The States of the Oghuz, the Kimek, and the Kipchak

The balance of power between the tribes of northern Central Asia was continually shifting, and throughout the Middle Ages, the movement of various peoples can be seen to have far-reaching political effects. The Oghuz was a Turkic tribe, migrating west in the eighth century, and occupying the steppes of the Aral Sea in alliance with other tribes. They became a powerful force in this region in the tenth and eleventh centuries. The Kimek tribe became prominent in the tenth and eleventh centuries, based in what is now Kazakhstan. They subjugated the Oghuz, and formed their own principality around the Aral Sea, with the Kipchaks emerging as a smaller western branch of this tribe.