Barlas
The Barlas were a Mongol tribe, which later became Turkified in Central Asia, forming a nomadic confederation. They were a sub-clan of the Borjigin, emerged within the Khamag Mongol confederation in present-day Mongolia in the early to mid-12th century, and traced their military roots to one of the elite regiments of the Mongol Empire’s Kheshig guard. The Barlas spawned as one imperial dynasties with two major empires in Asia: the Timurid Empire in Central Asia and Persia; and its later branch, the Mughal Empire in the Indian subcontinent.
History
Origins
According to the Secret History of the Mongols and historian Rashid al-Din Hamadani who wrote the Jami' al-tawarikh, the Barlas shared ancestry with the Khiyad Borjigin, who were the descendents of Khaidu Khan. He also noted that the Barlas' relationship with the imperial Mongol ruling clan was through a common ancestry via Tumbinai Khan, who was both Timur and Genghis Khan's ancestor. Rashid al-Din Hamadani also traced the ancestry of the imperial clan of Genghis Khan and his successors, as well as other related Mongol clans. The progenitor of the Barlas clan is Qachuli, who founded the tribe in Khamag Mongol in Northern Mongolia; Qachuli was either the son of Tumanay Setsen or Tumbinai Khan, as well as the twin brother of Qabul Khan, the founder and first ruler of the Khamag Mongol Confederations. Qachuli's great-grandson was Qarachar Barlas, a minister and military commander of a under Genghis Khan; during the Mongol Invasions of Central Asia, he migrated and established new settlements in the regions of Central asia and Transoxiana. Genghis Khan later assigned Qarachar to be a minister and governor of Transoxiana under the command of Chagatai Khan.The Barlas controlled the region of Kish and all of its lineages seem to have been associated with this region. In contrast to most neighboring tribes who remained nomadic, the Barlas were a sedentary due to there military and aristrocratic natures and status of tribe. Due to extensive contacts with the native population of Central Asia, the tribe had adopted the religion of Islam and leaving there forefathers Tengrism, and as they native Mongol speaker they adopted the Chagatai language, a Turkic language of the Qarluq branch, which was heavily influenced by Arabic and Persian. Although the Barlas were not always exogamous, but many marriages recorded were outside the tribe.