Kipchaks (also spelled as
Kypchaks,
Kipczaks,
Qipchaqs,
Qypchaqs) (
Turkic Kypchak,
Kipçak) were an ancient
Turkic people who originally formed part of the group of
Kimäks in
Siberia along the middle reaches of
Irtysh or along the
Ob. Around the middle of the eleventh century they split off from the bulk of the Kimaks and departed in the direction of Europe. The western Kipchaks were known as
Cumans[1] (Kumans, Kuns) in
Western Europe and Polovtsy (Polovtsians) in
Ukraine and
Russia, or by other names, most of which have the meaning "pale", or "sallow". Their language was also known as
Kipchak.
They occupied a vast, sprawling territory in the Eurasian steppe, stretching from north of the Aral Sea westward to the region north of the Black Sea (now in Ukraine and southwestern Russia) and founded a nomadic state (Desht-i Qipchaq). They invaded the territory later known as Moldavia, Wallachia, and part of Transylvania in the 11th century. From there they continued their plundering of the Byzantine Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary.
In the late 11th and early 12th centuries they became involved in various conflicts with the Byzantines, Kievan Rus/Kyivan Rus, the Hungarians, and the Pechenegs, allying themselves with one or the other side at different times. In 1089, they were defeated by Ladislaus I of Hungary, again by Knyaz of Kievan Rus/Kyivan Rus Vladimir Monomakh/Volodymyr Monomakh in the 12th century. They sacked Kiev in 1203. The Kipchaks were finally crushed by the Mongols in 1241. During the Mongol empire, the Kipchaks constituted majority of the khanate comprising present-day Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan, called the Golden Horde, the westernmost division of the Mongol empire. After the fall of the Mongol Empire, the Golden Horde rulers continued to hold Sarai until 1502.
The Kuman, or western Kipchak tribes, fled to Hungary, and some of their warriors became mercenaries for the Latin crusaders and the Byzantines. Members of the Bahri dynasty, the first dynasty of Mamluks in Egypt, were Kipchaks, one of the most prominent examples being Sultan Baybars, born in Solhat, Crimea. Some of them served in the Yuan dynasty and became the Kharchins.
