The Kipchaks (Kipchaks, in Old Russian chronicles — Polovtsians, in European sources — Kumans) were a Turkic-speaking people, mainly engaged in nomadic cattle breeding and crafts. The ancestors of the Kipchaks, the Syrs, roamed in the 4th-7th centuries in the steppes between the Altai and the eastern Tien Shan and were mentioned in Chinese sources as the Seyanto people. The state formed by them in 630 was then destroyed by the union of the Chinese and Uighurs. The remnants of the tribe moved to the upper reaches of the Irtysh and the steppes of eastern Kazakhstan. In 10 c. lived on the territory of modern northwest Kazakhstan. In the conditions of the Khazar Khaganate collapse, a part of the Kipchaks began to cross the Volga River from the middle of the 10th century following the Guzes and the dissipation of the Kipchaks. In the conditions of the Khazar Kaganate disintegration, a part of the Kipchaks began to cross the Volga following the Huzes and to settle in the steppes of the Northern Black Sea region and the Caucasus. By the 1030s they occupied the steppe areas from the Irtysh to the Volga, and then — the Eastern European steppes.
The Oguz state fell under the blows of the Kipchaks. In the 11th century, the Kipchaks finally displaced the Oguzes from the banks of the Syr Darya and the Aral Sea.
From the 11th century, the vast area from the Danube to the western spurs of the Tien Shan was known as the Polovtsian Land (Desht-i Kipchak). In the 12th century, the bulk of the nomads of the Western Kipchaks were concentrated on the left bank of the Dnieper, along the banks of the Sivash, on the Donets and its tributaries. Their northern border almost closely approached the territory of Russia, the southern border ran along the shore of the Sea of Azov. From the middle of the 11th century the Kipchaks penetrated into the pre-Caucasian steppes, having expelled the Pechenegs from the Kuban region and modern Stavropol. Cuman khans established themselves on the Sunzha River. The so-called Derbent Kipchaks settled in Dagestan. Stone statues erected by Kipchaks («babas») are found in large numbers on the Lower Don, in the Dnieper region, Crimea, Azov, Podon, Volga and Pre-Caucasus.
The Kipchaks were at the stage of decomposition of the tribal system and formation of feudal society. They did not create a single state, but united in separate tribal unions headed by khans. In the 12th century cities with multinational population (Kipchaks, Alans, Bulgars, Russ) appeared in the Cuman land. Eastern Kipchaks maintained close ties with Central Asia, especially with Khorezm, where the Kipchak nobility formed part of the ruling elite. The Western Kipchaks were in contact with Russia, Byzantium, Hungary and Bulgaria.
Kipchaks possessed powerful for those times military forces. Their basis consisted of mobile light and heavy cavalry armed with bows, sabers, spears, helmets and light armor. Polovtsian detachments actively used the tactics of ambushes, swift and sudden horse raids, deep invasion into the rear of the enemy in order to encircle him. Being in defense, they surrounded their camps with wagons.
The first information about allied relations between Khorezm and Kypchak tribes is known from the end of XI century. Already during the reign of Khorezm Shahs Il-Arslan and his son Alaeddin Tekesh the main parts of the Khorezmian army were mercenaries from among the Kipchaks.
In 1054-1055 western Kipchaks for the first time appeared at borders of Pereyaslavl princedom and soon began big raids on Russia (1068, 1092, 1093, 1096), Hungary (1070, 1091, 1094) and Byzantium (1087, 1095). Often they allied with individual Russian princes and together with them attacked the possessions of their rivals. In turn, princes often allied with Cumans khans.
Their first raid on the Hungarian kingdom dates back to 1070, in 1087 the Kuns (Kumans of Byzantine sources) as part of the troops of the Hungarian king Sholomon take part in a campaign against Byzantium (Knyazky, 2000, p.121). Since 1091 their first groups settled in Hungary and further separate tribal associations of nomads continue with the permission of kings to settle in such a fertile country for nomads.
In 1103-1107 Svyatopolk Yaroslavich and Vladimir Monomakh during several big campaigns defeated the Dnieper Polovtsians.
Kipchaks left nomads in Pobuzhye. In 1109, 111 and 1116 Russian princes have broken Don Polovtsians. Khan Syrchan remained nomadic on Don.
The Kipchaks, who withdrew to the northern Caucasus and Georgia, destroyed Sarkel (Belaya Vezha) in 1117, forcing the inhabitants of the city, as well as the tribes of Pechenegs and Torks to go to Russia. In the northern Caucasus the Polovtsians pushed the Alans, Adygs and Vainakhs, but at the beginning of the 12th century the borders between them were stabilized along the Kuban, Lower Malka and Terek rivers. Reconciliation between Alans and Kipchaks was promoted in 1118 by the Georgian king David IV the Builder. Otrak went to his service and gave his daughter for the ruler of Georgia. The Georgian state used 40 thousand Cumans army for struggle against Seljuk Turks, and 5 thousand Kipchaks were included in personal guard of tsar. After Vladimir Monomakh’s death in 1125 Otrak and part of his horde returned to the Don at the invitation of Khan Syrchan, but many remained in Georgia. During the reign of Tsar George III (1152-1184) several tens of thousands more Kipchaks and Alans moved to Georgia.
The son of Vladimir Monomakh, prince Mstislav Vladimirovich pushed Polovetses behind Don, Volga and Yaik (Ural). Some decades western Kipchaks almost did not disturb Russia with raids. But in 1130-1150th Russian princes actively invited them to participate in their internecine wars. During this period stable Cuman hordes (Burchevichi, Toksobichi, etc.) were formed. In the second half of the 12th century, two large tribal unions were again formed: the Dnieper-Lukomorian (khans Toglyi, Izai, Osoluk, Kobyak) and the Don-Predcaucasian (headed by Otrak’s son Konchak). Since 1170th Kipchaks again began to make devastating raids on Russia and to attack the trade caravans going to Byzantium. In response Russian princes undertook new campaigns in the steppe. In 1184 they succeeded in defeating the Polovtsians and capturing Kobyak. However, the campaign of Novgorod-North prince Igor Svyatoslavlich against Konchak in 1185 was unsuccessful, and in 1185-1186 the khan attacked Kiev and Chernigov land.
By the middle of 1190th independent attacks of Kipchaks on Russia have stopped, but khans still participated in strife of Russian princes. In 1203 Konchak in alliance with prince Rurik Rostislavich has grasped and plundered Kiev.
On the eve of the Mongol invasion, the eastern Kipchaks literally flooded the country, forming in peacetime the basis of the army (for example, Terken Khanum had a 10,000-strong detachment of her tribesmen as her personal guards) and armed garrisons of many cities. Perhaps the Kipchak tribes related to the Khorezm Shah dynasty desperately resisted the Mongols, feeling their unenviable fate. The rest of the Kipchak tribes fled from Khorezm or went over to the side of the conquerors. In Desht-i Kipchak not all local tribes resisted the Mongols, although written sources do not give an accurate picture of the political situation in Desht-i Kipchak on the eve and during the Mongol invasion in 1218-1229. According to Ibn Khaldun, some East Kipchak tribes had long been related to the Mongol (Kiyat) aristocracy.
In 1223, when the Mongol expeditionary force of Djebe and Subatei invaded the northern Caucasus from the south, the Western Kipchaks refused to ally with the Alans and allowed the Mongols to massacre them, but then they themselves were defeated. After that Khan Kotyan, who roamed in the Black Sea steppes, appealed for help to Russian princes, but in the battle of Kalka the Russian-Polovtsian army was defeated.
In 1239, at the invitation of King Bela IV, Khan Kotyan (Koten, Kuten), known in many countries, including Russia, arrived and was solemnly welcomed by the king himself. But, having quarreled with the Hungarian magnates, the khan was killed by them in Pest, and his men went to Bulgaria, where the Cuman dynasty of Aseni origin ruled at that time.
However, the overwhelming majority of the Kipchaks became part of the Golden Horde. After the 14th century, the Kipchaks became part of the Tatars, Kazakhs, Bashkirs, Karachais, Kumyks and other peoples.