The Kanly state was located in Southern Kazakhstan. Its capital was the city of Bitian, located in the middle reaches of the Syr Darya. In the Chinese chronicles dating back to the third century BC, there are references to the capital of the Kangli.
According to Chinese historians, the Kangli were distinguished by their musicality and love of dancing. They had two-stringed and five-stringed musical instruments, drums, reed pipes.
Thanks to the manuscripts «From the history of the Principality of Sui» we learn that King Zhu invited musicians and dancers from the country of Kangli to the wedding. The famous Chinese poet Bai Juyi, who lived in the eighth century, writes in his song «The Dancing Girl»: «The girl dancer twisted, looked to the right, to the left… A dancer from Kanli has arrived…». From these lines, it can be understood that there were close cultural ties between China and Kanli.
The highest-ranking rulers in the Kanli country were the Khan and his governor. In Chinese sources, the rulers of Kanla were called bi. In the annals of the Han dynasty, there is a record that the governor of Khan Kanli attacked the city of Shigu, killed thousands of people of the Great Kunbige and stole cattle. It follows from these materials that the Usuni and Kanli, although they were Turkic-speaking peoples, were at war with each other. And in the «History of the Kingdom of Jin» the name of Khan Kanli – Naibi is found. In the History of the Kingdom of Sui, the name of another khan of Kanla, Dashbi (Tas bi), is mentioned. It is reported that the khan had three viziers who ruled the state.
The Kanli state had a set of written laws, which was kept in the palace. According to these laws, all the descendants of criminals were killed, up to the seventh generation. Thieves had their hands chopped off. The country reached a special heyday after it subjugated the entire territory from Tashkent to Khorezm. At the end of the first century AD. The territory of the Kanli state expanded to Ferghana and Sogd. The Canles conquered the lands in the north up to the Caspian Sea. In terms of territory, population, and troops, Kanli was one of the largest states of its time.
The Kanly were the main tribe that formed the basis for the formation of the Kazakh people. The ethnonym «kanly» is known among Kazakhs, Karakalpaks, Kirghizs, Nogais, Crimean Tatars, Uzbeks. In Bashkiria, the Kanlov tribe occupied a vast territory and participated in the formation of the Bashkir people.
In the eighth and ninth centuries, the Pecheneg union of Turkic tribes was formed, in which the Kanlov tribe played a leading role. Displaced by the Oguzes in 898, the Pechenegs went west, driving the Magyars (Hungarians) from the interfluve of the Dniester and Dnieper. In 915, the Pechenegs first appeared in Russia.
In the forties of the tenth century, the Pechenegs participated in an alliance with the Russians in the war against Byzantium, which hastened to pay off with gold. In 964-965, the Pechenegs were in the army of Svyatoslav, but, having taken upon themselves the main blow of the Byzantines, they retreated. Harboring a grudge against the prince, the Pecheneg khan Kurya captured Svyatoslav on the Dnieper and ordered him to make a bowl out of his skull.
Since the beginning of the eleventh century, the Pechenegs have already been permanent allies of the Kievans and settled in Russia. In 1116, one of the Pecheneg groups was defeated on the Don by the Kipchaks and migrated to the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Byzantium. Their role in the political life of these States is enormous. Thus, the Hungarian Prince Tokson placed the city of Pest (present–day Budapest) under the control of the Pecheneg khan brothers.