Kangju

Kangju was an ancient group of people whose name in Chinese was 康居 (Kāngjū). The name might have meant "Peaceful Land" or referred to a place where a people called the Kang lived. Over time, later Chinese writers during the Sui and Tang dynasties called their land the State of Kang.

Scholars have tried to connect the Kangju to many different groups. Some think they were originally Tocharian people who moved to an area near modern Tashkent. Others have linked their name to words meaning "stone" in Iranian languages or to tribes mentioned in old writings from places far away.

Archaeological findings suggest that the Kangju spoke an Eastern Iranian language, possibly related to the language called Sogdian. Even though many ideas exist about who the Kangju were, much about them remains a mystery to historians today.

History

Main article: Sogdia

According to Chinese sources from around 140 BCE, Kangju was a kingdom located north of the Dayuan and west of the Wusun, near the Ferghana Valley between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers. The Kangju likely formed their state after the Yuezhi people moved away from the area.

The Chinese explorer Zhang Qian visited Kangju around 128 BCE. He described the Kangju people as nomads with many skilled archers. By the time of the Hanshu, written around the year 23 CE, Kangju had grown to about 600,000 people and controlled nearby lands including Dayuan and Sogdiana.

Kangju often worked with nearby groups but also faced conflicts. They remained independent for many years, issuing their own coins, before being taken over by other groups around 270 CE.

Culture

The Book of Han tells us about the lifestyle of the Kangju leaders. Their ruler spent winters in the capital city of Beitian and summers at a steppe camp, seven days away on horseback.

People from Kangju were likely part of the larger group of Indo-European peoples, closely related to the Sogdians or the Asii. Some experts, like Sinologist Edwin G. Pulleyblank, think they might have been Tocharians.

The Kangju leaders were mostly nomadic tribes, similar to the Yuezhi. Their early burials have been found at places like Berk-kara and Tamdî. These graves often held simple pots, iron swords, arrowheads, and jewelry. Later, they used tombs with chambers for burials. The Kangju respected the ram as an important animal.

Archaeological evidence shows that the Kangju were skilled farmers. Many people lived settled lives, working the land. They built wide canals for irrigation, making much more land fertile than today. Their farming systems were very advanced, even more so than in later times like the Middle Ages.

Archaeology

Kaunchi culture

Kangju was known to archaeologists as the "Kaunchi Culture," existing from the 2nd century BCE to the early 8th century CE. It was centered around the middle part of the Syr Darya River and its smaller rivers like the Angren, Chirchik, and Keles. The culture was named after an old town called Kaunchi-Tepe, first studied in the 1930s.

Settlements from this time were usually near water and had big oval buildings in the middle, sometimes with walls for protection. The largest settlement was a city covering 150 hectares, known as Kang, south of today’s Tashkent. It had a square shape with a wall around it.

People living there mainly raised animals and grew crops like millet, barley, wheat, rice, cotton, melons, and fruits without using irrigation. They made pottery by hand, including large bowls, pots, and cups, often decorated with designs of a ram’s head. Later, pottery made on a wheel became more common, and designs changed from rams to bulls. Weapons also began appearing in burial sites.

The Kaunchi culture spread from the Otrar area along the Syr Darya River to the south of Tashkent and had a big influence on other cultures in Middle Asia.

Inscriptions

Some recent discoveries have given us more information about Kangju and its ties with China.

• A dozen wooden pieces with Chinese writing were found at the Xuanquan site in Dunhuang, China. They date back to the late Western Han dynasty (206 BCE – 24 CE).
• A group of writings in the Sogdian language found by A. N. Podushkin during excavations at Kultobe in Kazakhstan were studied and understood by Nicholas Sims-Williams. These writings add to what we know from Chinese history about Kangju. Sims-Williams also suggested a possible date for these writings.

Genetics

See also: Sintashta culture § Genetics, and Andronovo culture § Genetics

Genetic studies show that the people of Kangju were closely related to other groups in the area, such as the Andronovo, the Sarmatians, the Sakas, and the Tagar.

Scientists looked at the DNA of six Kangju people who lived between about 200 CE and 300 CE. They found that these people had ancestors from groups like Anatolian farmers, Iranian farmers, and Hunter Gatherers from West Siberia. The Kangju and the Wusun had less connection to East Asian groups than the Xiongnu and Sakas. They likely came from Western Steppe Herders who mixed with Siberian hunter-gatherers and people related to the Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex.

A later study in 2021 showed that 90% of the Kangju’s ancestry came from the Sarmatians, with the remaining 10% coming from BMAC ancestry.

Notes and references