278 Conclusion
of the Huns (Hunnu). The Minusin Valley was such a center for the state of the
Khakas people—the Kyrgyz Khaganate.42
Probably suitable for agriculture was also the initial land of the Yuezhi
alliance north of Nanshan. As an ethnic group that created a steppe empire
they preceded the Huns. They were later associated with the ruling dynasties
of Sogd and established the powerful Kushan Empire in Middle Asia.43 The
region of the Amu Darya and Syr Darya Rivers has had a very strong influ-
ence on the steppe world from ancient times. It was the place of emergence of
the state alliances of Khwarezm (along the lower reaches of the Amu Darya)
and Kangju (along the lower and middle reaches of the Syr Darya). The great
importance of this region for the ideology and culture of Khazaria, as well as
for the other peoples of the steppe world, is unquestionable. This is the terri-
tory of the ancient and mythical Turan. Not coincidentally, until the eleventh
century rulers of nearly all the steppe empires derived their genealogies from
the legendary ruler Afrasiab (the last dynasties that bound their origins to him
were the Seljuqids and the Karakhanids).44
Prior to the establishment of the Khazar Khaganate (in the sixth to seventh
centuries), the Khazars lived in Dagestan and had a mixed economy, similar
to that of Khazaria during the tenth century. The practice of agriculture and
handicrafts in Dagestan was not disrupted by various invasions. The details
surrounding the nature of this region between the third and the seventh cen-
turies, as well as the reasons why the Khazars surpassed the other numerous
ethnic communities that inhabited these lands, remain as yet unclear. But one
thing is clear—from its very beginning Khazaria was not a typical nomadic
state. The agricultural areas in the steppe zone of the Khazar Khaganate
grew and spread also during the period of its greatest territorial expansion.
That was the time when the khaganate added the largest number of agricul-
tural tributary communities, a fact that for instance contradicts the theory of
A. Khazanov, who believed that the large-scale sedentarization of the nomads
was the consequence of the reduction of tributary regions.45
the ensuing period and especially in the second and third centuries AD, the economy of
the Wusuns became mixed and combined both stock-breeding with agriculture. Stock-
breeding continued to be a leading sector and was a version of transhumance (Akishev
and Kushaev 1963).
42 Kyzlasov 1960; Pletneva 1982, 92–94.
43 See Vainberg 1990, 242–252; Kliashtornyi and Sultanov 2000, 51–60.
44 Vainberg 1990, 92, 206, and 303.
45 Khazanov 1975, 259.