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Years · 6th century

552

Year of the monkey biçin yıl

11 entries in Eastern steppe, Western steppe, Tarim and Sogdiana and China.

Map of Asia in 552: the First Göktürk Khaganate across the eastern steppe from the Altai to the Khingan, south of Lake Baikal, the Tiele in the west as its subjects, the remnant of the Rouran in the east, beside the Western Wei, the Northern Qi, the Liang, the Tuyuhun, the Hephthalites and Persia — 552: after the victory over the Rouran, Bumin takes the title of khan and founds the First Göktürk Khaganate in their lands. The Tiele are his subjects, and the remnant of the Rouran holds out in the east. Modern map.

Map of the Göktürk–Rouran war of 551 and 552: from the Altai the Ashina under Bumin strike a Rouran army in Dzungaria and drive east across the Gobi to Huaihuang, where Anagui kills himself; the Rouran rule the eastern steppe, the Tiele are their subjects in the west — 551–552: the Göktürks under Bumin rise against the Rouran. In January 552 they beat a Rouran army in Dzungaria, then crush the main Rouran army north of Huaihuang, and Anagui kills himself. Modern map; the routes and the place of the battle in Dzungaria are drawn.

Who ruled

First Göktürk Khaganate Bumin Khan 552 · Issik Khan 552–553
Rouran Khaganate Anagui 520–552 · Dengzhu 552–553
Sasanian Persia Khosrow I 531–579
Western Göktürk Khaganate Istemi 552–576

And beyond the steppe

China Northern Qi Emperor Wenxuan 550–559 · Western Wei Emperor Fei 551–554
Iran Sasanian Khosrow I 531–579
Korea Goguryeo Yangwon 545–559
Byzantium Justinian Justinian I 527–565

Eastern steppe

Culture · At the founding of the state the Göktürks write in a script like that of the hu, by the Zhou Shu; the Sogdian alphabet, by the literature

Sogdians
Environment · Late Antique Little Ice Age: the cold phase the Altai tree rings define from 536 to about 660 (536–660)

Climate and the steppe empires · First Göktürk Khaganate · Avars

The coldest decade in the Altai is the 540s
spring · Anagui dies, by his own hand according to the Chinese account; the Rouran nobility scatters south and west

Anagui · Rouran Khaganate · Battle of Huaihuang, 552 · Mumocheng · Avars
April · Bumin enters Ötüken and takes the title Illig Khan; the First Göktürk Khaganate is founded

Bumin Khan · Ötüken · The Turkic War of Independence · First Göktürk Khaganate · Khan (Khagan) · Proclamation of Bumin Khan (552)
Bumin dies within the year of his victory, on the usual reading; his son Issik succeeds him

Bumin Khan · Issik Khan

Also dated 553 (the Zizhi tongjian, which enters the death at the beginning of 553): One reading takes that entry for the place where the annalist put an undated event.

The Zhou Shu gives the death directly after the proclamation and names no year

Western steppe

Culture · Sogdian colonists found the first towns of Semirech'e, Suyab and Navaket among them, as estates of nobles (450–600)

Suyab · Sogdians
January · A Rouran force sent west is beaten by the Göktürks in Dzungaria

Battle of Dzungaria, 552 · Bumin Khan · Anagui · Dzungaria

Tarim and Sogdiana

Culture · The Kizil mural near Kucha showing armoured newcomers received by the city's rulers, dated to this year by one reading

Istemi · Tarim Basin

China

first month of the Chinese year, 11 February to 10 March · The main Rouran army is destroyed north of Huaihuang

Battle of Huaihuang, 552 · Bumin Khan · Anagui · Huaihuang · Hegemony Wars in Northern China

Dating discussed (one modern reckoning): Puts the march east, and with it the battle, in March.
second half of the year · The Northern Qi attack Göktürk territory on behalf of the Rouran exiles

Issik Khan · Northern Qi · Hegemony Wars in Northern China

Dating discussed (one reconstruction): Late summer or autumn, because no one campaigned on that frontier in winter.
Technology · tenth month · The Qi emperor Wenxuan has a long wall thrown up from the Huanglu pass north to the Shegan garrison, over four hundred li, with thirty-six garrisons on it

Northern Qi · Issik Khan · First Göktürk Khaganate

The first of the Qi walls against the steppe, begun in the year Bumin broke the Rouran