The ethnicity of the bayirqu population revisited

Abstract

The article explores the ethnogenesis and ethnicity of the medieval Bayirqu people, one of the most influential tribes in the Tiele Turkic union. Though the issue was widely discussed in the last century, the researchers still have not reached a consensus. Thorough, objective and unbiased analysis of ancient Turkic and especially Chinese sources mostly testifies of the Turkic origin of the Bayirqu, due to the facts as follows: - the Bayirqu were governed by chieftains referred to as ‘eltebers’ and ‘irkins’; - the Tiele tribes, including the Bayirqu, were genetically close to the Tujue (Gokturks); - the Bayirqu language had little difference from the language of the Tiele and therefore, that of the Tujue. This is also supported by the fact that during the period of the Turkic khaganates there was no Mongolian ethnos as an ethnic unit. It emerged after the defeat of the Rouran khaganate when proto-Mongols started to form an ethnic group in the remote area of Ergenekon on the right bank of the Ergune (Argun). Formation and development of the Bayirqu is related to the east side of Lake Baikal. As a result of the mongolization of the territory that began in the late 1st millenium AD, the Bayirqu experienced dramatic changes in terms of their ethnic characteristics and gradually joined the Mongolian ethnic groups. There was a change of the language as well, and the mongolization process over, self-designation of the Bayirqu turned into ‘Barga’ (Bargut). This predetermined the Bayirqu’s entry into the union of Mongolian ethnic groups. The Bayirqu’s remote descendants now live in Northeast China.

Keywords

• bayirqu
• barga
• elteber
• irkin
• tiele
• tujue
• mongolization
• baikal