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The Chowdur (meaning herder) or Choudor are one of the ten major groups of people who merged after 1920 to form the modern Turkmen Republic. They live primarily in and around the Khorezm Oasis.
The Choudor are thought to belong to the original Turkmen group and the left flank of Oghuz Khan's army.
They lived by the Caspian Sea since approximately the beginning of the second millennium. Abul Ghazi tells us they arrived in Mangyshlak as early as the 11th century. Prior to the rise of Toghrul Bek (the first Seljuk ruler, 1038 until 1063), many tribes followed the lead of their tribal leaders Kilik bek, Kazan bek and Karaman bek and settled in Mangyshlak. Most of them were members of the Imir, Dukur, Düker (Döger), Igdir, Chavuldur, Karkin, Salor or Agar (Ajar) tribes.
In 1219, the Mongols crushed the Khwarazm Shah and his Turkmen/Azeri allies. Two years later, in 1221, the Mongol conquest pushed the Oghuz tribes including the Choudur from the Syr Dara region into the Kara Kum area and along the Caspian Sea.
Many Choudur appear to have stayed on the Mangyshlak Peninsula from then through the Timurid and the Shaybanid Uzbek periods, beginning the Turco-Mongol transformation of these originally Oghuz people.
In the early 16th century, the Choudur were a confederate or aymaq in the Salar Sayin Khani confederation. The Choudur were primarily concentrated in the Mangyshlak Peninsula on the northeastern Caspian coast. The Kalmuks moved into the Mangyshlak Peninsula, the Sayin Khan confederation broke up and the Choudur ended up southeast of Khiva loosely confederated, but under the authority of the Yomud. There are indications that some Choudur ended up in the mid Amu Darya region near north of Charjui. Under the Khiva Khanate during the nineteenth century, Choudur included the Igdir, Bozachi, Abdal, and Arabachi tribes. [1]
In 1743, the Yomud captured Khiva briefly and again in 1767, but that time they held it for three years. In 1770, the Muhammad Amin Inaq of the Qungrats, defeated the Yomuds and founded the Qungrat dynasty. Part and parcel of this was the breakup of the Yomud which gave the Choudur autonomy from the Yomud, but still under the Khiva/Khwarezem Khans.
Turkmen living in the Murgab River delta (Margiana oasis) traditionally farmed and herded karakul and fat-tailed sheep with some goats. Camels were herded separately.
Herders (chovdur in Turkmen) covered an area around the oasis to the north. Each chovdur knew the wells, the temporary summer camps (yazlag) and the winter houses or camps (gyshlag) which were grouped in villages in the oasis. The gyshlags were all located in the cultivated areas, where herders could find late forage and reeds for shelters.
The Choudur tribe, particularly those members who settled in Khorezm oasis' Kalinin district also speak the Choudur dialect. [2] It is considered one of the major dialects spoken in modern Turkmenistan along with Arsari, Goklen, Teke, Salir, Sarik, and Yomud. [3]
The history of Turkmenistan traditionally began with the arrival of Indo-European Iranian tribes around 2000 BC. Early tribes were nomadic or semi-nomadic due to the arid conditions of the region, preventing widespread adoption of agriculture. The steppe culture in Central Asia was an extension of a larger Eurasian series of horse cultures which spanned the entire spectrum of language families, including the Indo-Europeans and Turko-Mongol groups. Some of the known early Iranian tribes included the Massagatae, the Scythians/Sakas, and early Soghdians, who were most likely precursors of the Khwarezmians. Turkmenistan was a passing point for numerous migrations and invasions by tribes, which gravitated towards the settled regions of the south, including ancient Mesopotamia, Elam, and the Indus Valley civilization.
The Oghuz Turks were a western Turkic people who spoke the Oghuz branch of the Turkic language family. In the 8th century, they formed a tribal confederation conventionally named the Oghuz Yabgu State in Central Asia. Today, much of the populations of Turkey, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan are descendants of Oghuz Turks. Byzantine sources call them Uzes. The term Oghuz was gradually supplanted by the terms Turkmen and Turcoman by 13th century.
Turkmen, sometimes referred to as Turkmen Turkic or Turkmen Turkish, is a Turkic language spoken by the Turkmens of Central Asia. It has an estimated 5 million native speakers in Turkmenistan, and a further 719,000 speakers in northeastern Iran and 1.5 million people in northwestern Afghanistan, where it has no official status. Turkmen is also spoken to lesser varying degrees in Turkmen communities of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan and by diaspora communities, primarily in Turkey and Russia.
Mary Region is one of five provinces in Turkmenistan. It is located in the south-east of the country, bordering Afghanistan. Its capital is the city of Mary. Its area is 87,150 km2 (33,650 sq mi) and population 1,480,400. The average population density is about 15 persons per square kilometer, but it reaches 150–200 per square kilometer in the most developed oases.
Turkmens are a Turkic ethnic group native to Central Asia, living mainly in Turkmenistan, northern and northeastern regions of Iran and north-western Afghanistan. Sizeable groups of Turkmens are found also in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and the North Caucasus. They speak the Turkmen language, which is classified as a part of the Eastern Oghuz branch of the Turkic languages.
The Khanate of Khiva was a Central Asian polity that existed in the historical region of Khwarezm in Central Asia from 1511 to 1920, except for a period of Afsharid occupation by Nader Shah between 1740 and 1746. Centred in the irrigated plains of the lower Amu Darya, south of the Aral Sea, with the capital in the city of Khiva. It covered present-day western Uzbekistan, southwestern Kazakhstan and much of Turkmenistan before the Russian arrival at the second half of the 19th century.
Sart is a name for the settled inhabitants of Central Asia which has had shifting meanings over the centuries.
The Kayı or Kayi tribe were an Oghuz Turkic people and a sub-branch of the Bozok tribal federation. In his Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk, the 11th century Kara-Khanid scholar Mahmud al-Kashgari cited Kayı as of one of 22 Oghuz tribes, saying that Oghuz were also called Turkomans. The name Kayı means "the one who has might and power by relationship" and the Turkmen proverb says that "people shall be led by Kayi and Bayat tribes" .
Mangystau is a region of Kazakhstan. Its capital is Aqtau, which has a population of 183,350 (2017); the entire Mangystau Province has a population of 745,909 (2022).
Salur, Salyr or Salgur was an ancient Oghuz Turkic tribe and a sub-branch of the Üçok tribal federation.
Ersari are one of the major tribes of the Turkmen people of Central Asia and one of the five major tribes of the country of Turkmenistan. They live mainly in Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The major modern Turkmen tribes are Teke, Yomut, Ersari, Chowdur, Gokleng and Saryk. The most numerous are the Teke.
The Yomut or Yomud is a Turkmen tribe that lives in Western and Central Asia, including Gorgan, Iran; Turkmenbashi, Turkmenistan; the eastern Caspian shores; Khiva, Uzbekistan; and Dashoguz, Turkmenistan.
Iranian Turkmens are a branch of Turkmen people living mainly in northern and northeastern regions of Iran. Their region is called Turkmen Sahra and includes substantial parts of Golestan Province of Iran. The number of Turkmens in Iran is estimated at 0.5 to 2.4 million people.
Bayat is one of the Oghuz tribes in Turkmenistan, Iran, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria. When Oghuz Turks started to migrate from the Aral steppes to Khorasan in the 11th and 13th centuries, Bayat people spread throughout the region. They are sub-ethnic groups of Turkmens and Azerbaijanis. Bayats are Muslim and speak a southern dialect of Azerbaijani language in Azerbaijan and Iran, or their own dialect of Turkish in Turkey, and Ersari dialect of Turkmen in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The ancient Turkmen proverb says: "Kayi and Bayat tribes shall lead the people".
In the Russo–Khivan War of 1873, Russia conquered the Khanate of Khiva, and it became a Russian protectorate.
Teke is a major and politically influential tribe of Turkmens in Turkmenistan.
Junaid Khan ; (b.1857/62–1938) was a Turkmen tribal leader who became the Chief of the Armed Forces and later the de facto and last ruler of the Khanate of Khiva.
Shajara-i Tarākima is a Chagatai-language historical work completed in 1659 by Khan of Khiva and historian Abu al-Ghazi Bahadur.
Ersari baba is the legendary leader of the Ersari tribe, who, or most probably whose historical prototype, lived in 13th or 14th century in Mangyshlak or in the vicinity of Balkan mountains. He was the founder of the loose Sayin Khan Turkmen confederation and is considered to be a common ancestor of all Ersari people, who today live predominantly on the banks of the Amudarya River in Lebap velayat of Turkmenistan and northern provinces of Afghanistan. "Ersari" literally means "yellow brave man" from Turkic (Turkmen) "er" or "är" - brave man, and "sari" or "sary" - yellow.
