Mongolian and Uyghur Inscriptions in the Northern Minusinsk Basin: New Evidence on Qïrqïz–Mongol Relations in the Late 13th Century

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>This article is devoted to the inscriptions carved on a rock near Lake Sul’fatskoe in the Minusinsk Basin, Siberia, among which there is one text in Mongolian and two in Old Uyghur. Based on their content, it is evident that at least two of these inscriptions were composed in 1274 by the same individual – an envoy of Khan Nikpei from the Chagatai Ulus named Köke Singqur, who was of Uyghur or other Turkic origin. The purpose of his visit may have been to coordinate actions with the Qïrqïz leaders opposing the Great Yuan, from whose subordination the Qïrqïz had withdrawn a year earlier. The texts are visitor inscriptions left by the envoy to record the completion of his mission; their location indicates that in the second half of the 13th century a political center of the Qïrqïz was situated in the northern part of the Minusinsk Basin.</jats:p>