The earliest people known as "Kyrgyz" were the descendants of several Central Asian tribes, first emerging in western Mongolia around 201 BC. Modern Kyrgyz people are descended in part from the Yenisei Kyrgyz that lived in the Yenisey river valley in Siberia. The Kyrgyz people were constituents of the Tiele people, the Göktürks, and the Uyghur Khaganate before establishing the Yenisei Kyrgyz Khaganate in the 9th century, and later a Kyrgyz khanate in the 15th century.[26][27][28]
^5.01.00.03 Национальный состав населения. [5.01.00.03 Total population by nationality] (XLS). Bureau of Statistics of Kyrgyzstan (in Russian, Kyrgyz, and English). 2019.
^新疆维吾尔自治区统计局 (in Simplified Chinese). Xinjiang Bureau of Statistics. Archived from the original on 1 November 2018. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
^Fahlbusch, Erwin; Lochman, Jan Milíč; Mbiti, John; Pelikan, Jaroslav; Vischer, Lukas; Bromiley, Geoffrey W.; Barrett, David B. (2003). The Encyclopedia of Christianity. Eerdmans and Brill. p. 144. ISBN978-0-8028-2415-8. "Various Kyrgyz tribes began creating an independent khanate during the 15th century with a distinctive Kyrgyz language."
^Everett-Heath, Tom (8 December 2003). Central Asia: Aspects of Transition. Routledge. p. 107. ISBN978-1-135-79823-9. "Chingis Khan and his Mongol descendants held sway over the area from the thirteenth century until the fifteenth century, when an autonomous Kyrgyz khanate was established."
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