( The Göktürk Empire in 600 ) The name Turk (Chinese: 突厥, pinyin: tū jué; Jyutping: duk kyu) was first applied to a clan of tribal chieftains (known as Ashina ) who overthrew the ruling Rouran confederacy and founded the nomadic Göktürk Empire ("Celestial Turks"). These nomads roamed in the Altai Mountains (and thus are known as Altaic peoples) in northern Mongolia and on the steppes of Central Asia. The Göktürks were ruled by Khans, whose influences extended during the sixth to eighth centuries from the Aral Sea to the Hindu Kush in the land bridge known as Transoxania. In the eighth century, some Turkic tribes, among them the Oghuz, moved south of the Oxus River, while others migrated west to the northern shore of the Black Sea. Türk spread as a political designation during the period of Göktürk imperial hegemony to their subject Turkic and non-Turkic peoples. Subsequently, it was adopted as a generic ethnonym designating most, if not all, of the Turkic-speaki...
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