Ersari ( tk, Ärsary, where ''Er'' - brave man, master; ''sari'' - light, bright, yellow) are one of the major tribes of the Turkmen people of

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes the fo ...

and one of the five major tribes of the country of

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the s ...

. They live mainly in Turkmenistan,

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...

and

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

Population

Ersari people's number is approximately 2.1 million people overall (1 million in Turkmenistan, 1,5 million in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the Ara ...

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (Middle East, The Middle East). It is ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

and other countries). Ersari has four sub-tribal divisions. They are: Gara, Bekeul, Gunesh and Uludepe.

History

Origin

Fifth_carpet_gul_from_flag_of_Turkmenistan

Ersari are direct descendants of the Oghuz Turks. It is believed that they come from the

Salur tribe Salur, Salyr or Salgur ( tr, Salır, tk, Salyr, fa, سالور) were an ancient Oghuz Turkic people and a sub-branch of the ''Üçok'' tribal federation. The medieval Karamanid principality in Anatolia belonged to the Karaman branch of the S ...

of the Oghuz Turks,Abu al-Ghazi Bahadur, ''"Shajare-i Tarakime"'' org. text pp. 207-218 and trans. pp. 267-268. just as Turkmen Yomud tribe. The Seljuk Turkomans, the conquerors of

and

, are also considered as the forefathers of the Ersari.

Sayin Khan Turkmen tribal confederacy

Ersari appear to have been major component of the Sayin Khan Turkmen tribal confederacy whose Yurt (nomadic territory), in the late 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th centuries, stretched from the

Balkan mountains The Balkan mountain range (, , known locally also as Stara planina) is a mountain range in the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula in Southeastern Europe. The range is conventionally taken to begin at the peak of Vrashka Chuka on the border bet ...

to the Mangishlaq peninsula and north to the Emba river. The label Sayin Khani, given to these Turkmen by the other peoples around, referred to their emergence from the breakup of the

Golden Horde The Golden Horde, self-designated as Ulug Ulus, 'Great State' in Turkic, was originally a Mongol and later Turkicized khanate established in the 13th century and originating as the northwestern sector of the Mongol Empire. With the fragmen ...

, (founded by Genghis Khan's grandson Batu, known as the Sayin Khan), in order to differentiate their origins from tribes that came from the territories of Hulegu (Iran) or

Chaghatay Chagatai (چغتای, ''Čaġatāy''), also known as ''Turki'', Eastern Turkic, or Chagatai Turkic (''Čaġatāy türkīsi''), is an extinct Turkic literary language that was once widely spoken across Central Asia and remained the shared litera ...

(Trans-Oxanian Central Asia). The Sayin Khani Turkmens appear to have been an organized confederation of tribes said to be divided, in typical

Turco-Mongol The Turco-Mongol or Turko-Mongol tradition was an ethnocultural synthesis that arose in Asia during the 14th century, among the ruling elites of the Golden Horde and the Chagatai Khanate. The ruling Mongol elites of these Khanates eventuall ...

fashion, into two parts, the Ichki (inner) and Tashki (outer) Oghuz.

Abu al-Ghazi Bahadur Abu al-Ghazi Bahadur ( uz, Abulgʻozi Bahodirxon, Abulgazi, Ebulgazi, Abu-l-Ghazi, August 24, 1603 – 1663) was Khan of Khiva from 1643 to 1663. He spent ten years in Persia before becoming khan, and was very well educated, writing two historica ...

, the Uzbek Khan of Khiva in the 17th century, in his book ''

Shajara-i Tarākima ''Shajara-i Tarākima'' () is a Chagatai-language historical work completed in 1659 by Khan of Khiva and historian Abu al-Ghazi Bahadur. ''Shajara-i Tarākima'' is one of the two works composed by Abu al-Ghazi Bahadur that have great importanc ...

'' ("The Genealogical Tree of the Turkmen", 1659) does not indicate whether the term Tashki refers to an organizational, military or purely geographical meaning. Sometime in the 17th century, in part to the drying up of the western Uzboy channel of the

Amu Darya The Amu Darya, tk, Amyderýa/ uz, Amudaryo// tg, Амударё, Amudaryo ps, , tr, Ceyhun / Amu Derya grc, Ὦξος, Ôxos (also called the Amu, Amo River and historically known by its Latin name or Greek ) is a major river in Central Asi ...

, the Ersari and its major subtribes moved east to the banks of the main course of the Amudarya. One sub-tribe, the Ali-Eli also moved eastwards, but remained near Kaka region, which is now in

Ahal Province Ahal Region ( tk, Ahal welaýaty; from fa, آخال, Axāl) is one of five provinces of Turkmenistan. It is in the south-center of the country, bordering Iran and Afghanistan along the Kopet Dag Range. Its area is and population 939,700 (2005 ...

Ersari baba

Ersari baba is the legendary leader of Ersari people, and of all Turkmen, who lived in the 13-14th centuries in Mangishlaq (

Mangystau Province Mangystau ( kk, Маңғыстау облысы, Mañğystau oblysy; russian: Мангистауская область, Mangistauskaya oblast) is a region of Kazakhstan. Its capital is Aktau (a seaport), which has a population of 183,350 (2017) ...

) and Balkan mountains (

Balkan Province Balkan Region ( tk, Balkan welaýaty, Балкан велаяты) is the westernmost of the five regions of Turkmenistan. Clockwise from north it borders Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan (north); two provinces of Turkmenistan (east), Iran (south), ...

). He had been the founder of the Sayin Khan Turkmen confederation and considered to be father of Ersari people. He assembled all Turkmens, those that remained in Central Asia after the Mongol invasion of Central Asia. He played a leading role in consolidation of Turkmen tribes at that arduous period in Central Asia.

References

External links

*http://www.sfbars.org/ersari.html *http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/191954/Ersari *https://web.archive.org/web/20110311202901/http://www.rugreview.com/habibu.htm {{Turkmen tribes Ethnic Turkmen people Turkmen tribes