Khazars

Turkic speaking people who, in the early Middle Ages, lived on both sides of the lower Volga. They were culturally much influenced by Central Asian peoples, especially the Khorezm; the Jewish religion predominated, but others were tolerated. From the 7th century the Khazar state embraced a vast territory from the Urals to the Carpathians, and from the Caucasus to the rivers Oka and Kama, and was based on control of the trade routes between Byzantium and the Far East, and the Arabic Empire and the Slavic peoples to the north. In the 7th and 8th centuries they fought against the Arabic Empire.

The Khazar state was defeated by the Kievan Prince Svyatoslav in 966 and declined until, after the 12th century, the Khazars were unknown.

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