Xiongnu and Huns

The Xiongnu (匈奴) were an ancient nomadic-based people who formed a state or confederation located north of China. The identity of the ethnic core of Xiongnu has been a subject of varied hypotheses. Proposals by scholars include Turkic, Mongolic, Yeniseian, Iranian, and Uralic. 

This article describes brief history of the Xiongnu people in the Mongolian plateau, Northern China, Central Asia and Eastern Europe. 

Early Xiongnu tribes

Sima Qian  (司馬遷, 146-84 BCE) is considered the father of Chinese historiography for his Records of the Grand Historian (also known by its Chinese name Shiji 史記) a Jizhuanti-style (history presented in a series of biographies) general history of China, covering more than two thousand years from the very early emperors (黃帝) to his time, during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han (漢武帝, 141-87 BCE)

In early Chinese History,  three groups of barbarian people (胡) were distinguished by the Chinese: Rong in the west (西戎), Di in the north (北狄), and Yi in the east (東夷). Chinese historical sources have very little to tell us about the actual steppe frontier to the north and northwest before the end of the 4th century BCE.

Early Chinese People living in the Central Area (中原)

During the Spring and Autumn Period (春秋時期, 770-476 BCE), there are small tribes of the nomadic people in the North and West (Rong and Di people) , e.g. the Yiqu, Datun, Wu's, Linhu, Loufan, (義渠、大荔、烏氏、林胡、樓煩) etc., may be the ancestors of the early Xiongnu tribes. 

Rong and Di peoples during Spring and Autumn Period 

According to Shiji, Xiongnu (匈奴) originated in the Ordos region (河套地區) in what is now Inner Mongolia. Xiongnu were known to the Chinese before the unification of China in the 3rd century BC. The earliest mention of the Xiongnu dates to 318 BCE during the Warring State period (戰國時期, 403-221 BCE).

Xiongnu Confederation  (220-206 BCE)

After China was unified by the First Emperor of Qin (秦始皇) in 221 BCE,  Xiongnu were driven north of Ordos across the Yellow River in 214 BCE by the Qin army. The Xiongnu was then settled in the southern part of the Gobi Desert and the Yinshan area. 

Touman Chanyu (頭曼單于) is the first Xiongnu leader recorded in Chinese history. During his reign (220—209 BCE), he united the nomadic tribes living in the Mongolian plateau. 

Chanyu (單于; short form for Chengli Gutu Chanyu (撐犁孤塗單于) was the title used by the nomadic supreme rulers of Inner Asia for eight centuries and was only superseded by the title "Khagan" in the fifth century. 

The title was used by the ruling Luandi (攣鞮) clan of the Xiongnu confederation during the Chinese Qin dynasty (秦朝, 221-206 BCE) and Han dynasty (漢朝, 206 BCE-220 CE). There were four other noble tribes: Huyan 呼延, Xubu 須卜, Qiulin 丘林 and Lan 蘭 of the confederation. 

The Yuezhi (月氏), who might be the Tocharians and were living at Hexi Corridor (河西走廊, the modern Gansu) at that time,  was strong enough that, the Xiongnu leader Touman had sent his son as a hostage to the Yuechi. 

In 209 BC (the first year of Emperor Qin II 秦二世), the hostage of Xiongnu fled back from the Yuechi, killing his father to stand on his own as Modu Chanyu (冒頓單于). 

Xiongnu Empire (209-133 BCE)

The Xiongnu had created an empire under Modu Chanyu (冒頓單于), the supreme leader after 209 BCE. 

Modu expanded the Xiongnu Empire  (匈奴帝國) at all dimension. He conquered a number of nomadic peoples, including the Dingling (丁零) of southern Siberia at the north. He crushed the power of the Donghu (東胡) of eastern Mongolia and Manchuria, as well as the Yuezhi at the Hexi Corridor. 

After the North was unified, Modu immediately sent troops to the south to conquer the Chinese Han dynasty (漢朝). At that time, the Chinese dynasty was just reunified, and the first Emperor Liu Bang (劉邦) moved his general to the north to strengthen border defense. 

In 200 BCE, Han's army at the north surrendered to Xiongnu. After getting the Han's army, Modu continued to go south, and Liu Bang had been surrounded by the Xiongnu in Mapu Mountain (near the Datong City) for seven days.

As a results, Liu Bong agreed to have Han princess given in marriage to Xiongnu's Chanyu, and to give tributes to the Xiongnu regularly.

After Modu conquered the northern part of the Han's territory, he began to dominate the oasis city-states of the Western Region (Han dynasty mentioned as Xi Yu (西域), the Tarim Basin and modern Xinjiang). 

Inner Asia about 126 BCE as described by Zhang Qian

Modu was succeeded by his son as Laoshang Chanyu  (老上單于) in 174 BCE.  During Laoshang's reign (174-160 BCE) the expansion of Xiongnu power continued; the Yuezhi were defeated and moved further westward, and Xiongnu thus gained control of the Hexi Corridor.

At that time, the empire was stretching from Korea to the East, Lake Balkash to the West, Lake Baikal to the North and Tibet to the South.

Han-Xiongnu Wars (133-60 BCE)

The Han-Xiongnu Wars was a series of military battles fought between the Chinese Han empire and the Xiongnu confederated state from 133 to 60 BCE.

Under Emperor Wu (漢武帝), the Han dynasty changed from a relatively passive foreign policy to an offensive strategy to deal with the increasing Xiongnu incursions on the northern frontier and also according to general imperial policy to expand the domain. 

In 139 BC, Emperor Wu sent Zhang Qian (張騫) to sought an offensive alliance with the Yuezhi against the Xiongnu. Zhang Qian was once detained by the Xiongnu on the road and he married his Xiongnu wife here. 

In 129 BC, Zhang Qian escaped from the control of the Xiongnu, and then went west along the Tarim River; over the great hills; the Ferghana basin; and finally reached the location of the Yuezhi people at Sogdia (modern Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, Chinese History mentioned as Kangju 康居).

Zhang Qian spent a year in Transoxiana, when he returned to Chang'an (長安) in 126 BCE, he brought important information about the peoples and towns of the areas he had visited. These helped the Chinese to expand into Central Asia in the later time.

Between 127 and 119 BCE, Emperor Wu ordered the generals Wei Qing (衛青) and Huo Qubing (霍去病) to lead several large-scale military campaigns against the Xiongnu. Leading campaigns involving tens of thousands of troops, Wei Qing captured the Ordos Desert region from the Xiongnu in 127 BCE and Huo Qubing expelled them from the Qilian Mountains in 121 BCE.

By 115 BC, the Han had conquered the Hexi Corridor and set up commanders at Jiuquan (酒泉) and Wuwei (武威), while extending the old Qin fortifications from Lingju (靈州) to the area west of Dunhuang (敦煌). 

Between 115 and 60 BCE, the Han and Xiongnu competed for control and influence over the Western city-states, which saw the rise of power of the Han empire over eastern Central Asia with the decline of that of the Xiongnu's.

The Protectorate of the Western Regions (西域都護府) was officially established in 60 BCE by Emperor Xuan of Han (漢宣帝, reigned 74-49 BCE), which signified the end of Xiongnu powers in the Western Region. 

During its existence from 60 BCE to 8 CE for the Western Han dynasty and from 74 to 160 CE for the Eastern Han dynasty , the Protector-General (西域都護), which were appointed by the Han's emperor, was the highest military position in the western region.

Book of Han 漢書, Book of the Later Han 後漢書

The Book of Han (漢書) is a history of China finished in 111 CE, covering the Western Han (西漢)  dynasty from the first emperor in 206 BCE to the fall of Wang Mang  (王莽, who forced the last Western Han emperor to abdicate) in 23 CE.

The work was composed by Ban Gu (班固), a court official, with the help of his sister Ban Zhao (班昭 the first known female Chinese historian), continuing the work of their father, Ban Biao (班彪). 

They modeled their work on the Records of the Grand Historian, but theirs was the first in this annals-biography form to cover a single dynasty. It is the best source, sometimes the only one, for many topics in this period. 

A second work, the Book of the Later Han (後漢書) covers the Eastern Han (東漢) period from 25 to 220 CE, and was composed only in 5th century by Fan Ye (范曄, 398-445 CE) during the southern Song dynasty.  

Split of Xiongnu during Western Han (60-36 BCE)

When the 12th Chanyu died in 60 BC, the first Xiongnu civil war followed.  In 58 BCE, Huhanye (呼韓邪), a younger son of the 12th Chanyu, revolted and made himself the Chanyu. In 56 BC Zhizhi (郅支), an elder brother of Huhanye, revolted, called himself Chanyu, and drove Huhanye out of the royal domain.

Huhanye moved south and led his tens of thousands of riders to submit to the Chinese (53 BCE). In 51 BCE, Huhanye came to Chang'an to meet Emperor Xuan, becoming the first Chanyu to meet the Han emperor.

Huhanye then used Chinese support to strengthen himself against his elder brother.  Getting weaker, in 49 BCE Zhizhi began moving west in the hope of reconstituting his empire.

About 44 BCE Zhizhi made a close alliance with Kangju near Lake Balkhash. Later he quarreled with the Kangju, killed several hundred of them and forced them to build him a fortress which required two years to build. In 36 BCE, he was killed by the Chinese army at the Battle of Zhizhi.

The battle was probably fought near the Talas River in eastern Kazakhstan, which makes it one of the westernmost points reached by a Chinese army. The better-known Battle of Talas in 751 CE was fought in the same area.

After Huhanye's death in 31 BC, the Xiongnu who were remained in the Ordos region, had re-gained their power and eventually they overthrew the Han protectorate in 18 BCE. Corresponding to the political upheavals of the Wang Mang's Xin dynasty (新朝, 9-23 CE) in China, the Xiongnu took the opportunity to regain control of the western regions, as well as neighboring peoples such as the Wusun. 

Split of Xiongnu during Eastern Han (48-160 CE)

Famines, plagues and revolts during the reign of Emperor Guangwu (光武帝, the first Eastern Han emperor, reigned 25-57 CE) resulted in the break up of the Xiongnu into Northern and Southern Xiongnu in 48 CE.

A confederation of eight Xiongnu tribes base in the south, with a military force totaling 40,000 to 50,000 men, seceded from Punu's (蒲奴單于) kingdom and acclaimed Bi (日逐王比, grandson of Huhanye Chanyu) as Huhanye II Chanyu. This kingdom became known as the Southern Xiongnu.

Consequently, in 50 CE, the Southern Xiongnu submitted to tributary relations with Emperor Guangwu. They were remained in the Ordos region and were under control by the Eastern Han dynasty.

The rump kingdom under Punu, around the Orkhon (modern north central Mongolia) became known as the Northern Xiongnu. Punu, who became known as the Northern Chanyu.

Ban Chao ( 班超 32-102 CE), was a Chinese military general, explorer and diplomat of the Eastern Han dynasty. Three of his family members — father Ban Biao, elder brother Ban Gu, younger sister Ban Zhao — were well known historians who wrote the book of Han. 

Ban Chao led Han forces in the war against the Xiongnu and secured Eastern Han's control over the Tarim Basin region for over 30 years. He was awarded the title "Protector General" by the Eastern Han emperors.

While the Northern Xiongnu succeeded in playing a role in the West (their armies intervened at Khotan and Yarkand after 61 CE), the Chinese regained control of the region of Turfan in 74 CE and chased them from Mongolia in 90 CE by Eastern Han general Dou Xian (竇憲). At the Battle of Altai Mountains, they massacred 5,000 Xiongnu men and pursued the Northern Chanyu until he escaped to an unknown place.

Movement of Southern Xiongnu at 50 CE and Northern Xiongnu at 91 CE

By 91 CE, the last remnants of the Northern Xiongnu had migrated west towards the Ili River valley, while many Northern Xiongnu tribes surrendered to Han Chinese and were settled within the frontiers. 

However, after the death of Ban Chao, the Western Regions rebelled against Chinese rule in 107 CE. The Eastern Han's army had to retreat. The Northern Xiongnu, with several thousand men, continued to intervene in the region of Turfan.

To deal with the remaining Xiongnu in the Western Regions, the Eastern Han emperor appointed Ban Yong (班勇, youngest son of Ban Chao) as the Chief Official of the Western Regions (西域長史). Ban Yong defeated the Northern Xiongnu twice in 124 and 126 CE. 

The Northern Xiongnu began to move further westward, and after 160 CE, activities of the Northern Xiongnu people were not known because of the lack of historical records.

How about the Xiongnu people at the south? 50-460 CE

By the end of 2nd century CE, the Southern Xiongnu people had abandoned the nomadic and changed the way of agricultural settlement. They were registered and paying taxes to the Eastern Han governors.

At the same time, large numbers of Chinese were also resettled in these mixed Han-Xiongnu settlement area. Economically, the Southern Xiongnu people became reliant on trade with the Han Chinese.

The Chinese began to hire Xiongnu generals to patrol northern borders, and these semi-Sinicized tribesmen were employed as mercenaries by various warlords, particularly during the last puppet Eastern Han emperor (189-220 CE) and establishment of the three separate dynasties (Three Kingdom period, 220-280 CE).

In 304 CE one of these Xiongnu generals, Liu Yuan (劉淵), who claimed descent from the early Han emperors through a Chinese princess given in marriage to a Xiongnu chief, declared himself the first ruler of the new Han dynasty (漢王).  His family had changed their surname to the Han dynasty's national name Liu (劉). 

Already the ruler of the Xiongnu people of today northern Shanxi, Liu Yuan conquered much of the morden Shanxi during a civil war of Jin dynasty (晉, the re-united Chinese dynasty after 280 CE) known as the Revolt of the Eight Kings (八王之亂), he took the title of king of Han in 308 CE. 

Liu's invasion is seen as the start of the “barbarian” inundation of China that continued until 439 CE (Sixteen Kingdoms period, 308-439 CE).

Former and Later Zhao dynasties

Liu's dynasty was renamed as Zhao (趙) by his son and successor. In 329 CE, however, the dynasty was overthrown by another Xiongnu general, Shi Le, who in 319 CE had established his own Later Zhao dynasty, which was also short-lived (until 350 CE).

Xiongnu raids continued during the Sixteen Kingdoms period, but all references to the tribe disappear from Chinese history texts after 460 CE, when the Northern China was united by the Xianbei Touba (鮮卑族拓跋部) and the last Xiongnu state at Turfan was conquered by the Rouran Khaganate (柔然部落, Jujan). 

The southern Xiongnu people who stayed in Northern China were finally mixed and integrated into the Han Chinese people.

Afterwards

The dominant nomad people in the Mongolian steppe in the 6th century, the Tujue (突厥), were identified with the Turks and claimed to be descended from the Xiongnu. 

A number of Xiongnu customs do suggest Turkish affinity, which has led some historians to suggest that the western Xiongnu may have been the ancestors of the European Turks of later centuries. Others believe that the Xiongnu are the Huns, who invaded the Roman Empire in the 5th century.  

The graves of several chanyu excavated in the Selenga River valley in southern Siberia have been found to contain remains of Chinese, Iranian, and Greek textiles, indicating a wide trade between the Xiongnu and distant peoples.

Where was the Northern Xiongnu people moved ? 160-350 CE

After 160 CE,  no historical records were found about the Northern Xiongnu peoples until the Book of Wei.

The Book of Wei, also known as the Wei Shu (魏書), is a Chinese historical text compiled by Wei Shou (魏收) from 551 to 554. It is an important text describing the history of the Northern Wei and Eastern Wei from 386 to 550.

Two Xiongnu states are described, the Yueban Xiongnu and Sogdia Xiongnu:

Yueban Xiongnu (悅般國)

“悅般國，在烏孫西北，去代一萬九百三十里。其先，匈奴北單于之部落也。為漢車騎將軍竇憲所逐，北單于度金微山西走康居，其羸弱不能去者，住龜茲北。地方數千里，眾可二十餘萬，涼州人猶謂之單于王。”

People of some Northern Xiongnu tribes were occupying the territory at the north-west of Wusun state (烏孫), and established the Yueban Xiongnu there. After the Northern Chanyu (北單于) was defeated by Dou Xian (竇憲) in 91 CE, they fled westward along the Altai Mountains (金微山) toward Kanju (康居). For those weaker people who could not go further, they were stayed at the north of Kucha (龜茲,  in modern Xianjiang).

Sogdia Xiongnu (粟特國)

“粟特國，在蔥嶺之西，古之奄蔡，一名溫那沙，居於大澤，在康居西北，去代一萬六千里。先是，匈奴殺其王而有其國，至王忽倪，已三世矣。文成初，粟特王遣使請贖之，詔聽焉。”

Sogdia state was located at the west of the Pamir Mountains (蔥嶺) and  north-west of Kanju (康居),  previously called Alani (奄蔡), it was now called wen-na-sha or huna-sha (溫那沙).  

The state was formed when the Xiongnu people killed the king of Sogdia and occupied the area. 忽倪 was the third Xiongnu king of Sogdia. He had sent a messenger to Chinese Northern Wei dynasty (北魏) at the earlier years of Emperor Wencheng  (文成帝,  reigned 440–465 CE).

According to the Book of Later Han, 奄蔡 should be the Alani (阿蘭聊):

"奄蔡國，改名阿蘭聊國，居地城，屬康居。土氣溫和，多楨松、白草。民俗衣服與康居同。"

If we assume that there are around 90 years for three generation, then the Xiongnu people might reach Sogdia by 350 CE (440 CE - 90 years) and they destroyed the Alani at that time.

The Alans (Latin: Alani) were an Iranian nomadic pastoral people who are mentioned by Roman sources in the 1st century CE. At the time, they had settled the region north of the Black Sea and frequently raided the Parthian Empire and the Caucasian provinces of the Roman Empire.

Did the Xiongnu and Huns the same people ?

Since the 18th century, some scholars believe that the Huns, who appeared at the north of the Black Sea around 370 CE, were the Xiongnu as described in the Chinese history books.  

The main reason for suspicion is that the Northern Xiongnu moved westward since 160 CE and the Huns appeared in Europe three hundred years later (370 CE). From the geographical points of view, the following situations might be possible:

1. The Xiongnu people who stayed at Sogdia by 350 CE, would mix with the local Central Asia tribes (e.g. YueChi, Kushans), and would became the White Huns (Hephthalites, or Huna, or 嚈噠, 白匈奴). They established the Hephthalite Empire later at around 440 CE. 

2. Huns was one of the Xiongnu and/or Huna tribes who fled westward from Sogdia starting from 350 CE.

In addition, the "Xiong" of the "Xiongnu" and the "Huns" are pronounced in the rhyme. Scholars also discussed the relationship between them and a number of people in central Asia were also known as or came to be identified with the name "Hun" or "Iranian Huns", the Chionites, the Kidarites, and the Hephthalites (or White Huns) being the most prominent.

Furthermore, from China records it indicate that the Xiongnu have destroyed Alani (奄蔡) in around 350 CE and Europe has also recorded that the Huns have destroyed the Kingdom of Alans at the same time.

Huns 350-400 CE

The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe, between the 4th and 6th century CE. 

According to sources of European history, they were first reported living east of the Volga River, in an area that was part of Scythia at the time. During the mid-to-late fourth century, the Huns pushed westward. The Huns crossed the Volga River and attacked the Alans. The Huns quickly engaged and slaughtered them.  Afterwards, the Huns made an alliance with the survivors. 

They show up north of the Black Sea around 370 CE, and started plundering Gothic settlements. They quickly defeated the Ostrogoths between the Don and the Dniester. About 376 CE they defeated the Visigoths living in what is now approximately Romania and thus arrived at the Danubian frontier of the Roman Empire.

As early as 380 CE, a group of Huns was given Foederati status and allowed to settle in Pannonia by Roman governors.

As warriors the Huns inspired almost unparalleled fear throughout Europe. They were amazingly accurate mounted archers, and their complete command of horsemanship, their ferocious charges and unpredictable retreats, and the speed of their strategical movements brought them overwhelming victories.

The Migration Period (380-750 CE) or the Barbarian invasions, was a period of intensified human migration in Europe within the Roman Empire. The migrants were Germanic tribes such as the Goths, Vandals, Angles, Saxons, Burgundians, Lombards and Suebi; they were pushed westwards by the Huns with the Bulgars and Alans. 

In 395 CE the Huns began their first large-scale attack on the Eastern Roman Empire. Huns attacked in Thrace, overran Armenia, and pillaged Cappadocia before the East Romans were forced to sign a treaty. 

It is no surprise that the Romans chose to pay off the Huns for peace rather than face them on the field. Ammianus' description of the Hun's tactics is cited below: 

"they fight in no regular order of battle, but by being extremely swift and sudden in their movements, they disperse, and then rapidly come together again in loose array, spread havoc over vast plains, and flying over the rampart, they pillage the camp of their enemy almost before he has become aware of their approach."

Ammianus Marcellinus (330–391/400 CE) was a Roman soldier and historian. His work chronicled in Latin the history of Rome from the accession of the Emperor Nerva in 96 CE to the death of Valens at the Battle of Adrianople in 378 CE, although only the sections covering the period 353–378 CE survive.

Hunnic Empire 434-455 CE

The Huns stimulated the Great Migration, a contributing factor in the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, and they formed a unified Hunnic Empire (434-455 CE) under Attila the Hun (reigned 445-453 CE).

Roman and Hunnic Empires at 450 CE

In 450 CE, Honoria, sister of the Western Roman Emperor Valentinian III, sent Attila a ring and requested his help to escape her betrothal to a senator. Attila claimed her as his bride and half the Western Roman Empire as dowry. In 451, Attila's forces entered Gaul, accumulating contingents from the Franks, Goths and Burgundian tribes en route. 

In 452, Attila renewed his claims to Honoria. Leading his horde across the Alps and into Northern Italy, he sacked and razed the cities of Aquileia, Vicetia, Verona and Milan. Hoping to avoid the sack of Rome, Emperor Valentinian III sent three envoys, the high civilian officers as well as Pope Leo I, who met Attila at Mincio in the vicinity of Mantua, and obtained from him the promise that he would withdraw from Italy. 

However, in 453 he married a girl with the Germanic name Ildico, and died of a haemorrhage on his wedding night. After his death, former subjects soon united under Ardaric, leader of the Gepids, against the Hun and the Hunnic Empire collapsed in 455, and many of the remaining Huns were often hired as mercenaries by Constantinople. The Pannonian basin then was occupied by the Gepids.

Strange enough, same as the Xiongnu people in China, history of the Huns are not known after 460 CE.

Afterward 

As the Huns were illiterate and thus kept no records, all surviving accounts were written by enemies of the Huns, and none describe the Huns as attractive either morally or in appearance. 

Jordanes, a Goth writing in Italy in 551 CE, a century after the collapse of the Hunnic Empire, describes the Huns as a "savage race, which dwelt at first in the swamps, a stunted, foul and puny tribe, scarcely human and having no language save one which bore but slight resemblance to human speech".

Jordanes also recounted how Priscus (a Byzantine diplomat) had described Attila the Hun as: "Short of stature, with a broad chest and a large head; his eyes were small, his beard thin and sprinkled with grey; and he had a flat nose and tanned skin, showing evidence of his origin.

Many people thought that the modern Hungarians are descendants of the Huns. The Hungarian name is surname come first and then other names, and is different from other Europeans, just like the Chinese. In addition, many Hungarian folk songs are the same as those of Inner Mongolia.

In fact, Hungarians are the fans of Huns. Archaeological achievements show that the Hungarian people (Magyars) came from Ural Mountains to Eastern Europe hundreds of years (at the 9th century) after the fall of Hunnic Empire. 

The latecomers who are good at riding and shooting, and who like to plunder, have evoked the painful memories of Europeans. Medieval scholars often refer to these Magyars as "Huns", and the Magyars also happily took over the names of the Hun descendants after after they conquered the whole Carpathian Basin in the 10th century.

As of today, Attila is still the name adopted by many people in Hungary.

Where did the Huns go? 

According to archaeological evidence, it is discovered that the Bulgars were inextricably linked with the Huns. 

Who were the Bulgars? The origin of the Bulgars and their homeland are still subjects of research generating many hypothesis and violent disputes. 

Bulgars are one of the ethnic ancestors of modern Bulgarians. They were mentioned for the first time in 354 CE by Anonymous Roman Chronograph as people living north of the Caucasus mountain and west of the Volga River. 

Bulgars might invaded Europe with the Huns about 370 CE, and retreating with the Huns about 460 CE and they resettled in the area north and east of the Sea of Azov.

Some time later, as we learn from Jordanes, groups of Huns returned to their "inner" territory on the river Dnieper (Ukraine) where they reorganized on a smaller scale. 

From the 460s to the 480s onward, the Huns began to intermarry with more vigor, other nomadic horsemen that lived in the northern Balkans through the Pontic Steppes and into the lands of the north Caucasus. 

The youth of Attila's people were to mix with the Bulgars and the Sarmatians giving rise to a new breed of culture and identity, thus beginning the emergence of the Hunno-Bulgars.

Turkic States in 6th Century

They did not appear in the history of East and West until the sudden rise of the Turkic people (Tele, Turkut, Kyrgyz) in the 6th century. At that time they have been collectively referred to as the Bulgars, Utigurs, Kutrigurs, Onogurs.