Kimek Khanate

The Kimek Khanate, also called the Kimak–Kipchak confederation, was a Turkic state that formed in the steppes between the Ob and Irtysh rivers and lasted until the Mongol conquest. According to medieval Arabic geographers it was a federation of seven peoples, of whom the Kimaks and Kipchaks were the most important; the name may derive from Iki-Imäk, the two Imäk, referring to the two leading clans. The khagan's summer residence was the town of Imakia on the middle Irtysh, while the fortified winter capital, Tamim, stood on the southern shore of Lake Balkhash; other centres included Kimäk and Sangir. The khanate controlled the routes between the Volga, Central Asia and the Siberian forests, and its rulers drew wealth from furs, cattle and caravan trade. The Kimaks led a semi-settled life, with both wandering herders and towns, and their southern neighbours, the Karluks, preserved their independence for two centuries. In the eleventh century the Kipchak element grew stronger and the federation dissolved into the Kipchak–Cuman confederation of the western steppe. The Kimek state was finally destroyed in the thirteenth century, when the armies of Genghis Khan overran the Irtysh basin and absorbed its lands into the Mongol Empire.