebellion. During the 9th and 10th centuries, Transoxiana was ruled by the Persian Samanid Dynasty. From the 11th century on, Transoxania was under the rule of Turkic Kara-Khanid Khanate, their arrival in Transoxania signalled a definitive shift from Iranian to Turkic predominance in Central Asia. Kara-Khanid ruler Sultan Satuq Bughra Khan was the first Turkic ruler to convert to Islam, most people of Central Asia soon followed. In the 12th century, Transoxania was conquered by Qara Khitai (Western Liao), a sinicized Khitan dynasty, they brought to Central Asia the Chinese system of government. In the 13th century, Kara-Khanid Khanate was destroyed by the Turkic Khwarazmian dynasty, a former vassal of the Qara Khitai.
Although Turko-Mongol infiltration into Central Asia had started early,^[23] and the influence of the Turkic tribes was felt in Khwarazm before the campaigns of the Mongols, after the beginning of the Chingizid rule, bilingualism became more common.^[24] It is generally believed that these ancient Indo-European-speaking peoples were linguistically assimilated by smaller but dominant Turkic-speaking groups while the sedentary population finally adopted the Persian language, the traditional lingua franca of the eastern Islamic lands.^[25] The language-shift from Middle Iranian to Turkic and New Persian was predominantly the result of an elite dominance process.^[26][27] This process was dramatically boosted during the Mongol conquest when millions were either killed or pushed further south to the Pamir region. Peter B. Golden^[24] listed three basic ethnic elements contributing to the Uzbeks' ethnogenesis:

1. 
   the Turkicized, formerly Iranian-speaking sedentary Sarts, a composite population including both Iranians (Sakas, Sogdians, Khwarzamians, Kushano-Bactrians) and some Arab elements;
   
2. 
   the pre-Uzbek amalgam of nomadic Türk(î) or Chagatays, who consisted of Karluks, Yaghmas and other tribes of the Göktürks' khaganates, and later of the Karakhanid state, Oghuzes, the Kangly-Kipchaks (particularly in the western region) and many Turkicized Mongol tribes (Barlas, Jalayir, etc.), who entered Central Asia with the Mongol and Timurid conquests and invasions.
   
3. 
   The East Kipchak-speaking "Pure Uzbeks" (Taza Özbek).
   
4. 
   The modern Uzbek language is largely derived from the Chagatai language which gained prominence in the Timurid Empire. The position of Chagatai (and later Uzbek) was further strengthened after the fall of the Timurids and the rise of the Shaybanid Uzbek Khaqanate that finally shaped the Turkic language and identity of modern Uzbeks, while the unique grammatical^[28] and phonetical features of the Uzbek language as well as the modern Uzbek culture reflect the more ancient Iranian roots of the Uzbek people.^{[25][29][30][31]}
   
5.