Turkic

The Proto-Turkic ancestors of the Turkic peoples probably lived in the Altai-Sayan region, Mongolia or Tuva, and were later nomadic herders. The name Turk was first used for the Göktürks, who are named in inscriptions of the sixth century, and the Orkhon inscriptions of 735 are the oldest Turkic texts.

Seljuk Turks entered Anatolia after Manzikert in 1071, and the Ottomans rose there from about 1300 and took Constantinople in 1453. In the steppe, Turkic-speaking peoples made up much of the Golden Horde. The Sakha lived far to the north in Siberia.