Overview
Ibrahim, son of Nasr, known before his rise as Böritigin, founded the Western Karakhanid khanate and ruled it from Samarkand as Tamghach Khan. He curbed the princely appanages that had kept the dynasty at war and gave Transoxiana a generation of order.
Rise to Power
Imprisoned by the sons of Ali Tegin after 1034, he escaped in 1038 to his brother at Uzgend, raised troops among the Kumiji of the upper Oxus and raided Ghaznavid lands. By 1040 he held most of Transoxiana.
Rule and Achievements
- Made Samarkand his capital and took the title Tamghach Khan
- Accepted Ghaznavid overlordship in 1042 and joined Mawdud's campaign against the Seljuks around 1050, then gave it up
- In 1059–60 made the Karakhanids of Fergana accept him as overlord
- Complained to the Abbasid caliph when the Seljuk sultan Alp Arslan attacked Transoxiana in the early 1060s
Legacy
He died in 1068. His son Nasr succeeded him, and his daughter Terken Khatun married the Seljuk sultan Malik-Shah, a marriage that later drew the Seljuks into Karakhanid affairs.