Gokturk Khaganate

The First Turkic Khaganate, often called the Gokturk Khaganate after the Ashina clan of the Gokturks who founded it, was established in medieval Inner Asia under the leadership of Bumin Qaghan and his brother Istami in 552. Succeeding the earlier Rouran Khaganate as the dominant power of the Mongolian Plateau, the new khaganate expanded rapidly across Central Asia and became the first transcontinental empire to arise from the region, its territory and influence stretching from Manchuria in the east to the Black Sea region in the west. The khaganate's rise brought the Turkic peoples into direct diplomatic and military contact with neighboring powers including Sasanian Persia, the Byzantine Empire and Sui-dynasty China, and it played a central role in controlling the Silk Road trade routes that crossed its territory. Internal succession disputes led the khaganate to split into rival eastern and western khaganates around 603, ending its brief existence as a single unified state.