The Kyrgyz and Uighurs are known to be the oldest peoples of Central Asia, still living in this region.
At the same time, the first mention of the Kyrgyz is by the Chinese historian Sima Qian, who wrote that in 201 BC, the Xiongnu subjugated the Geogun state.
Subsequently, the Chinese called the Kyrgyz by the ethnonym Geogun. The ethnonym of the Kyrgyz, Hagas, was also widespread.
Sima Qian (born in 145[1] or about 135 BC, died about 86 BC) was a hereditary historiographer of the Han Dynasty, writer, astronomer. He is known as the creator of Shi Ji, a grandiose work describing the history of China from the mythical ancestors to the modern Sima Qian times.
The Chinese placed the Kyrgyz north of the Usuns (Issyk-Kul), west of the Hunnu (Mongolia) and south of the Dinlin. That is, in the upper reaches of the Yenisei — the Minusinsk basin.
The Kyrgyz actively mixed with the Caucasoid Dinlins, which brought them a European touch in the form of red hair and whiteness.
The Kyrgyz language was Turkic.
In the sixth century, the Kyrgyz became part of the Turkic Khaganate (not voluntarily). After its collapse, they joined the Dulu tribal union, which was nominally subordinate to the Chinese Tang Dynasty.
A postage stamp of Kyrgyzstan dedicated to the «Kyrgyz Khaganate». 2013
The supreme ruler of the Kyrgyz people bore the title of Eltiber. This was below the rank of Kagan, but in the end, having strengthened, the Kyrgyz Eltiber began to rule at first in the Eastern Turkic Kaganate.
But in 711, the Turks, crossing the Sayan Mountains, defeated the Kyrgyz and they became an ordinary Turkic tribe for a while. In 750, the already strengthened Uighurs conquered the Kyrgyz.
However, in 840, the proud Kyrgyz rebelled again and defeated the Uighur Khaganate, setting fire to its capital on the site of modern Mongolian Ulaanbaatar. The Uighurs partially submitted, some migrated to the Tarim River basin, where they mixed with the local population and formed modern Uighurs.
The political map of the Kyrgyz Khaganate
The Kyrgyz have established peaceful relations with all their neighbors — the Kimaks, the Arab Caliphate, and China. They created their own writing system, which incorporated the ancient Turkic Runic script. The Kyrgyz were excellent blacksmiths, for whose iron products they came from distant Baghdad, excellent farmers who grew millet.
The Kyrgyz could field an army of 70 thousand horsemen. The Kyrgyz, despite their peacefulness, were excellent warriors who were hired as mercenaries (the Kyrgyz state itself did not wage wars) all over Eurasia. Kyrgyz warriors even participated as hired warriors in the wars of the Bulgars with the Mongols at the beginning of the XIII century.
The power of the Kyrgyz ended with the great drought that struck the Great Steppe in the middle of the 10th century. Then the Kyrgyz had to leave for their native Minusinsk valley, and in their place came the forest tribes — the ancestors of the Mongols.
At the same time, some of the Kyrgyz left for the Tien Shan at that time, where they mixed with other Turkic tribes and formed the ethnos of modern Kyrgyz.
This is how the history of the great Kyrgyz khaganate ended — the only peaceful Turkic state that became a model of statehood for subsequent nomadic associations.