Barlas

For other uses, see Barlas (disambiguation).

Barlas برلاس Barulas
Constitutive tribes of the Khamag Mongol Confederations the Barlas were showing in 1207
Parent house	Kiyat Borjigin
Country	Mongol Empire Chagatai Khanate Transoxiana
Current region	Central Asia
Place of origin	Khamag Mongol Confederation
Founded	Early to Mid 12th-Centuries
Founder	In Mongolia: Qachuli Barlas In Transoxiana: Qarachar Barlas
Titles	Khan Sheikh Mirza Beg Shah Sardar Emir Ghazi Sultan
Traditions	Tengrism later Sunni Islam
Estate(s)	Kesh; Samarkand
Cadet branches	Timurid Dynasty Mughal Dynasty Muhammad Khwaja Tribe

The Barlas (Mongolian: Barulās;^[1] Chagatai Turkic/Persian: برلاس Barlās; also Berlās) were a Mongol^{[1][2][3][4][5]} tribe, which later became Turkified^[6][7] in Central Asia, forming a nomadic confederation. They were a sub-clan of the Kiyat-Borjigin,^[8][9] emerged within the Khamag Mongol confederation in present-day Mongolia in the early to mid-12th century,^[10] and traced their military roots to one of the elite regiments of the Mongol Empire’s Kheshig guard.^[11][12] The Barlas spawned as one imperial dynasties with two major empires in Asia: the Timurid Empire in Central Asia and Persia; and its later branch, the Mughal Empire in the Indian subcontinent.^[13][14]

History

Origins

Portrait of Timur, a member of the Barlas. Painted in 1405–1409.^[15]

According to the Secret History of the Mongols (written during the reign of Ögedei Khan [r. 1229–1241]) and historian Rashid al-Din Hamadani (1247–1318) who wrote the Jami' al-tawarikh,^[16] the Barlas shared ancestry with the Khiyad Borjigin,^[17][18][19] who were the descendents of Khaidu Khan. He also noted that the Barlas' relationship with the imperial Mongol ruling clan was through a common ancestry via Tumbinai Khan, who was both Timur and Genghis Khan's ancestor.^{[20][21][22][23]} Rashid al-Din Hamadani also traced the ancestry of the imperial clan of Genghis Khan and his successors, as well as other related Mongol clans. The progenitor of the Barlas clan is Qachuli, who founded the tribe in Khamag Mongol in Northern Mongolia;^{[24][25][26][27]} Qachuli was either the son of Tumanay Setsen or Tumbinai Khan (the chief of the Borjigin), as well as the twin brother of Qabul Khan, the founder and first ruler of the Khamag Mongol Confederations.^[28][29][30] Qachuli's great-grandson was Qarachar Barlas, a minister (Noyan) and military commander of a (Tumen) under Genghis Khan; during the Mongol Invasions of Central Asia, he migrated and established new settlements in the regions of Central asia and Transoxiana.^[31][32][33] Genghis Khan later assigned Qarachar to be a minister and governor (Darughachi) of Transoxiana under the command of Chagatai Khan.^{[34][35][36][37]}

The Barlas controlled the region of Kish (modern day Shahrisabz, Uzbekistan) and all of its lineages seem to have been associated with this region.^[38] In contrast to most neighboring tribes who remained nomadic, the Barlas were a sedentary due to there military and aristrocratic natures and status of tribe.^[39][40] Due to extensive contacts with the native population of Central Asia, the tribe had adopted the religion of Islam and leaving there forefathers Tengrism,^[7][41][42] and as they native Mongol speaker they adopted the Chagatai language, a Turkic language of the Qarluq branch, which was heavily influenced by Arabic and Persian.^[43][44] Although the Barlas were not always exogamous, but many marriages recorded were outside the tribe.^[45][46]

Timurids and Mughals

Main articles: Timurid dynasty and Mughal dynasty

Babur, founder of the Mughal Empire. Late Shah Jahan Album, painted c. 1640.^[47]

Its most famous representatives were the Timurids, a dynasty founded by the conqueror Timur in the 14th century, who ruled over modern-day Iran, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and almost the entire rest of the Caucasus, Afghanistan, much of Central Asia, as well as parts of contemporary Pakistan, Mesopotamia, and Anatolia.^[48] One of his descendants, Babur, later founded the Mughal Empire of Central Asia and South Asia.^[49]

See also

• Turco-Mongol tradition
• Hajji Beg Barlas

References

1. Grupper, S. M. 'A Barulas Family Narrative in the Yuan Shih: Some Neglected Prosopographical and Institutional Sources on Timurid Origins'. Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi 8 (1992–94): 11–97
2. Chann, Naindeep Singh (2008). "Intellectual Movements during Timuri and Safavid Periods (1500-1700 A.D.)". Iran and the Caucasus. 12 (2): 413–415. doi:10.1163/157338408x406182. ISSN 1609-8498.
3. Anooshahr, Ali (2018-04-19). "Mongols in the Tarikh-i Rashidi". Oxford Scholarship Online. doi:10.1093/oso/9780190693565.003.0006.
4. Rührdanz, Karin (2016-01-01), "8 From the Mongols to the Timurids: Refinement and Attrition in Persian Painting", The Mongols' Middle East, BRILL, pp. 172–192, ISBN 978-90-04-31199-2, retrieved 2025-06-07
5. B.F. Manz, The rise and rule of Tamerlan, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1989, p. 28: "... We know definitely that the leading clan of the Barlas tribe traced its origin to Qarachar Barlas, head of one of Chaghadai's regiments ... These then were the most prominent members of the Ulus Chaghadai: the old Mongolian tribes — Barlas, Arlat, Soldus and Jalayir ..."
6. Timur and the Timurids, Svat Soucek, Princeton University, New Jersey, Publisher Cambridge University Press. p. Timur was born around 1336 in Transoxania near Kesh – later known as Shahrisabz – in the Kashka Darya region of what is today the Republic of Uzbekistan. He was a Turk of the Barlas tribe; this tribe, like many others, boasted a Mongol name and ancestry, but for all practical purposes it was Turkic.
7. M.S. Asimov & C. E. Bosworth, History of Civilizations of Central Asia, UNESCO Regional Office, 1998, ISBN 92-3-103467-7, p. 320: "... One of his followers was [...] Timur of the Barlas tribe. This Mongol tribe had settled [...] in the valley of Kashka Darya, intermingling with the Turkish population, adopting their religion (Islam) and gradually giving up its own nomadic ways, like a number of other Mongol tribes in Transoxania ..."
8. G.R. Garthwaite, "The Persians", Malden, ISBN 978-1-55786-860-2, MA: Blackwell Pub., 2007. (p.148)
9. "Family tree of major Timurid princes", Power, Politics and Religion in Timurid Iran, Cambridge University Press, pp. xviii–xviii, 2007-03-01, ISBN 978-0-521-86547-0, retrieved 2025-05-07
10. "Part Two: The Secret History of the Mongols Index", Index to the Secret History of the Mongols, De Gruyter Mouton, pp. 175–344, 1972-12-31, retrieved 2025-05-07
11. Saunders, J. J. (2023-07-07), "The Turkish rehearsal for the Mongol conquests", The History of the Mongol Conquests, London: Routledge, pp. 16–29, ISBN 978-1-003-40809-3, retrieved 2025-05-07
12. Grupper, S. M. 'A Barulas Family Narrative in the Yuan Shih: Some Neglected Prosopographical and Institutional Sources on Timurid Origins'. Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi 8 (1992–94): 11–97
13. Gérard Chaliand, A Global History of War: From Assyria to the Twenty-First Century, University of California Press, California 2014, p. 151
14. Lee, Joo-Yup (2019-12-23), "Turkic Identity in Mongol and Post-Mongol Central Asia and the Qipchaq Steppe", Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-027772-7, retrieved 2025-05-07
15. Droese, Janine; Karolewski, Janina (4 December 2023). Manuscript Albums and their Cultural Contexts: Collectors, Objects, and Practices. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. p. 135. ISBN 978-3-11-132146-2. To the best of my knowledge, the earliest portrait of Timur can be found in a genealogical scroll (Istanbul, Topkapı Palace Museum, H. 2152, fols 32-43"), produced shortly after his death in Samarqand (probably under the reign of Khalil Sultan, r. 1405-1409)
16. Kamola, Stefan (2019-09-01). Making Mongol History. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-1-4744-2142-3.
17. "Part Two: The Secret History of the Mongols Index", Index to the Secret History of the Mongols, De Gruyter Mouton, pp. 175–344, 1972-12-31, retrieved 2025-06-03
18. Rührdanz, Karin (2016-01-01), "8 From the Mongols to the Timurids: Refinement and Attrition in Persian Painting", The Mongols' Middle East, BRILL, pp. 172–192, ISBN 978-90-04-31199-2, retrieved 2025-06-08
19. Kamola, Stefan (2019-09-01). Making Mongol History. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-1-4744-2142-3.
20. The Secret History of the Mongols, transl. by I. De Rachewiltz, Chapter I Archived February 23, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
21. Kamola, Stefan (2019-09-01). Making Mongol History. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-1-4744-2142-3.
22. Joshi, Harit (2020), "Akbarnama", Encyclopédie des historiographies : Afriques, Amériques, Asies, Presses de l’Inalco, pp. 41–43, ISBN 978-2-85831-344-0, retrieved 2025-06-10
23. Melville, Charles (2021-10-11), "On Some Manuscripts of Hatifi's Timurnama", Exploring Written Artefacts, De Gruyter, pp. 1123–1146, ISBN 978-3-11-075330-1, retrieved 2025-06-10
24. "Part Two: The Secret History of the Mongols Index", Index to the Secret History of the Mongols, De Gruyter Mouton, pp. 175–344, 1972-12-31, retrieved 2025-06-03
25. Rührdanz, Karin (2016-01-01), "8 From the Mongols to the Timurids: Refinement and Attrition in Persian Painting", The Mongols' Middle East, BRILL, pp. 172–192, ISBN 978-90-04-31199-2, retrieved 2025-06-08
26. Chann, Naindeep Singh (2008). "Intellectual Movements during Timuri and Safavid Periods (1500-1700 A.D.)". Iran and the Caucasus. 12 (2): 413–415. doi:10.1163/157338408x406182. ISSN 1609-8498.
27. Kamola, Stefan (2019-09-01). Making Mongol History. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-1-4744-2142-3.
28. Kamola, Stefan (2019-09-01). Making Mongol History. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-1-4744-2142-3.
29. Chann, Naindeep Singh (2008). "Intellectual Movements during Timuri and Safavid Periods (1500-1700 A.D.)". Iran and the Caucasus. 12 (2): 413–415. doi:10.1163/157338408x406182. ISSN 1609-8498.
30. Rührdanz, Karin (2016-01-01), "8 From the Mongols to the Timurids: Refinement and Attrition in Persian Painting", The Mongols' Middle East, BRILL, pp. 172–192, ISBN 978-90-04-31199-2, retrieved 2025-06-08
31. Kamola, Stefan (2019-09-01). Making Mongol History. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-1-4744-2142-3.
32. Chann, Naindeep Singh (2008). "Intellectual Movements during Timuri and Safavid Periods (1500-1700 A.D.)". Iran and the Caucasus. 12 (2): 413–415. doi:10.1163/157338408x406182. ISSN 1609-8498.
33. Rührdanz, Karin (2016-01-01), "8 From the Mongols to the Timurids: Refinement and Attrition in Persian Painting", The Mongols' Middle East, BRILL, pp. 172–192, ISBN 978-90-04-31199-2, retrieved 2025-06-08
34. "Part One: The Secret History of the Mongols Text", Index to the Secret History of the Mongols, De Gruyter Mouton, pp. 11–174, 1972-12-31, retrieved 2025-06-08
35. Rührdanz, Karin (2016-01-01), "8 From the Mongols to the Timurids: Refinement and Attrition in Persian Painting", The Mongols' Middle East, BRILL, pp. 172–192, ISBN 978-90-04-31199-2, retrieved 2025-06-08
36. Chann, Naindeep Singh (2008). "Intellectual Movements during Timuri and Safavid Periods (1500-1700 A.D.)". Iran and the Caucasus. 12 (2): 413–415. doi:10.1163/157338408x406182. ISSN 1609-8498.
37. Kamola, Stefan (2019-09-01). Making Mongol History. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-1-4744-2142-3.
38. B.F. Manz, The rise and rule of Tamerlan, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1989, p. 156–7
39. Gérard Chaliand, A Global History of War: From Assyria to the Twenty-First Century, University of California Press, California 2014, p. 151
40. Kamola, Stefan (2019-09-01). Making Mongol History. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-1-4744-2142-3.
41. Rührdanz, Karin (2016-01-01), "8 From the Mongols to the Timurids: Refinement and Attrition in Persian Painting", The Mongols' Middle East, BRILL, pp. 172–192, ISBN 978-90-04-31199-2, retrieved 2025-06-08
42. Kamola, Stefan (2019-09-01). Making Mongol History. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-1-4744-2142-3.
43. G. Doerfer, "Chaghatay", in Encyclopædia Iranica, Online Edition 2007.
44. Rührdanz, Karin (2016-01-01), "8 From the Mongols to the Timurids: Refinement and Attrition in Persian Painting", The Mongols' Middle East, BRILL, pp. 172–192, ISBN 978-90-04-31199-2, retrieved 2025-06-08
45. B.F. Manz, The rise and rule of Tamerlan, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1989, p. 157
46. Rührdanz, Karin (2016-01-01), "8 From the Mongols to the Timurids: Refinement and Attrition in Persian Painting", The Mongols' Middle East, BRILL, pp. 172–192, ISBN 978-90-04-31199-2, retrieved 2025-06-08
47. "Babur and Humayun with Courtiers, from the Late Shah Jahan Album". Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art. The first Mughal emperor, Babur, who reigned from 1526 to 1530, is shown seated on the right with his son and successor, Humayun.
48. René Grousset, The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia, Rutgers University Press, 1988. ISBN 0-8135-0627-1 (p.409)
49. "Ẓahīr-al-Dīn Moḥammad Bābor" at Encyclopædia Iranica