Khazar

I have been interested in the Khazars ever since I heard about them.

How much info do you know about them?

http://www.khazaria.com/khazar-history.html

Oh and a map because I love maps:

The website I've listed. I think that the map is right tho', the Khazar's did control a lot of territory.

Maybe but I think the Khazar's are peoples of the steppes.

Chinese sources refer to them as "Hesa Tujue", indicating that they were either a tribe within the Tujue people or they were closely related, similar to the Qarluqs (Geluolu Tujue in Chinese).

The Arabs briefly captured their capital but the Khazars re-gained their independence and moved their capital northwards (the qaghan of Khazars promised to the conqueror Arabs that he would convert to Islam but when the Arabs left, he returned to his old religion). They were destroyed by the Kievan Rus in the 10th century.

And yes, at their peak, they ruled a vast area.

Well, a lot of confusion...

1. Khazars were a Turkic tribe, Their upper stratum of the Bulghar Kingdom did convert to Judaism sometimes in the 8-9 century. The kingdom was destroyed by the Russians around 10 century. The remnants  went west as Bulgars, east as Balkarians (Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Republic in Russia) or even down south (Derbent still has large numbers of Tats, ie Mountain Jews). Kiev,  "The Mother of Russian Cities" was established by Khazars (in the Tat language, Ki-ev means "river town", from Dniepr).

2. No, Khazars have nothing to do with Ashkenazi Jews: those came from the West: Germany, Spain etc. Modern population genetic studies find high degree of homogeneity between Jews from all over Europe as well as from Iraq, Persia and North African countries and nothing in common with Turkic tribes.

 3. Armenians, on the other hand, are genetically highly connected with Jews. In 586 BC, after the First Temple was destroyed, Babylonians  exiled a lot of Jews to what now is Armenia. They stayed there for almost 1000 years  and intermarried with the locals. Their leader was Smbat (strange name for the Jew, but that is straight from the ancient Armenian chronicles stored in Echmiadzin) who became a founder of the Armenian(later, Georgian) royal dynasty of Bagratids. Originally, his name was written as "Bivritioni", ie, "The Hebrew", later transliterated as "Bagrationi". When in the 4th century Armenia mass-converted to Christianity, all who refused were ordered to leave. The unconverted Jews went to the neighbouring Georgia and stayed there until 1970-1980s, when almost all left to Israel.

 The Armenians are the only non-Jewish people who also have the so-called Familial Mediterranean Fever, a hereditary disease akin to amyloidosis.