Volga Bulgaria

Rouran epoch Göktürk epoch Uyghur epoch Kirghiz epoch

Rouran First Göktürk Tang rule Second Göktürk Uyghur Kirghiz Huns Western Göktürk Türgesh Karluk Khazar

Rouran 400–554
First Göktürk 552–630
Tang rule 630–682
Second Göktürk 682–744
Uyghur 744–840
Kirghiz 840–924
Huns 370–469
Western Göktürk 552–659
Türgesh 699–766
Karluk 766–800
Khazar 650–969

The date when Bulgar tribes reached the middle Volga is not settled. Some place it in the middle of the seventh century, after the Khazar victory over the Bulgar union in the Pontic steppe. Others place it in the middle of the eighth or the early ninth.^[1] As vassals of the Khazars, the Bulgars took the political lead over Turkic groups, Iranians and Finno-Ugric peoples. Their authority reached north to the Kama, east to the Belaya and south toward the Ural.^[1] By the early tenth century their king bore the title yiltawar (the ilteber), which marked him as the ruler of a subject confederation. He had to send hostages and brides to the Khazar court and pay one sable skin for every household.^[2] The king, Almus b. Silki, converted to Islam and took the name Jaʿfar b. ʿAbdallāh. He sought the caliph’s help, which was the purpose of the mission of 921 to 922 that Ibn Fadlan described.^[3] The state supplied the Islamic world, by way of Khwarazm, with furs and other northern goods. Its chief cities were Bulgar and Suwar. The capital moved to Bilyar in the later twelfth century.^[4] Rivalry with the Rus over the fur trade sharpened in the early thirteenth century. The Mongols then took Volga Bulgaria in 1237 to 1240.^[5]