Which was the first sedentary Turkic nation?

 

Which was the first sedentary Turkic state and which century was it founded?

I somewhat get the impression that the Volga Bulgars and the Khazars were sedentary, although little has been documented about their civilizations.

The Uyghurs, at least by the 11th century, also seemed to live in "cities" and "palaces" as Chinese sources indicate.

Russian sources cited that the Bulgars prayed in "mosques", but did they found any cities and did they dedicate to agriculture?

The Kipchaks and Pechenegs, as my impression goes, were strictly nomads right until the Mongol invasion.

 

Chinese sources also cited that parts of the Gokturk khanate subsisted on agriculture, planting barley and wheat. Considering that the khante stretched from Mongolia to the Black Sea, it wouldn't be surprising if it included agricultural peoples. However, we are not sure of whether these farmers were "Turks" or whether they were subject peoples.

 

Bulgars did grew crops and had a highly developed city culture with developed art and skillful artisans.

 

 

The archaeologists nowadays recognize more than 1500 Bulgarian sites of the pre-Mongolian time on the territory of Bulgaria. The foundation of economy of the Volga Bulgaria was the highly developed plough agriculture and animal husbandry. Crafts were of great significance - metallurgy, blacksmith's, jewellery, building, pottery-making, glass-making, bone-cutting, tannery, weaver's crafts and others. The third important component of the Bulgarian economy was trade.

 

 

Here is a link about Khazar fortress of Sarkel.

 

 

 

Kipchaks and Pechenegs were indeed complitely nomadic.

 

As about Gorkturks they didn't grow crops and were not involved in agriculture. They got all the necessary crops from Chinese and their other sedentary neighbors.

Chinese sources might not be so realible when they talk about "cities", because sometimes a "city" could refer to a large congregation of nomad tribes: an area in which they trade and administer the khanate; but in reality it is nothing but an area covered by thousands or 10s of thousands of yurts with no permanent infrastructure.

I would be more convinced of Xiong-nu cities if archaeologists actually found remains of stonework.

 

The Bulgars were supposed to have descended from a branch of the Xiongnu, if they were sedentary, some Xiongnu tribes could indeed have abandoned their nomad way of life well before.

 

If the city had been founded in the year 419A.D., it was a time when a significant population of the Xiongnu had already came under Chinese influence and served as their frontiersguard.

They could have settled down and built city under the influence of the Chinese.