Chaghatai

Chaghatai, often transliterated Chagatai, refers to two related subjects in Central Asian history: the Chagatai Khanate, a Mongol successor state named after Chaghatai Khan, and the Chagatai language, a classical Turkic literary language named after him.

Chagatai Khanate: After the death of Genghis Khan, his son Chaghatai established control over Transoxiana, the region between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya in what is now Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and parts of southern Kazakhstan. The khanate endured from the early 13th century and reached its peak in the 14th century, but gradually fragmented into western and eastern domains. The western portion, sometimes called the Khanate of Transoxiana, centered on cities such as Samarkand and Bukhara and persisted in competition with Timurid power and later Uzbek states. The eastern portion became Moghulistan, with influence in eastern Kashgar, the Tarim Basin, and adjacent areas. By the 17th century, effective sovereignty waned as local khanates rose and external powers, including the Dzungars and the Qing dynasty, asserted control. The two branches ultimately disappeared as distinct polities, though their legacies influenced later Central Asian political and ethnic configurations.

Chagatai language: a classical Turkic literary language developed in the Timurid era and named after Chaghatai Khan. It flourished from the 15th to the 17th centuries and served as a major medium for poetry, scholarship, and administration in Central Asia. Notable writers such as Ali-Shir Nava'i contributed to its prestige. Chagatai provided a linguistic foundation for the later Uzbek and Uyghur literary traditions, and its influence persists in the literary and linguistic history of the region.