The Khazars (Greek: Χ?ζαροι, Hebrew: ?????? (Kuzarim), Turkish: Hazarlar, Tatar: Xäzärlär, Arabic: ???‎ (khazar), Russian: ??????, Persian: ???‎,Latin: Gazari[/Cosri /Gasani]) were a semi-nomadic Turkic people who created what for its duration was the most powerful polity to emerge from the breakup of the western Turkish steppe empire, known as the Khazar Khanate or Khazaria. Astride a major artery of commerce between northern Europe and southwestern Asia, Khazaria became one of the foremost trading emporia of the medieval world, commanding the western marches of the Silk Road and played a key commercial role as a crossroad between China, the Middle East, and European Russia. For some three centuries (c. 650--965) the Khazars dominated the vast area extending from the Volga-Don steppes to the eastern Crimea and the northern Caucasus

Khazaria long served as a buffer state between the Byzantine empire and both the nomads of the northern steppes and the Umayyad empire, after serving as Byzantium's proxy against the Sassanid Persian empire. The alliance was dropped around 900 CE., as Byzantium began to encourage the Alans to attack Khazaria and weaken its hold on Crimea and the Caucasus, while seeking to obtain an entente with the rising Rus' power to Khazaria's north, which it aspired to convert to Christianity. Between 965 and 969, the Kievan Rus ruler Sviatoslav I of Kiev conquered the capital Atil and destroyed the Khazar state.

Beginning in the 8th century, Khazar royalty and notable segments of the aristocracy converted to Judaism; the populace appears to have been multi-confessional—a mosaic of pagan, Tengrist, Jewish, Christian and Muslim worshippers—and polyethnic. A modern theory, that the core of Ashkenazi Jewry emerged from a hypothetical Khazarian Jewish diaspora, is now viewed with scepticism by most scholars, but occasionally supported by others. This Khazarian hypothesis is sometimes associated with antisemitism and anti-Zionism.

Gyula Németh, following Zoltán Gombocz, derived Xazar from a hypothetical *Qasar reflecting a Turkic root qaz- ("to ramble, to roam") being an hypothetical velar variant of Common Turkic kez-. With the publication of the fragmentary Tes and Terkhin inscriptions of the Uy?ur empire (744-840) where the form 'Qasar' is attested, though uncertainty remains whether this represents a personal or tribal name, gradually other hypotheses emerged. Louis Bazin derived it from Turkic qas- ("tyrannize, oppress, terrorize") on the basis of its phonetic similarity to the Uy?ur tribal name, Qasar. András Róna-Tas connects it with Kesar, the Pahlavi transcription of the Roman title Caesar.

D.M.Dunlop tried to link the Chinese term for "Khazars" to one of the tribal names of the Uy?ur Toquz O?uz, namely the Gésà. The objections are that Uy?ur Gesa/Qasar was not a tribal name but rather the surname of the chief of the Sikari tribe of the Toquz O?uz, and that in Middle Chinese the ethnonym "Khazars", always prefaced with the word T?jué signifying 'Türk' (T?jué K?sà bù:?????; T?jué Hésà:????), is transcribed with different characters than that used to render the Qa- in the Uy?ur word 'Qasar'. After their conversion it is reported that they adopted the Hebrew script,[24] and it is likely that, though speaking a Türkic language, the Khazar chancellery under Judaism probably corresponded in Hebrew.
Tribal origins and early history

The tribes[26] constituting the Khazar union were, according to the most widely approved view, basically Turkic groups, such as the O?uric peoples, including Šara?urs, O?urs, Ono?urs, and Bul?ars, who formed part of the Ti?lè (??) confederation. These tribes, many driven out of their homelands by the Sabirs, who in turn fled the Asian Avars, began to flow into the Volga-Caspian-Pontic zone from as early as the 4th century CE and are recorded by Priscus to reside in the Western Eurasian steppelands as early as 463. They appear to stem from Mongolia and South Siberia in the aftermath of the fall of the Hunnic/Xi?ngnú nomadic polities. A variegated tribal federation led by these T?rks, probably comprising a complex assortment of Iranian, proto-Mongolic, Uralic, and Palaeo-Siberian clans, vanquished the Rouran Khaganate of the hegemonic central Asian Avars in 552 and swept westwards, taking in their train other steppe nomads and peoples from the Sogdian kingdom.

Upon the arrival of Columbus in 1492 in the Carabean Islands, unknown to Columbus (and majority of the Eastern Hemisphere), he landed on Islands located in the middle of two huge continents now known has North America and South America that was teaming with huge Civilizations (that rivaled any in the world at that time) and thousands of smaller Nations and Tribes. With recent estimations, the population may have been over 100 million people that spanned from Alaska and Green Land, all the to the tip of southern South America. Pre Colombian North America (north of Mesoamerica):In Pre-Canada, most people lived along the coast, along the major rivers"I'll finishing editing this soon"

The Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as for its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Pre-Classic period (c. 2000 BC to AD 250), according to the Mesoamerican chronology, many Maya cities reached their highest state of development during the Classic period (c. AD 250 to 900), and continued throughout the Post-Classic period until the arrival of the Spanish.

The animation for this one hour documentary illustrates not only how the ancient cities of Chaco Canyon may have looked but also how they oriented to astronomical events.

Most European Castles were made out of wood until the 12th Century, even the original Moscow Kremlin, built in 1156, was built using pine and not enlarged and rebuilt out of stone until 1380.

In its simplest terms, the definition of a castle accepted amongst academics is "a private fortified residence". This contrasts with earlier fortifications, such as Anglo Saxon burhs and walled cities such as Constantinople and Antioch in the Middle East; castles were not communal defences but were built and owned by the local feudal lords, either for themselves or for their monarch. Feudalism was the link between a lord and his vassal where, in return for military service, the lord would grant the vassal land and expect loyalty. In the late 20th century, there was a trend to refine the definition of a castle by including the criterion of feudal ownership, thus tying castles to the medieval period, however, this does not necessarily reflect the terminology used in the medieval period. During the First Crusade (1096–1099) the Frankish armies encountered walled settlements and forts that they indiscriminately referred to as castles, but which would not be considered as such under the modern definition.

Since the Basque language is unrelated to Indo-European, it is often thought that they represent the people or culture who occupied Europe before the spread of Indo-European languages there.

It is thought that Basques are a remnant of the early inhabitants of Western Europe, specifically those of the Franco-Cantabrian region. Basque tribes were already mentioned in Roman times by Strabo and Pliny, including the Vascones, the Aquitani, and others. There is enough evidence to support that at that time and later they spoke old varieties of the Basque language.

In the Early Middle Ages, up to 9–10th centuries, the territory between the Ebro and Garonne rivers was known as Vasconia, a blur ethnic area and polity struggling to fend off the pressure of the Iberian Visigothic kingdom and Muslim rule on the south and the Frankish push on the north. A Basque presence is cited on the southern banks of the Loire river also in the 7–8th centuries. By the turn of the millennium, after Muslim invasions and Frankish expansion under Charlemagne, the territory of Vasconia, which was to become Gascony, fragmented into different feudal regions, for example, the viscountcies of Soule and Labourd out of former tribal systems and minor realms,County of Vasconia, while south of the Pyrenees the Kingdom of Castile, Kingdom of Pamplona and the Pyrenean counties of Aragon, Sobrarbe, Ribagorza which was later merged into the Kingdom of Aragon, and Pallars arose as the main regional powers with Basque population in the ninth century.

The Kingdom of Pamplona, a central Basque realm, later known as Navarre, experienced feudalization and was subjected to the influences of its vaster Aragonese, Castilian and French neighbours, with Castile annexing key western territories of it in the 11th and the twelfth century, so depriving the kingdom of a direct way out to the ocean. Eventually the bulk of the realm would fall to the thrust of Spanish troops from 1512 to 1521 after a civil war. The Navarrese territory north of the Pyrenees remaining out of Spanish rule would end up being formally absorbed to France in 1620.

Nevertheless the Basque provinces enjoyed a great deal of self-government until the French Revolution in the North and the civil wars named Carlist Wars in the South when the Basques supported heir apparent Carlos and his descendants to the cry of "God, Fatherland, King" (Charters abolished). Since then, despite the current limited self-governing status of the Basque Autonomous Community and Navarre as settled by the Spanish Constitution, a significant part of Basque society is still attempting higher degrees of self-empowerment, sometimes by acts of violence.

Covering the period 3100 BC -- 1000 AD. Simon Schama starts his story in the stone age village of Skara Brae, Orkney. Over the next four thousand years Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Vikings, Danes, and Christian missionaries arrive, fight, settle and leave their mark on what will become the nations of Britain.

Hundreds of years ago in faraway Iceland the Vikings began to write down dozens of stories called sagas - sweeping narratives based on real people and real events from their great adventures in Europe, Asia, and North America..

The term Viking from Old Norse víkingr is customarily used to refer to the Scandinavian explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.

These Norsemen used their famed long ships to travel to Constantinople and the Volga River in Russia and on into the Caspian Sea and as far south as Baghdad, and as far west as Iceland, Greenland, and Newfoundland. This period of Viking expansion – known as the Viking Age – forms a major part of the medieval history of Scandinavia, England, Scotland, France, Frisia, Holland, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Sicily, Ireland, Germany, Russia, Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Finland ,Ukraine, Moldova and Italy.

There were two distinct classes of Viking ships: the "long ship" and the "knarr". The long ship, intended for warfare and exploration, was designed for speed and agility, and was equipped with oars to complement the sail as well as making it able to navigate independently of the wind. The long ship had a long and narrow hull, as well as a shallow draft, in order to facilitate landings and troop deployments in shallow water. The knarr was a dedicated merchant vessel designed to carry cargo. It was designed with a broader hull, deeper draft and limited number of oars used primarily to maneuver in harbors and similar situations. One Viking innovation was the 'beitass', a spar mounted to the sail that allowed their ships to sail effectively against the wind.

The period from the earliest recorded raids in the 790s until the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 is commonly known as the Viking Age of Scandinavian history. Vikings used the North Sea and Baltic Sea for sea routes to the South. The Normans were descended from Danish and Norwegian Vikings who were given feudal overlordship of areas in northern France — the Duchy of Normandy — in the 10th century. In that respect, descendants of the Vikings continued to have an influence in Northern Europe. Likewise, King Harold Godwinson, the last Anglo-Saxon king of England, had Danish ancestors.

As early as 839, when Swedish merchants are first known to have visited Constantinople, Scandinavians served as mercenaries in the service of the Byzantine Empire. In the late 10th century, a new unit of the imperial bodyguard was formed which traditionally contained large numbers of Scandinavians. This was known as the Varangian Guard. The word "Varangian" may have originated in Old Norse, but in Slavic and Greek it could refer either to Scandinavians or Franks. The most eminent Scandinavian to serve in the Varangian Guard was Harald Hardrada, who later became king of Norway (1047–66).
Important trading ports during the period include Birka, Doerstad, Hedeby, Kaupang, Jorvik,  Ladoga, Novgorod and Kiev.

Generally speaking, the Norwegians expanded to the north and west to places such as Ireland, Scotland, Iceland and Greenland; the Danes to England and France, and settling in England and Normandy; and the Swedes, Gotlanders and Frisians to the East, founding the original Russia State under prince Rurick at Novgorod. Also, according to the Icelandic sagas, some Norwegian Vikings went to Russia and Eastern Europe.

Genetic Studies
Studies of genetic diversity provide some indication of the origin and expansion of the Viking population. The Haplogroup I1 (defined by specific genetic markers on the Y-chomosome) is sometimes referred to as the "Viking haplogroup". This mutation occurs with the greatest frequency among Scandinavian males: 35 percent in Norway, Denmark and Sweden, and peaking at 40 percent within western Finland. It is also common near the southern Baltic and North Sea coasts, and then successively decreases the further south geographically.

Genetic studies in the British Isles of the Y-DNA Haplogroup R1a1, seen also across Scandinavia, have demonstrated that the Vikings settled in Britain and Ireland as well as raiding there. Both male and female descent studies show evidence of Norwegian descent in areas closest to Scandinavia, such as the Shetland and Orkney Islands. Inhabitants of lands farther away show most Norse descent in the male Y-chromosome lines.

A specialized surname study in Liverpool demonstrated marked Norse heritage, up to 50 percent of males who belonged to original families, those who lived there before the years of industrialization and population expansion. High percentages of Norse inheritance—tracked through R1a1 haplotype signatures—were also found among males in the Wirral and West Lancashire. This was similar to the percentage of Norse inheritance found among males in the Orkney Islands.

Recent research suggests that the Scottish warrior Somerled, who drove the Vikings out of Scotland and was the progenitor of Clan Donald, may himself have been of Viking descent—a member of Haplogroup R1a1.

The R1a group is of Iranian origin, thought to have originated in what is now Ukraine 15,000 years ago, Baltic, Slavic, and Germanic males have high percentages of Iranian DNA .

The occupation of Constantinople and Smyrna by the Allies in the aftermath of World War I prompted the establishment of the Turkish national movement.Under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Pasha, a military commander who had distinguished himself during the Battle of Gallipoliin World War 1, the Turkish War of Independence was waged with the aim of revoking the terms of the Treaty of Sèvres.

By 18 September 1922, the occupying armies were expelled, and the Ankara-based Turkish regime, which declared itself the legitimate government of the country in April 1920, started to formalize the legal transition from the old Ottoman Empire  into the new Republican political system. On 1 November, the newly founded parliament formally abolished the Sultanate, thus ending 623 years of Ottoman rule. The Treaty of Lausanne of 24 July 1923 led to the international recognition of the sovereignty of the newly formed "Republic of Turkey" as the continuing state of the Ottoman Empire, and the republic was officially proclaimed on 29 October 1923 in Ankara, the country's new capital. The Lausanne treaty stipulated a population exchange between Greece and Turkey, whereby 1.1 million Greeks left Turkey for Greece in exchange for 380,000 Turks transferred from Greece to Turkey.

Mustafa Kemal became the republic's first President and subsequently introduced many radical reforms with the aim of transforming old Ottoman-Turkish state into a new secular republic.With the Surname Law of 1934, the Turkish Parliament bestowed upon Mustafa Kemal the honorific surname "Atatürk" (Father of the Turks.)

Mississippian people constructed enormous earthen pyramids throughout the USA Midwest and South, they even played an early version of lacrosse.

The Mississippian culture was a mound-building Native American culture that flourished in what is now the Midwestern, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from approximately 800 CE to 1500 CE, varying regionally.

The Mississippian way of life began to develop in the Mississippi River Valley (for which it is named). Cultures in the tributary Tennessee River Valley may have also begun to develop Mississippian characteristics at this point. Almost all dated Mississippian sites predate 1539-1540 (when Hernando de Soto explored the area).

The Mississippian stage is usually divided into three or more periods. Each of these periods is an arbitrary historical distinction that varies from region to region. At one site, each period may be considered to begin earlier or later, depending on the speed of adoption or development of given Mississippian traits.

    Early Mississippian cultures had just transitioned from the Late Woodland period way of life (500–1000 C.E.). Different groups abandoned tribal life ways for increasing complexity, sedentism, centralization, and agriculture. The Early Mississippian period was from c. 1000 to 1200 C.E. Production of surplus corn and attractions of the regional chiefdoms led to rapid population concentrations in major centers.

    The Middle Mississippian period is often considered the high point of the Mississippian era. The expansion of the great metropolis and ceremonial complex at Cahokia (in present-day Illinois), the formation of other complex chiefdoms, and the spread and development of SECC art and symbolism are characteristic changes of this period. The Mississippian traits listed above came to be widespread throughout the region. In most places, this period is recognized as occurring c. 1200–1400 C.E.

    The Late Mississippian period, usually considered from c. 1400 to European contact, is characterized by increasing warfare, political turmoil, and population movement. The population of Cahokia dispersed early in this period (1350–1400), perhaps migrating to other rising political centers. More defensive structures are often seen at sites, and sometimes a decline in mound-building and ceremonialism. Although some areas continued an essentially Middle Mississippian culture until the first significant contact with Europeans, the population of most areas had dispersed or were experiencing severe social stress by 1500. Along with the contemporary Anasazi, these cultural collapses coincide with the global climate change of the Little Ice Age. Scholars have theorized that drought and the collapse of maize agriculture, together with possible deforestation and over hunting by the concentrated populations, forced them to move away from major sites.

Largest pyramid city north of Mexico.Cahokia was the center of a pyramid civilization in the center of what s today called "The United States."It was one of hundreds of such pyramid sites. It was also the largest of them all.You can still climb the pyramids in Cahokia State Park.

This is an educational animation, a visualization of Frisian trade routes from the capital Dorestad. There are not a lot of information videos about the Frisians. Below is a brief synopsis of the Frisians.

The Frisians are very important in the history of the Britain. The Frisian language is the closest language to English. Frisian is the bridge between three sister languages English, Frisian and Dutch. When the Angles, Saxons and Jutes invaded Britain after the Romans had left, the Frisians were part of the invaders also.

The Frisians were basically a Viking type Germanic culture, trade or raid whichever will give the best overall outcome financially at the time. The Frisian lands are in Holland and small parts of Southern Denmark and N.W. Germany. The Frisians have lived here since before Roman times and it could have been their original homeland.

The Frisians were the great merchants of the early Middle Ages in Northern Europe, their trade routes and trading posts went as far as what is now Northwestern Russia and Northern Norway. The products of Northern Europe furs, amber, salt, honey and beeswax were traded up the Rhine River for weapons, glass, glassware, jewelry and cloth, which were traded back to Northern Europe for their products, a large profit being made by the Frisian Merchants.

Because they had great wealth the Frisians and their capital Dorestad were frequently raided by their cousins the Danes

One of the theories of the founding of Russia is, The Markgraf of Frisia, Roderick Halfdanson, was the legendary Rurick founder of the first Russian princely dynasty. Rurick is the Russian version of the Germanic name Roderick.

In the movie "The War Lord" set in Belgium in the 11th century the warlord's tower is attacked by Frisian raiders.

Of all the Germanic tribes that invaded Britain the Frisians are the only ones that are still with us today.

The Dutch Golden Age was a period in Dutch history, roughly spanning the 17th century, in which Dutch trade, science, military, and art were among the most acclaimed in the world. The first half is characterized by the Eighty Years' War till 1648. The Golden Age went on in peace time during the Dutch Republic until the end of the century.

Pictures of ancient & medieval Russia alternating with scenes from Russia today.

The Varangians were North Germanic groups of Viking merchants, mercenaries and pirates, who from the 8th to the 12th centuries sailed East instead of West, one group established a principality at Novgorod in what is now Russia under their leader Rurik, dominating the The major trade route in the region, one to Constantinople from the Baltic called "The Varangians to the Greeks".

The Varangians to the Greeks was a trade route that connected Scandinavia, the principality of Kiev', and the Byzantine Empire. The route allowed traders along the route to establish a direct prosperous trade with Constantinople, and prompted many of the Varangians to settle in the territories of present-day Belarus, Russia and Ukraine.

In the 13th Century the principality of Kiev was destroyed by the Mongols and the merchants of Novgorod switched their trading to the Volga River Route to the Caspian Sea and the Ural mountain mineral wealth.

The Rurickson Clan was the ruling dynasty of the lands which would become Ukraine from 862-1240 and what would become European Russia until 1598, the successor states of the Principality of Novgorod and capitals of the East Slavs were, The Grand Principality of Kiev, The Grand Principality of Vladimir, The Grand Duchy of Moscow, which was an empire by the time of Ivan the Great.