The Kitan and the Kara Khitay

The Kitan were a tribe based in northern China who conserved their distinctive identity throughout the Middle Ages, despite absorption into several different states and empires.  They are documented from the fifth century, emerging to develop their own khanate between the tenth and twelfth centuries, before changing their name to the Kara Khitay. Their relationship with China and the surrounding tribes was complex; there were frequent military tensions with the Chinese empire, but substantial cultural similarities existed with the Uighurs and other northern Chinese tribes. The medieval name for China, Cathay, in fact stems from the word ‘Khitay’.