Genealogy of Uzbek tribes

Traditionally, it is believed that there are 92 Uzbek tribes of Desht-and Kipchak origin. A union of nomadic Turkic tribes, called Uzbeks or Uzbek-Kazakhs, is formed in the ulus of Sheyban.

According to legend, 92 people go to Medina, where they accept Islam and participate in the war of the Prophet Muhammad against the Kafirs. Of these 92 people, the Uzbek tribes originated.

Today, 18 of the 92 tribes are known. Analyzing the lists of Uzbek tribes, it can be noted that most of them begin with the names of three tribes: Ming, Yuzi and Kyrk. There is also the Uishun tribe (Uysun), which traces its origin to the Usuns and is considered one of the most ancient tribes among the other 92 tribes.

In the middle of the 19th century, the British orientalist Herman Vambery writes that at that time Uzbek tribes predominated in the Kokand, Khiva khanates and in the Bukhara Emirate and the Uzbeks at that time united into 32 main tribes.

At the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, different sources named a different number of Uzbek tribes, in some 903, 974, and in some 1025. Perhaps the discrepancy in the figures was influenced by the following factors:

• Through the emergence of new tribes and divisions, as well as the entry of some into tribal alliances among themselves.
• For example, part of the tribe Yuz, having entered into an alliance with the tribe Kyrk, formed a relatively independent tribe Yuz-kyrk.
• A number of Mongolian, Oguz and other steppe clans and tribes joined the Uzbek tribes.

Let’s look at the list of all 92 Uzbek tribes for the example, from the manuscript 4330.0 from the collection of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Uzbek SSR.