title: Turkic peoples

text: The origins of the Turkic peoples has been a topic of much discussion. Peter Benjamin Golden listed Proto-Turkic lexical items about the climate, topography, flora, fauna, people's modes of subsistence in the hypothetical Proto-Turkic Urheimat and proposed that the Proto-Turkic Urheimat was located at the southern Altai-Sayan region in Siberia. A possible genealogical link of the Turkic languages to Mongolic and Tungusic languages, specifically a hypothetical homeland in Manchuria, such as proposed in the Transeurasian hypothesis, by Martine Robbeets, has been received support but also criticism, with opponents attributing similarities to long-term contact. Linguistic and genetic evidence strongly suggest an early presence of Turkic peoples in Mongolia. The proto-Turkic-speakers may have been linked to Neolithic East Asian agricultural societies in Northeastern China, which is to be associated with the Xinglongwa culture and the succeeding Hongshan culture, based on varying degrees of specific Northeast Asian genetic substratum among modern Turkic speakers. The East Asian agricultural roots of the Proto-Turkic language have been corroborated in multiple recent studies. According to historians, "the Proto-Turkic subsistence strategy included an agricultural component, a tradition that ultimately went back to the origin of millet agriculture in Northeast China". Around 2,200 BC, the agricultural ancestors of the Turkic peoples probably migrated westwards into Mongolia, where they adopted a pastoral lifestyle, in part borrowed from Iranian peoples. Given nomadic peoples such as Xiongnu, Rouran and Xianbei share underlying genetic ancestry "that falls into or close to the northeast Asian gene pool", the proto-Turkic language likely originated in northeastern Asia.


title: Turkic peoples

text: A 2018 autosomal single-nucleotide polymorphism study suggested that Eurasian Steppe slowly transitioned from Indo European and Iranian-speaking groups with largely western Eurasian ancestry to increasing East Asian ancestry with Turkic and Mongolian groups in the past 4000 years, including extensive Turkic migrations out of Mongolia and slow assimilation of local populations.


title: Turkic peoples

text: Genetic data shows that the different Central Asian Turkic-speaking peoples have between 22% to 60% East Asian ancestry (samplified by "Baikal hunter-gatherer ancestry" shared with other Northeast Asians and Eastern Siberians), in contrast to Iranian-speaking Central Asians, specifically Tajiks, which display genetic continuity to Indo-Iranians of the Iron Age. Certain Turkic ethnic groups, specifically the Kazakhs, display even higher East Asian ancestry. This is explained by substantial Mongolian influence on the Kazakh genome, through significant admixture between medieval Turkic Kipchaks with medieval Mongolians. The data suggests that the Mongol invasion of Central Asia had lasting impacts onto the genetic makeup of Kazakhs.


title: Turkic peoples

text: The earliest separate Turkic peoples, such as the "Gekun" (鬲昆) and "Xinli" (薪犁), appeared on the peripheries of the late Xiongnu confederation about 200 BCE (contemporaneous with the Chinese Han Dynasty) and later among the Turkic-speaking Tiele as "Hegu" (紇骨) and "Xue" (薛).


title: Turkic peoples

text: The Tiele (also known as Gaoche 高車, lit. "High Carts"), may be related to the Xiongnu and the Dingling. According to the "Book of Wei", the Tiele people were the remnants of the Chidi (赤狄), the red Di people competing with the Jin in the Spring and Autumn period. Historically they were established after the 6th century BCE.


title: Turkic peoples

text: The Tiele were first mentioned in Chinese literature from the 6th to 8th centuries. Some scholars (Haneda, Onogawa, Geng, etc.) proposed that "Tiele", "Dili", "Dingling", "Chile", "Tele", & "Tujue" all transliterated underlying "Türk"; however, Golden proposed that "Dili", "Dingling", "Chile", "Tele", & "Tiele" transliterated "Tegrek" while Tujue transliterated "Türküt", plural of "Türk". The appellation "Türük" (Old Turkic: 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰰) ~ "Türk" (OT: 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰚) (whence Middle Chinese 突厥 *"dwət-kuɑt" > *"tɦut-kyat" > standard Chinese: "Tūjué") was initially reserved exclusively for the Göktürks by Chinese, Tibetans, and even the Turkic-speaking Uyghurs. In contrast, medieval Muslim writers, including Turkic speakers like Ottoman historian Mustafa Âlî and explorer Evliya Çelebi as well as Timurid scientist Ulugh Beg, often viewed Inner Asian tribes, "as forming a single entity regardless of their linguistic affiliation" commonly used Turk as a generic name for Inner Asians (whether Turkic- or Mongolic-speaking). Only in modern era do modern historians use Turks to refer to all peoples speaking Turkic languages, differentiated from non-Turkic speakers.


title: Turkic peoples

text: According to some researchers (Duan, Xue, Tang, Lung, Onogawa, etc.) the later Ashina tribe descended from the Tiele confederation. The Tiele however were probably one of many early Turkic groups, ancestral to later Turkic populations. However, according to Lee & Kuang (2017), Chinese histories do not describe the Ashina and the Göktürks as descending from the Dingling or the Tiele confederation.


title: Turkic peoples

text: It has even been suggested that the Xiongnu themselves, who were mentioned in Han Dynasty records, were Proto-Turkic speakers. Although little is known for certain about the Xiongnu language(s), it seems likely that at least a considerable part of Xiongnu tribes spoke a Turkic language. Some scholars believe they were probably a confederation of various ethnic and linguistic groups. A genetic research in 2003, of the remains of 62 individuals buried between the 3rd century BC and the 2nd century AD at the Xiongnu necropolis at Egyin Gol in northern Mongolia, found that these individuals have similar DNA sequences as many modern Turkic groups, supporting the view that the Xiongnu were at least partially of Turkic origin. These examined individuals were found to be primarily of East Asian ancestry.


title: Turkic peoples

text: Using the only extant possibly Xiongnu writings, the rock art of the Yinshan and Helan Mountains, some scholars argue that the older Xiongnu writings are precursors to the earliest known Turkic alphabet, the Orkhon script. Petroglyphs of this region dates from the 9th millennium BCE to the 19th century, and consists mainly of engraved signs (petroglyphs) and few painted images. Excavations done during 1924–1925 in Noin-Ula kurgans located in the Selenga River in the northern Mongolian hills north of Ulaanbaatar produced objects with over 20 carved characters, which were either identical or very similar to the runic letters of the Turkic Orkhon script discovered in the Orkhon Valley.


title: Turkic peoples

text: In the 18th century, the French scholar Joseph de Guignes became the first to propose a link between the Huns and the Xiongnu people, who were northern neighbours of China in the 3rd century BC. The Hun hordes ruled by Attila, who invaded and conquered much of Europe in the 5th century, might have been, at least partially, Turkic and descendants of the Xiongnu. Since Guignes' time, considerable scholarly effort has been devoted to investigating such a connection. The issue remains controversial. Their relationship to other peoples known collectively as the Iranian Huns is generally accepted, but whether these groups are all inter-related remains controversial.


title: Turkic peoples

text: Some scholars claimed Huns as Proto-Mongolian or Yeniseian in origin. Linguistic studies by Otto Maenchen-Helfen and others have suggested that the language used by the Huns in Europe was too little documented to be classified. Nevertheless, the majority of the proper names used by Huns appear to be Turkic in origin, though they are "far from unambiguous, so no firm conclusion can be drawn from this type of data".


title: Turkic peoples

text: The earliest certain mentioning of the politonym "Turk" was in the Chinese Book of Zhou. In the 540s AD, this text mentions that the Turks came to China's border seeking silk goods and a trade relationship. A Sogdian diplomat represented China in a series of embassies between the Western Wei dynasty and the Turks in the years 545 and 546.


title: Turkic peoples

text: According to the "Book of Sui" and the "Tongdian", they were "mixed barbarians" (; "záhú") who migrated from Pingliang (now in modern Gansu province, China) to the Rourans seeking inclusion in their confederacy and protection from the prevailing dynasty. Alternatively, according to the "Book of Zhou", "History of the Northern Dynasties", and "New Book of Tang", the Ashina clan was a component of the Xiongnu confederation. Göktürks were also posited as having originated from an obscure Suo state (索國), north of the Xiongnu. The Ashina tribe were famed metalsmiths and were granted land south of the Altai Mountains (金山 "Jinshan"), which looked like a helmet, from which they were said to have gotten their name 突厥 ("Tūjué"), the first recorded use of "Turk" as a political name. In the 6th-century, Ashina's power had increased such that they conquered the Tiele on their Rouran overlords' behalf and even overthrew Rourans and established the First Turkic Khaganate.


title: Turkic peoples

text: The original Old Turkic name "Kök Türk" derives from "kök" ~ "kö:k", "sky, sky-coloured, blue, blue-grey". Unlike its Xiongnu predecessor, the Göktürk Khaganate had its temporary Khagans from the Ashina clan, who were "subordinate" to a sovereign authority controlled by a council of tribal chiefs. The Khaganate retained elements of its original animistic- shamanistic religion, that later evolved into Tengriism, although it received missionaries of Buddhist monks and practiced a syncretic religion. The Göktürks were the first Turkic people to write Old Turkic in a runic script, the Orkhon script. The Khaganate was also the first state known as "Turk". It eventually collapsed due to a series of dynastic conflicts, but many states and peoples later used the name "Turk".


title: Turkic peoples

text: The Göktürks (First Turkic Kaganate) quickly spread west to the Caspian Sea. Between 581 and 603 the Western Turkic Khaganate in Kazakhstan separated from the Eastern Turkic Khaganate in Mongolia and Manchuria during a civil war. The Han-Chinese successfully overthrew the Eastern Turks in 630 and created a military Protectorate until 682. After that time the Second Turkic Khaganate ruled large parts of the former Göktürk area. After several wars between Turks, Chinese and Tibetans, the weakened Second Turkic Khaganate was replaced by the Uyghur Khaganate in the year 744.


title: Turkic peoples

text: The Bulgars established themselves in between the Caspian and Black Seas in the 5th and 6th centuries, followed by their conquerors, the Khazars who converted to Judaism in the 8th or 9th century. After them came the Pechenegs who created a large confederacy, which was subsequently taken over by the Cumans and the Kipchaks. One group of Bulgars settled in the Volga region and mixed with local Volga Finns to become the Volga Bulgars in what is today Tatarstan. These Bulgars were conquered by the Mongols following their westward sweep under Ogedei Khan in the 13th century. Other Bulgars settled in Southeastern Europe in the 7th and 8th centuries, and mixed with the Slavic population, adopting what eventually became the Slavic Bulgarian language. Everywhere, Turkic groups mixed with the local populations to varying degrees.


title: Turkic peoples

text: The Volga Bulgaria became an Islamic state in 922 and influenced the region as it controlled many trade routes. In the 13th century, Mongols invaded Europe and established the Golden Horde in Eastern Europe, western & northern Central Asia, and even western Siberia. The Cuman-Kipchak Confederation and Islamic Volga Bulgaria were absorbed by the Golden Horde in the 13th century; in the 14th century, Islam became the official religion under Uzbeg Khan where the general population (Turks) as well as the aristocracy (Mongols) came to speak the Kipchak language and were collectively known as "Tatars" by Russians and Westerners. This country was also known as the Kipchak Khanate and covered most of what is today Ukraine, as well as the entirety of modern-day southern and eastern Russia (the European section). The Golden Horde disintegrated into several khanates and hordes in the 15th and 16th century including the Crimean Khanate, Khanate of Kazan, and Kazakh Khanate (among others), which were one by one conquered and annexed by the Russian Empire in the 16th through 19th centuries.


title: Turkic peoples

text: In Siberia, the Siberian Khanate was established in the 1490s by fleeing Tatar aristocrats of the disintegrating Golden Horde who established Islam as the official religion in western Siberia over the partly Islamized native Siberian Tatars and indigenous Uralic peoples. It was the northernmost Islamic state in recorded history and it survived up until 1598 when it was conquered by Russia.


title: Turkic peoples

text: The Uyghur Khaganate had established itself by the year 744 AD. Through trade relations established with China, its capital city of Ordu Baliq in central Mongolia's Orkhon Valley became a wealthy center of commerce, and a significant portion of the Uyghur population abandoned their nomadic lifestyle for a sedentary one. The Uyghur Khaganate produced extensive literature, and a relatively high number of its inhabitants were literate.


title: Turkic peoples

text: The official state religion of the early Uyghur Khaganate was Manichaeism, which was introduced through the conversion of Bögü Qaghan by the Sogdians after the An Lushan rebellion. The Uyghur Khaganate was tolerant of religious diversity and practiced variety of religions including Buddhism, Christianity, shamanism and Manichaeism.


title: Turkic peoples

text: During the same time period, the Shatuo Turks emerged as power factor in Northern and Central China and were recognized by the Tang Empire as allied power.


title: Turkic peoples

text: The Shatuo Turks had founded several short-lived sinicized dynasties in northern China during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. The official language of these dynasties was Chinese and they used Chinese titles and names. Some Shaotuo Turks emperors also claimed patrilineal Han Chinese ancestry.


title: Turkic peoples

text: After the fall of the Tang-Dynasty in 907, the Shatuo Turks replaced them and created the Later Tang Dynasty in 923. The Shatuo Turks ruled over a large part of northern China, including Beijing. They adopted Chinese names and united Turkic and Chinese traditions. Later Tang fell in 937 but the Shatuo rose to become one of the most powerful clans of China. They created several other dynasies, including the Later Jin and Later Han. The Shatuo Turks were later assimilated into the Han Chinese ethnic group after they were conquered by the Song dynasty.


title: Turkic peoples

text: The Yenisei Kyrgyz allied with China to destroy the Uyghur Khaganate in the year 840 AD. From the Yenisei River, the Kyrgyz pushed south and eastward in to Xinjiang and the Orkhon Valley in central Mongolia, leaving much of the Uyghur civilization in ruins. Much of the Uyghur population relocated to the south in modern-day China, establishing kingdoms in Gansu and Turpan.


title: Turkic peoples

text: The Kangar Union ("Qanghar Odaghu") was a Turkic state in the former territory of the Western Turkic Khaganate (the entire present-day state of Kazakhstan, without Zhetysu). The capital of the Kangar union was located in the Ulytau mountains. Among the Pechenegs, the Kangar formed the elite of the Pecheneg tribes. After being defeated by the Kipchaks, Oghuz Turks, and the Khazars, they migrated west and defeated Magyars, and after forming an alliance with the Bulgars, they defeated the Byzantine Army. The Pecheneg state was established by the 11th century and at its peak carried a population of over 2.5 million, composed of many different ethnic groups.


title: Turkic peoples

text: The elite of the Kangar tribes are believed to have had an Iranian origin, and they likely spoke an Iranian langauge, while most of the Pecheneg population spoke a Turkic language, with a significant percentage speaking Hunno-Bulgar dialects.


title: Turkic peoples

text: The Yatuks, a tribe within the Kangar state who could not accompany the Kangars as they migrated West, remained in the old lands, where they are known as the Kangly people, who are now part of the Uzbek, Kazakh, and Karakalpak tribes.


title: Turkic peoples

text: The Oguz Yabgu State ("Oguz il", meaning "Oguz Land,", "Oguz Country")(750–1055) was a Turkic state, founded by Oghuz Turks in 766, located geographically in an area between the coasts of the Caspian and Aral Seas. Oguz tribes occupied a vast territory in Kazakhstan along the Irgiz, Yaik, Emba, and Uil rivers, the Aral Sea area, the Syr Darya valley, the foothills of the Karatau Mountains in Tien-Shan, and the Chui River valley (see map). The Oguz political association developed in the 9th and 10th centuries in the Syr Darya basin.


title: Turkic peoples

text: Turkic peoples and related groups migrated west from present-day Northeastern China, Mongolia, Siberia and the Turkestan-region towards the Iranian plateau, South Asia, and Anatolia (modern Turkey) in many waves. The date of the initial expansion remains unknown.


title: Turkic peoples

text: The Ghaznavid dynasty ( "ġaznaviyān") was a Persianate Muslim dynasty of Turkic "mamluk" origin, at their greatest extent ruling large parts of Iran, Afghanistan, much of Transoxiana and the northwest Indian subcontinent (part of Pakistan) from 977 to 1186. The dynasty was founded by Sabuktigin upon his succession to rule of the region of Ghazna after the death of his father-in-law, Alp Tigin, who was a breakaway ex-general of the Samanid Empire from Balkh, north of the Hindu Kush in Greater Khorasan.


title: Turkic peoples

text: Although the dynasty was of Central Asian Turkic origin, it was thoroughly Persianised in terms of language, culture, literature and habits and hence is regarded by some as a "Persian dynasty".


title: Turkic peoples

text: The Seljuk Empire () or the Great Seljuq Empire was a high medieval Turko-Persian Sunni Muslim empire, originating from the Qiniq branch of Oghuz Turks. At its greatest extent, the Seljuk Empire controlled a vast area stretching from western Anatolia and the Levant to the Hindu Kush in the east, and from Central Asia to the Persian Gulf in the south.


title: Turkic peoples

text: The Seljuk empire was founded by Tughril Beg (1016–1063) and his brother Chaghri Beg (989–1060) in 1037. From their homelands near the Aral Sea, the Seljuks advanced first into Khorasan and then into mainland Persia, before eventually conquering eastern Anatolia. Here the Seljuks won the battle of Manzikert in 1071 and conquered most of Anatolia from the Byzantine Empire, which became one of the reasons for the first crusade (1095–1099). From c. 1150–1250, the Seljuk empire declined, and was invaded by the Mongols around 1260. The Mongols divided Anatolia into emirates. Eventually one of these, the Ottoman, would conquer the rest.


title: Turkic peoples

text: The Timurid Empire was a Turko-Mongol empire founded in the late 14th century through military conquests led by Timurlane. The establishment of a cosmopolitan empire was followed by the Timurid Renaissance, a period of local enrichment in mathematics, astronomy, architecture, as well as newfound economic growth. The cultural progress of the Timurid period ended as soon as the empire collapsed in the early 16th century, leaving many intellecuals and artists to turn elsewhere in search of employment.


title: Turkic peoples

text: The Bukhara Khanate was an Uzbek state that existed from 1501 to 1785. The khanate was ruled by three dynasties of the Shaybanids, Janids and the Uzbek dynasty of Mangits. In 1785, Shahmurad, formalized the family's dynastic rule (Manghit dynasty), and the khanate became the Emirate of Bukhara (1785–1920). In 1710, the Kokand Khanate (1710–1876) separated from the Bukhara Khanate. In 1511–1920, Khwarazm (Khiva Khanate) was ruled by the Arabshahid dynasty and the Uzbek dynasty of Kungrats.


title: Turkic peoples

text: The Safavid dynasty of Persia (1501–1736) were of mixed ancestry (Kurdish and Azeri Turks, which included intermarriages with Georgian, Circassian, and Pontic Greek dignitaries). Through intermarriage and other political considerations, the Safavids spoke Persian and Turkish, and some of the Shahs composed poems in their native Turkish language. Concurrently, the Shahs themselves also supported Persian literature, poetry and art projects including the grand Shahnama of Shah Tahmasp. The Safavid dynasty ruled parts of Greater Iran for more than two centuries. and established the Twelver school of Shi'a Islam as the official religion of their empire, marking one of the most important turning points in Muslim history


title: Turkic peoples

text: The Afsharid dynasty was named after the Turkic Afshar tribe to which they belonged. The Afshars had migrated from Turkestan to Azerbaijan in the 13th century. The dynasty was founded in 1736 by the military commander Nader Shah who deposed the last member of the Safavid dynasty and proclaimed himself King of Iran. Nader belonged to the Qereqlu branch of the Afshars. During Nader's reign, Iran reached its greatest extent since the Sassanid Empire.


title: Turkic peoples

text: The Qajar dynasty was created by the Turkic Qajar tribe, ruling over Iran from 1789 to 1925. The Qajar family took full control of Iran in 1794, deposing Lotf 'Ali Khan, the last Shah of the Zand dynasty, and re-asserted Iranian sovereignty over large parts of the Caucasus. In 1796, Mohammad Khan Qajar seized Mashhad with ease, putting an end to the Afsharid dynasty, and Mohammad Khan was formally crowned as Shah after his punitive campaign against Iran's Georgian subjects. In the Caucasus, the Qajar dynasty permanently lost many of Iran's integral areas to the Russians over the course of the 19th century, comprising modern-day Georgia, Dagestan, Azerbaijan and Armenia. The dynasty was founded by Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar and continued until Ahmad Shah Qajar.


title: Turkic peoples

text: The Delhi Sultanate is a term used to cover five short-lived, Delhi-based kingdoms three of which were of Turkic origin in medieval India. These Turkic dynasties were the Mamluk dynasty (1206–90); the Khalji dynasty (1290–1320); and the Tughlaq dynasty (1320–1414). Southern India also saw many Turkic origin dynasties like the Adil Shahi dynasty, the Bidar Sultanate, and the Qutb Shahi dynasty, collectively known as the Deccan sultanates.


title: Turkic peoples

text: The Mughal Empire was a Turko-Mongol founded Indian empire that, at its greatest territorial extent, ruled most of South Asia, including Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and parts of Uzbekistan from the early 16th to the early 18th centuries. The Mughal dynasty was founded by a Chagatai Turkic prince named Babur (reigned 1526–30), who was descended from the Turkic conqueror Timur (Tamerlane) on his father's side and from Chagatai, second son of the Mongol ruler Genghis Khan, on his mother's side. A further distinction was the attempt of the Mughals to integrate Hindus and Muslims into a united Indian state. and the


title: Turkic peoples

text: Last Turkic dynasty in India were the Hyderabad State lasted from 1724 to 1948 located in the south-central region of India.


title: Turkic peoples

text: The Arab Muslim Umayyads and Abbasids fought against the pagan Turks in the Türgesh Khaganate in the Muslim conquest of Transoxiana. Turkic soldiers in the army of the Abbasid caliphs emerged as the de facto rulers of most of the Muslim Middle East (apart from Syria and Egypt), particularly after the 10th century. Examples of regional de-facto independent states include the short lived Tulunids and Ikhshidids in Egypt. The Oghuz and other tribes captured and dominated various countries under the leadership of the Seljuk dynasty and eventually captured the territories of the Abbasid dynasty and the Byzantine Empire.


title: Turkic peoples

text: After many battles, the western Oghuz Turks established their own state and later constructed the Ottoman Empire. The main migration of the Oghuz Turks occurred in medieval times, when they spread across most of Asia and into Europe and the Middle East. They also took part in the military encounters of the Crusades. In 1090–91, the Turkic Pechenegs reached the walls of Constantinople, where Emperor Alexius I with the aid of the Kipchaks annihilated their army.


title: Turkic peoples

text: As the Seljuk Empire declined following the Mongol invasion, the Ottoman Empire emerged as the new important Turkic state, that came to dominate not only the Middle East, but even southeastern Europe, parts of southwestern Russia, and northern Africa.


title: Turkic peoples

text: Turkic peoples like the Karluks (mainly 8th century), Uyghurs, Kyrgyz, Turkmens, and Kipchaks later came into contact with Muslims, and most of them gradually adopted Islam. Some groups of Turkic people practice other religions, including their original animistic-shamanistic religion, Christianity, Burkhanism, Jews (Khazars, Krymchaks, Crimean Karaites), Buddhism and a small number of Zoroastrians.


title: Turkic peoples

text: The Ottoman Empire gradually grew weaker in the face of poor administration, repeated wars with Russia, Austria and Hungary, and the emergence of nationalist movements in the Balkans, and it finally gave way after World War I to the present-day Republic of Turkey.


title: Turkic peoples

text: Ethnic nationalism also developed in Ottoman Empire during the 19th century, taking the form of Pan-Turkism or Turanism.


title: Turkic peoples

text: The Turkic peoples of Central Asia were not organized in nation-states during most of the 20th century, after the collapse of the Russian Empire living either in the Soviet Union or (after a short-lived First East Turkestan Republic) in the Chinese Republic. For much of the 20th century, Turkey was the only independent Turkic country.


title: Turkic peoples

text: In 1991, after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, five Turkic states gained their independence. These were Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Other Turkic regions such as Tatarstan, Tuva, and Yakutia remained in the Russian Federation. Chinese Turkestan remained part of the People's Republic of China. Immediately after the independence of the Turkic states, Turkey began seeking diplomatic relations with them. Over time political meetings between the Turkic countries increased and led to the establishment of TÜRKSOY in 1993 and the Turkic Council in 2009, which later was renamed Organization of Turkic States in 2021.


title: Turkic peoples

text: According to historians Joo-Yup Lee and Shuntu Kuang, Chinese official histories do not depict Turkic peoples as belonging to a single uniform entity called "Turks". However "Chinese histories also depict the Turkic-speaking peoples as typically possessing East/Inner Asian physiognomy, as well as occasionally having West Eurasian physiognomy." According to "fragmentary information on the Xiongnu language that can be found in the Chinese histories, the Xiongnu were Turkic," however historians have been unable to confirm whether or not they were Turkic. Sima Qian's description of their legendary origins suggest their physiognomy was "not too different from that of... Han (漢) Chinese population," but a subset of Xiongnu known as the Jie people were described having "deep-set eyes," "high nose bridges" and "heavy facial hair." The Jie may have been Yeniseian, although others maintaining an Iranian affiliation, and regardless of whether or not the Xiongnu were Turkic, they were a hybrid people. According to the "Old Book of Tang", Ashina Simo "was not given a high military post by the Ashina rulers because of his Sogdian ("huren" 胡人) physiognomy." The Tang historian Yan Shigu described the Hu people of his day as "blue-eyed and red bearded" descendants of the Wusun, whereas "no comparable depiction of the Kök Türks or Tiele is found in the official Chinese histories." Historian Peter Golden has reported that genetic testing of the proposed descendants of the Ashina tribe does seem to confirm a link to the Indo-Iranians, emphasizing that ""the Turks as a whole ‘were made up of heterogeneous and somatically dissimilar populations"'". Historian and Professor Xue Zongzheng have argued that West Eurasian features were typical of the royal Ashina clan of the Eastern Turkic Khaganate and that their appearance shifted to an East Asian one due to intermarriage with foreign nobility. As a result, by the time of Kul Tigin (684 AD), members of the Ashina dynasty had East Asian features. Lee and Kuang believe it is likely "early and medieval Turkic peoples themselves did not form a homogeneous entity and that some of them, non-Turkic by origin, had become Turkicised at some point in history." They also suggest that many modern Turkic-speaking populations are not directly descended from early Turkic peoples. Lee and Kuang concluded that "both medieval Chinese histories and modern DNA studies point to the fact that the early and medieval Turkic peoples were made up of heterogeneous and somatically dissimilar populations."


title: Turkic peoples

text: Like Chinese historians, Medieval Muslim writers generally depicted the Turks as having an East Asian appearance. Unlike Chinese historians, Medieval Muslim writers used the term "Turk" broadly to refer to not only Turkic-speaking peoples but also various non-Turkic speaking peoples, such as the Hephthalites, Rus, Magyars, and Tibetans. In the 13th century, Juzjani referred to the people of Tibet and the mountains between Tibet and Bengal as "Turks" and "people with Turkish features." Medieval Arab and Persian descriptions of Turks state that they looked strange from their perspective and were extremely physically different from Arabs. Turks were described as "broad faced people with small eyes", having light-colored, often reddish hair, and with pink skin, as being "short, with small eyes, nostrils, and mouths" (Sharaf al-Zaman al-Marwazi), as being "full-faced with small eyes" (Al-Tabari), as possessing "a large head ("sar-i buzurg"), a broad face ("rūy-i pahn"), narrow eyes ("chashmhā-i tang"), and a flat nose ("bīnī-i pakhch"), and unpleasing lips and teeth ("lab va dandān na nīkū")" (Keikavus). On Western Turkic coins "the faces of the governor and governess are clearly Mongoloid (a roundish face, narrow eyes), and the portrait have definite old Türk features (long hair, absence of headdress of the governor, a tricorn headdress of the governess)". In the Ghaznavids' residential palace of Lashkari Bazar, there survives a partially conserved portrait depicting a turbaned and haloed adolescent figure with full cheeks, slanted eyes, and a small, sinuous mouth. The Armenian historian Movses Kaghankatvatsi describes the Turks of the Western Turkic Khaganate as "broad-faced, without eyelashes, and with long flowing hair like women".


title: Turkic peoples

text: Al-Masudi writes that the Oghuz Turks in Yengi-kent near the mouth of the Syr Darya "are distinguished from other Turks by their valour, their slanted eyes, and the smallness of their stature." Later Muslim writers noted a change in the physiognomy of Oghuz Turks. According to Rashid al-Din Hamadani, "because of the climate their features gradually changed into those of Tajiks. Since they were not Tajiks, the Tajik peoples called them "turkmān", i.e. Turk-like ("Turk-mānand")." Ḥāfiẓ Tanīsh Mīr Muḥammad Bukhārī also related that the Oghuz' ‘Turkic face did not remain as it was’ after their migration into Transoxiana and Iran. Khiva khan Abu al-Ghazi Bahadur wrote in his Chagatai language treatise "Shajara-i Tarākima" (Genealogy of the Turkmens) that "their chin started to become narrow, their eyes started to become large, their faces started to become small, and their noses started to become big’ after five or six generations". Ottoman historian Mustafa Âlî commented in "Künhüʾl-aḫbār" that Anatolian Turks and Ottoman elites are ethnically mixed: "Most of the inhabitants of Rûm are of confused ethnic origin. Among its notables there are few whose lineage does not go back to a convert to Islam."


title: Turkic peoples

text: Kevin Alan Brook states that like "most nomadic Turks, the Western Turkic Khazars were racially and ethnically mixed." Istakhri described Khazars as having black hair while Ibn Sa'id al-Maghribi described them as having blue eyes, light skin, and reddish hair. Istakhri mentions that there were "Black Khazars" and "White Khazars." Most scholars believe these were political designations: black being lower class while white being higher class. Constantin Zuckerman argues that these "had physical and racial differences and explained that they stemmed from the merger of the Khazars with the Barsils." Old East Slavic sources called the Khazars the "White Ugry" and the Magyars the "Black Ugry." Soviet excavated Khazar remains show Slavic-type, European-type, and a minority Mongoloid-type skulls.


title: Turkic peoples

text: The Yenisei Kyrgyz are mentioned in the "New Book of Tang" as having the same script and language as the Uyghurs but "The people are all tall and


title: Turkic peoples

text: big and have red hair, white faces, and green eyes." The "New Book of Tang" also states that the neighboring Boma tribe resembled the Kyrgyz but their language was different, which may imply the Kyrgyz were originally a non-Turkic people, who were later Turkicized through inter-tribal marriages. According to Lee & Kuang, the prevalence of West Eurasian features among the ancient Kirghiz was likely due to their genetic relation to Indo-Iranians. According to Gardizi, the Kyrgyz were mixed with "Saqlabs" (Slavs), which explains the red hair and white skin among the Kyrgyz, while the "New Book" states that the Kyrgyz "intermixed with the Dingling." The Kyrgyz "regarded those with black eyes as descending from [Li] Ling," a Han dynasty general who defected to the Xiongnu.


title: Turkic peoples

text: In a Chinese legal statute from the early period of the Ming dynasty, the Kipchaks are described as having blond hair and blue eyes. It also states that they had a "vile" and "peculiar" appearance, and that some Chinese people wouldn't want to marry them. Russian anthropologist Oshanin (1964: 24, 32) notes that "the ‘Mongoloid’ phenotype, characteristic of modern Kazakhs and Qirghiz, prevails among the skulls of the Qipchaq and Pecheneg nomads found in the kurgans in eastern Ukraine"; Lee & Kuang (2017) propose that Oshanin's discovery is explainable by assuming that the historical Kipchaks' modern descendants are Kazakhs of the Lesser Horde, whose men possess a high frequency of haplogroup C2's subclade C2b1b1 (59.7 to 78%). Lee and Kuang also suggest that the high frequency (63.9%) of the Y-DNA haplogroup R-M73 among Karakypshaks (a tribe within the Kipchaks) allows inferrence about the genetics of Karakypshaks' medieval ancestors, thus explaining why some medieval Kipchaks were described as possessing "blue [or green] eyes and red hair.


title: Turkic peoples

text: There are several international organizations created with the purpose of furthering cooperation between countries with Turkic-speaking populations, such as the Joint Administration of Turkic Arts and Culture (TÜRKSOY) and the Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic-speaking Countries (TÜRKPA) and the Turkic Council.


title: Turkic peoples

text: The TAKM – Organization of the Eurasian Law Enforcement Agencies with Military Status, was established on 25 January 2013. It is an intergovernmental military law enforcement (gendarmerie) organization of currently three Turkic countries (Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey) and Kazakhstan as observer.


title: Turkic peoples

text: Türksoy carries out activities to strengthen cultural ties between Turkic peoples. One of the main goals to transmit their common cultural heritage to future generations and promote it around the world.


title: Turkic peoples

text: Every year, one city in the Turkic world is selected as the "Cultural Capital of the Turkic World". Within the framework of events to celebrate the Cultural Capital of the Turkic World, numerous cultural events are held, gathering artists, scholars and intellectuals, giving them the opportunity to exchange their experiences, as well as promoting the city in question internationally.


title: Turkic peoples

text: The Organization of Turkic States, founded on November 3, 2009 by the "Nakhchivan Agreement" confederation, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey, aims to integrate these organizations into a tighter geopolitical framework.


title: Turkic peoples

text: The member countries are Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey and Uzbekistan. The idea of setting up this cooperative council was first put forward by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev back in 2006. Hungary has announced to be interested in joining the Organization of Turkic States. Since August 2018, Hungary has official observer status in the Organization of Turkic States. Turkmenistan also joined as an observer state to the organization at 8th summit. Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus was admitted to the organization as observer member at the 2022 Samarkand Summit.


title: Turkic peoples

text: The distribution of people of Turkic cultural background ranges from Siberia, across Central Asia, to Southern Europe. the largest groups of Turkic people live throughout Central Asia—Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Azerbaijan, in addition to Turkey and Iran. Additionally, Turkic people are found within Crimea, Altishahr region of western China, northern Iraq, Israel, Russia, Afghanistan, Cyprus, and the Balkans: Moldova, Bulgaria, Romania, Greece and former Yugoslavia.


title: Turkic peoples

text: A small number of Turkic people also live in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. Small numbers inhabit eastern Poland and the south-eastern part of Finland. There are also considerable populations of Turkic people (originating mostly from Turkey) in Germany, United States, and Australia, largely because of migrations during the 20th century.


title: Turkic peoples

text: Sometimes ethnographers group Turkic people into six branches: the Oghuz Turks, Kipchak, Karluk, Siberian, Chuvash, and Sakha/Yakut branches. The Oghuz have been termed Western Turks, while the remaining five, in such a classificatory scheme, are called Eastern Turks.


title: Turkic peoples

text: The genetic distances between the different populations of Uzbeks scattered across Uzbekistan is no greater than the distance between many of them and the Karakalpaks. This suggests that Karakalpaks and Uzbeks have very similar origins. The Karakalpaks have a somewhat greater bias towards the eastern markers than the Uzbeks.


title: Turkic peoples

text: The following incomplete list of Turkic people shows the respective groups' core areas of settlement and their estimated sizes (in millions):


title: Turkic peoples

text: Markets in the steppe region had a limited range of foodstuffs available—mostly grains, dried fruits, spices, and tea. Turks mostly herded sheep, goats and horses. Dairy was a staple of the nomadic diet and there are many Turkic words for various dairy products such as "süt" (milk), "yagh" (butter), ayran, "qaymaq" (similar to clotted cream), qi̅mi̅z (fermented mare's milk) and "qurut" (dried yoghurt). During the Middle Ages Kazakh, Kyrgyz and Tatars, who were historically part of the Turkic nomadic group known as the Golden Horde, continued to develop new variations of dairy products.


title: Turkic peoples

text: Nomadic Turks cooked their meals in a "qazan", a pot similar to a cauldron; a wooden rack called a "qasqan" can be used to prepare certain steamed foods, like the traditional meat dumplings called "manti". They also used a "saj", a griddle that was traditionally placed on stones over a fire, and "shish". In later times, the Persian tava was borrowed from the Persians for frying, but traditionally nomadic Turks did most of their cooking using the qazan, saj and shish. Meals were served in a bowl, called a "chanaq", and eaten with a knife ("bïchaq") and spoon ("qashi̅q"). Both bowl and spoon were historically made from wood. Other traditional utensils used in food preparation included a thin rolling pin called "oqlaghu", a colander called "süzgu̅çh", and a grinding stone called "tāgirmān".


title: Turkic peoples

text: Medieval grain dishes included preparations of whole grains, soups, porridges, breads and pastries. Fried or toasted whole grains were called "qawïrmach", while "köchä" was crushed grain that was cooked with dairy products. "Salma" were broad noodles that could be served with boiled or roasted meat; cut noodles were called "tutmaj" in the Middle Ages and are called "kesme" today.


title: Turkic peoples

text: There are many types of bread doughs in Turkic cuisine. "Yupqa" is the thinnest type of dough, "bawi̅rsaq" is a type of fried bread dough, and "chälpäk" is a deep fried flat bread. "Qatlama" is a fried bread that may be sprinkled with dried fruit or meat, rolled, and sliced like pinwheel sandwiches. "Toqach" and "chöräk" are varieties of bread, and böräk is a type of filled pie pastry.


title: Turkic peoples

text: Herd animals were usually slaughtered during the winter months and various types of sausages were prepared to preserve the meats, including a type of sausage called "sujuk". Though prohibited by Islamic dietary restrictions, historically Turkic nomads also had a variety of blood sausage. One type of sausage, called "qazi̅", was made from horsemeat and another variety was filled with a mixture of ground meat, offal and rice. Chopped meat was called "qïyma" and spit-roasted meat was "söklünch"—from the root "sök-" meaning "to tear off", the latter dish is known as kebab in modern times. "Qawirma" is a typical fried meat dish, and "kullama" is a soup of noodles and lamb.


title: Turkic peoples

text: Early Turkic mythology was dominated by Shamanism, Animism and Tengrism. The Turkic animistic traditions were mostly focused on ancestor worship, polytheistic-animism and shamanism. Later this animistic tradition would form the more organized Tengrism. The chief deity was Tengri, a sky god, worshipped by the upper classes of early Turkic society until Manichaeism was introduced as the official religion of the Uyghur Empire in 763.


title: Turkic peoples

text: The wolf symbolizes honour and is also considered the mother of most Turkic peoples. Ashina is the wolf mother of Tumen Il-Qağan, the first Khan of the Göktürks. The horse and predatory birds, such as the eagle or falcon, are also main figures of Turkic mythology.


title: Turkic peoples

text: Buddhism played an important role in the history of Turkic peoples, with the first Turkic state adopting and supporting the spread of Buddhism being the Turkic Shahis and the Göktürks. The Göktürks syncretized Buddhism with their traditional religion Tengrism and also incorporated elements of the Iranian traditional religions, such as Zoroastrianism. Buddhism had it's hight among the Uyghurs in the Xinjiang region. Buddhism had also considerable impact and influence onto various other historical Turkic groups. In pre-Islamic times, Buddhism and Tengrism coexisted, with several Buddhist temples, monasteries, figures and steles, with images of Buddhist characters and sceneries, were constructed by various Turkic tribes. Throughout Kazakhstan, there exist various historical Buddhist sites, including an underground Buddhist cave monastery. After the Arab conquest of Central Asia, and the spread of Islam among locals, Buddhism (and Tengrism) started to lose ground, however a certain influence of the Buddhist teachings remained during the next centuries.


title: Turkic peoples

text: Tengri Bögü Khan initially made the now extinct Manichaeism the state religion of the Uyghur Khaganate in 763 and it was also popular among the Karluks. It was gradually replaced by the Mahayana Buddhism. It existed in the Buddhist Uyghur Gaochang up to the 12th century.


title: Turkic peoples

text: Tibetan Buddhism, or Vajrayana was the main religion after Manichaeism. They worshipped Täŋri Täŋrisi Burxan, Quanšï Im Pusar and Maitri Burxan. Turkic Muslim conquest in the Indian subcontinent and west Xinjiang attributed with a rapid and almost total disappearance of it and other religions in North India and Central Asia. The Sari Uygurs "Yellow Yughurs" of Western China, as well as the Tuvans of Russia are the only remaining Buddhist Turkic peoples.


title: Turkic peoples

text: Most Turkic people today are Sunni Muslims, although a significant number in Turkey are Alevis. Alevi Turks, who were once primarily dwelling in eastern Anatolia, are today concentrated in major urban centers in western Turkey with the increased urbanism. Azeris are traditionally Shiite Muslims. Religious observance is less stricter in the Republic of Azerbaijan compared to Iranian Azerbaijan.


title: Turkic peoples

text: The major Christian-Turkic peoples are the Chuvash of Chuvashia and the Gagauz ("Gökoğuz") of Moldova, the vast majority of Chuvash and the Gagauz are Eastern Orthodox Christians. The traditional religion of the Chuvash of Russia, while containing many ancient Turkic concepts, also shares some elements with Zoroastrianism, Khazar Judaism, and Islam.


title: Turkic peoples

text: The Chuvash converted to Eastern Orthodox Christianity for the most part in the second half of the 19th century. As a result, festivals and rites were made to coincide with Orthodox feasts, and Christian rites replaced their traditional counterparts. A minority of the Chuvash still profess their traditional faith. Between the 9th and 14th centuries, Church of the East was popular among Turks such as the Naimans. It even revived in Gaochang and expanded in Xinjiang in the Yuan dynasty period. It disappeared after its collapse.


title: Turkic peoples

text: Kryashens are a sub-group of the Volga Tatars, and the vast majority are Orthodox Christians. Nağaybäk are an indigenous Turkic people in Russia, most Nağaybäk are Christian and were largely converted during the 18th century. Many Volga Tatars were Christianized by Ivan the Terrible during the 16th century, and continued to Christianized under subsequent Russian rulers and Orthodox clergy up to the mid-eighteenth century.


title: Turkic peoples

text: Today there are several groups that support a revival of the ancient traditions. Especially after the collapse of the Soviet Union, many in Central Asia converted or openly practice animistic and shamanistic rituals. It is estimated that about 60% of Kyrgyz people practice a form of animistic rituals. In Kazakhstan there are about 54,000 followers of the ancient traditions.


title: Turkic peoples

text: The Uyghur Turks, who once belonged to a variety of religions, were gradually Islamized during a period spanning the 10th and 13th centuries. Some scholars have linked the phenomenon of recently Islamized Uyghur soldiers recruited by the Mongol Empire to the slow conversion of Uyghur populations to Islam.


title: Turkic peoples

text: The non-Muslim Turks' worship of Tengri and other gods was mocked and insulted by the Muslim Turk Mahmud al-Kashgari, who wrote a verse referring to them – "The Infidels – May God destroy them!"


title: Turkic peoples

text: The Basmil, Yabāḳu and Uyghur states were among the Turkic peoples who fought against the Kara-Khanids spread of Islam. The Islamic Kara-Khanids were made out of Tukhsi, Yaghma, Çiğil and Karluk.


title: Turkic peoples

text: Kashgari claimed that the Prophet assisted in a miraculous event where 700,000 Yabāqu infidels were defeated by 40,000 Muslims led by Arslān Tegīn claiming that fires shot sparks from gates located on a green mountain towards the Yabāqu. The Yabaqu were a Turkic people.


title: Turkic peoples

text: Mahmud al-Kashgari insulted the Uyghur Buddhists as "Uighur dogs" and called them "Tats", which referred to the "Uighur infidels" according to the Tuxsi and Taghma, while other Turks called Persians "tat". While Kashgari displayed a different attitude towards the Turks diviners beliefs and "national customs", he expressed towards Buddhism a hatred in his Diwan where he wrote the verse cycle on the war against Uighur Buddhists. Buddhist origin words like toyin (a cleric or priest) and Burxān or Furxan (meaning Buddha, acquiring the generic meaning of "idol" in the Turkic language of Kashgari) had negative connotations to Muslim Turks.


title: Turkic peoples

text: Mahmud al-Kashgari in his "Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk", described a game called "tepuk" among Turks in Central Asia. In the game, people try to attack each other's castle by kicking a ball made of sheep leather. (see also: Cuju)


title: Turkic peoples

text: Horses have been essential and even sacred animals for Turks living as nomadic tribes in the Central Asian steppes. Turks were born, grew up, lived, fought and died on horseback. Jereed became the most important sporting and ceremonial game of Turkish people.


title: Turkic peoples

text: The kokpar began with the nomadic Turkic peoples who have come from farther north and east spreading westward from China and Mongolia between the 10th and 15th centuries.


title: Turkic peoples

text: "jigit" is used in the Caucasus and Central Asia to describe a skillful and brave equestrian, or a brave person in general.


title: Insidious (film)

text: Insidious is a 2010 supernatural horror film directed by James Wan, written by Leigh Whannell, and starring Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, and Barbara Hershey. It is the first installment in the "Insidious" franchise, and the third in terms of the series' in-story chronology. The story centers on a married couple whose boy inexplicably enters a comatose state and becomes a vessel for a variety of demonic entities in an astral plane.


title: Insidious (film)

text: "Insidious" had its world premiere on September 14, 2010, at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and received a wide theatrical release on April 1, 2011, by FilmDistrict. The film is followed by a sequel, "" (2013), and two prequels, "" (2015) and "" (2018).


title: Insidious (film)

text: Married couple Josh and Renai Lambert, their boys Dalton and Foster, and infant daughter Cali, have recently moved in to a new home. One evening, Dalton sneaks away to explore the attic, when he encounters a frightening entity and falls from a step stool. The next day, he inexplicably slips into a coma.


title: Insidious (film)

text: After three months of treatment without result, Renai and Josh take Dalton home. The family starts to experience frightening paranormal events. Renai begins hearing voices over the baby monitor when no one is in Cali's room, Foster says that Dalton sleepwalks night. They hear things at the door, so they lock it and set the alarm. Renai sees a disturbing figure in Cali's bedroom, and the security alarm goes off. Josh has visions and works late. The nurse visits to check on Dalton. Renai finds a bloody hand print on Dalton's bed. Josh returns home and has more visions. After Renai is attacked by the entity, the Lamberts decide to move, believing the house to be cursed.


title: Insidious (film)

text: In the new house, however, the supernatural activity continues. Renai sees a dancing young child dressed in a period attire, then follows the child's laugh to a moving rocking horse. In Dalton's room, the child torments Renai. Josh's mother Lorraine arrives and explains her frightening dream: visions of the home and demon. She is then terrified when she sees a red-faced demon behind Josh. She calls psychic Elise Rainier and her paranormal investigators Specs and Tucker. One of the investigators sees a vision of a woman while investigating. In Dalton's bedroom, Elise sees the same red-faced demonic creature that Lorraine saw. She describes it to the other investigators who do not witness it.


title: Insidious (film)

text: Elise explains that Dalton is not in a coma; he was born with the ability to astral travel and had been unknowingly doing so while asleep, probably believing he was dreaming. This time he has travelled too far and has been captured in a purgatory dimension called "The Further", a place inhabited by the tortured spirits of the deceased. Without his psychological presence, his body is comatose, but spirits desire to use it so they can re-enter the physical world, some because they want to live again, some because they want to harm others. Josh makes Elise leave.


title: Insidious (film)

text: Josh sees the drawings of Dalton in his room, and they confirm the truth: Dalton has been dreaming and astral projecting. Josh cries.


title: Insidious (film)

text: Elise returns and performs a séance to communicate with Dalton. He warns them of the creature with fire on his face. Elise screams and seems to faint. The creature possesses Dalton's body and attacks the group before being stopped by Elise. She explains that she's known Lorraine for decades, and had previously helped Josh when he was eight. It is revealed that Josh also possesses the ability to astral project, though he had suppressed his memory of it years ago. These were the visions they had seen throughout the film. Elise had helped him protect himself from the parasitic spirit of an evil old woman that wanted to possess him. We see images of the woman moving slowly to him. The only way to rescue Dalton is for Josh to go into The Further and save him.


title: Insidious (film)

text: Elise puts Josh in a trance and he is able to project to their previous home. He fights off one spirit that has been tormenting them and enters the creature's lair through a red door where he finds Dalton chained. He frees him, but they are chased and attacked by the creature while the spirits of the Further invade the real world and terrorize Renai, Elise, and the others. After escaping, Josh confronts the elderly woman that tormented him as a child, trying once and for all to overcome his fear. The elderly woman laughs and appears to retreat from him. When Josh and Dalton return to their physical form, the spirits have all disappeared from their house.


title: Insidious (film)

text: The family celebrates their victory, but Elise senses that something is amiss about Josh. When she snaps a photo of him, Josh becomes angry and suffocates her. Renai is horrified when she discovers Elise's corpse and even more so when she sees the photograph Elise took. The photo reveals that Josh is now the evil woman from his childhood; she inhabited him when he confronted her in the Further.


title: Insidious (film)

text: The movie was somewhat of a reaction of Wan's to the success of the "Saw" series. Wan directed the first "Saw" film in 2004, and while he stated in an interview with "Entertainment Weekly" that he was "very proud" of the movie, he also felt that the movie, specifically, the violence and gore of it, put some people off and made them hesitant to work with him. Wan thus made "Insidious" in part to prove that he could make a movie without the level of violence found in the "Saw" series.


title: Insidious (film)

text: Principal photography for "Insidious" was completed over the course of three weeks in 2010, from late April to mid-May at the historic Herald Examiner Building in downtown Los Angeles. In regards to the shorter shooting schedule, actor Patrick Wilson explained, "We had long days and a lot of pages a day, and we didn't get a lot of coverage or rehearsal. But luckily, the benefit of doing a movie that's not on a big budget—and the reason it's usually done like that—is so if the filmmakers feel like, 'OK, we're not going to sacrifice anything on screen,' which I don't think they have, it lets them have complete control. So we were in good hands."


title: Insidious (film)

text: The musical score to "Insidious" was composed by Joseph Bishara, who also appears in the film as the demon. Performed with a quartet and a piano, a bulk of the score was improvised and structured in the editing process, although some recording sessions began prior to filming. On describing the approach of the film's soundtrack, director James Wan explained, "We wanted a lot of the scare sequences to play really silent. But, what I like to do with the soundtrack is set you on edge with a really loud, sort of like, atonal scratchy violin score, mixing with some really weird piano bangs and take that away and all of a sudden, you're like, 'What just happened there?"


title: Insidious (film)

text: An exclusively digital soundtrack album was released by Void Recordings on October 11, 2011. Additional songs featured in the film include:


title: Insidious (film)

text: "Insidious" had its world premiere in the Midnight Madness program at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 14, 2010. Less than 12 hours after its screening, the U.S distribution rights to the film and the worldwide distribution rights to any sequels were picked up by Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions. On December 29, 2010, it was announced that the film would be released theatrically on April 1, 2011 by the then-relatively new film company FilmDistrict. The film was also screened at South by Southwest in mid-March 2011.


title: Insidious (film)

text: "Insidious" was released on DVD and Blu-ray on July 12, 2011 through Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. The Blu-ray bonus content includes three featurettes: "Horror 101: The Exclusive Seminar", "On Set With Insidious", and "Insidious Entities". On the day prior to the film's home media release, Sony Pictures and "Fangoria" hosted a free screening of the film at the Silent Movie Theater in Los Angeles followed by an interactive Q&A with director James Wan and screenwriter Leigh Whannell.


title: Insidious (film)

text: The film opened with $13.3 million, making it #3 at the US box office behind "Hop" and "Source Code". On a budget of $1.5 million, it has since grossed a total of US$54 million in the US and $46.1 million internationally, for a total of $100.1 million worldwide. "Insidious" was one of the most profitable films of 2011 (with "Cars 2" having a worldwide profit of $362 million).


title: Insidious (film)

text: Review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes reports that 66% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 177 reviews; the average score is 6.00/10. The critical consensus is: "Aside from a shaky final act, "Insidious" is a very scary and very fun haunted house thrill ride." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 52 out of 100 based on 30 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Roger Ebert gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of four and wrote, "It depends on characters, atmosphere, sneaky happenings and mounting dread. This one is not terrifically good, but moviegoers will get what they're expecting."


title: Insidious (film)

text: A number of negative reviews reported that the second half of the film did not match the development of the first. Mike Hale of "The New York Times" wrote that "the strongest analogue for the second half of "Insidious" is one that the filmmakers probably weren’t trying for: it feels like a less poetic version of an M. Night Shyamalan fairy tale." Similarly, James Berardinelli commented, "[i]f there's a complaint to be made about "Insidious", it's that the film's second half is unable to live up to the impossibly high standards set by the first half." Ethan Gilsdorf of "The Boston Globe" wrote that "[t]he film begins with promise" but "[t]he crazy train of "Insidious" runs fully off the rails when the filmmakers go logical and some of the strange gets explained away as a double shot of demonic possession and astral projection."


title: Insidious (film)

text: Positive reviews have focused on the filmmakers' ability to build suspense. John Anderson of "The Wall Street Journal" explains "[w]hat makes a movie scary isn't what jumps out of the closet. It's what might jump out of the closet. The blood, the gore and the noise of so many fright films miss the horrifying point: Movie watchers are far more convinced, instinctively, that what we don't know will most assuredly hurt us... "Insidious" establishes that these folks can make a film that operates on an entirely different level, sans gore, or obvious gimmicks. And make flesh crawl." Michael Phillips of the "Chicago Tribune" wrote: "director James Wan and screenwriter Leigh Whannell admire all sorts of fright, from the blatant to the insidiously subtle. This one lies at an effective halfway point between those extremes." Peter Travers of "Rolling Stone" commented: "Here's a better-than-average spook house movie, mostly because "Insidious" decides it can daunt an audience without spraying it with blood." Christy Lemire of the Associated Press stated: ""Insidious" is the kind of movie you could watch with your eyes closed and still feel engrossed by it."


title: Insidious (film)

text: A third installment, "", with Leigh Whannell serving as director and writer, was released on June 5, 2015, to a high box office gross and a mixed critical response.


title: Insidious (film)

text: A fourth installment, with Adam Robitel as director and Whannell as writer of the film, "" was released on January 5, 2018, and received mixed reviews.


title: Kingsman (franchise)

text: Kingsman is a British film franchise, consisting of action-comedy films, that follow the missions of Kingsman, a fictional secret service organization. Based on the comic book series of the same name created by Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons, a 2012 Marvel Comics release, the film franchise debut has garnered success both financially and critically.


title: Kingsman (franchise)

text: "", directed by Matthew Vaughn from a script he co-wrote with Jane Goldman, was released in February 2015. The film starred Colin Firth and Taron Egerton. A sequel, "", was released in September 2017. A prequel, "The King's Man", was theatrically released in the United States in December 2021. The films were released by 20th Century Studios.


title: Kingsman (franchise)

text: The film series is to continue with a fourth "Kingsman" film, titled "Kingsman: The Blue Blood", and a spin-off eight-hour television limited series centred around the franchise's American spy agency, "Statesman", which are in development. Adaptations of the films have been published, and a handful of "Kingsman" video games have been released since 2012, although they are unavailable in the UK.


title: Kingsman (franchise)

text: The "Kingsman" film franchise is based on the comic series of the same name, which began with the 2012 comic book "The Secret Service". Two sequels, "The Big Exit" and "The Red Diamond", followed in 2017 and 2018 respectively. The series was initially known as "The Secret Service" before being rebranded after the first "Kingsman" film's release. The series was created by Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons. It is set in Millar's shared universe, the "Millarverse". An example of this is when the celebrity kidnappings that take place in "Kingsman" Vol. 1 are referenced in "Kick Ass: The Dave Lizewski Years" Book Four.


title: Kingsman (franchise)

text: The first film, "", is set over the course of two years, from 2014 to 2015. Having dropped out of training for the Royal Marines, becoming a stereotypical chav and being arrested for stealing a car, Gary "Eggsy" Unwin's release is arranged by Harry Hart, a Kingsman and his late father's colleague. Hart, a veteran spy of the secret organisation Kingsman, recruits Eggsy into the agency's competitive training programme as a global threat emerges from a billionaire, Richmond Valentine.


title: Kingsman (franchise)

text: The concept of a "The Secret Service" adaptation originated when Millar and Vaughn were at a bar discussing spy movies, lamenting that the genre had become too serious and deciding to do "a fun one." To have the time to make the film, Vaughn had to opt out of directing "", which he called "a really tough decision". He reasoned that if he did not do it, "somebody else ... [would] wake up and do a fun spy movie. Then I would have written a bloody screenplay that no one would want to make." Colin Firth joined the cast to lead the film on 29 April 2013. It was initially reported in 2013 that Leonardo DiCaprio was in talks to play a villain, but Vaughn denied that he was ever considered. Instead the role went to Samuel L. Jackson. Jackson took the role in part because of a careerlong dream to be in a James Bond movie. He felt that this was unlikely to come true and said, "I felt like this was an opportunity to play a really great Bond villain." Jackson's character has a notable lisp, a choice he decided to make based partially on the stutter he had as a kid. In September 2013, Vaughn cast Sophie Cookson as the female lead, preferring a newcomer over more obvious candidates like Emma Watson and Bella Heathcote. Mark Hamill was cast as Professor James Arnold, a reference to his character in the source comic book being himself.


title: Kingsman (franchise)

text: Principal photography began 6 October 2013 in Deepcut, Surrey, on a budget reported to be one-third of the $200 million budget of "Skyfall". The Alexandra Road Estate in Camden was used for Eggsy's home area, and some scenes were filmed at Imperial College London. The Black Prince Pub in Kennington, South London, was used for various fight scenes and the car chase. Savile Row in Mayfair was also employed as a location and the exterior of tailors Huntsman, which provided the clothes, and James Lock & Co. in St James's, which provided the hats. Elton John was rumoured to have a role in the film. Although this would prove untrue, John would appear in the film's sequel. "Kingsman: The Secret Service" was released in the United Kingdom on January 29, 2015.


title: Kingsman (franchise)

text: The second film, "" (2017) is set over the course of one week. When Kingsman's headquarters are destroyed, their agents discover an allied spy organisation in the United States, the Statesman. The two join forces to defeat a common enemy in order to save the world.


title: Kingsman (franchise)

text: Near the release of "Kingsman: The Secret Service", Millar and Vaughn said a sequel was possible if the first film performed well at the box office, and Vaughn expressed interest in directing the sequel. Vaughn also noted that he had hoped to have Firth in the sequel, but it was later reported that Firth would not be returning.


title: Kingsman (franchise)

text: On 29 April 2015, Fox announced that a sequel was in production, but that it was unclear if Vaughn would direct due to his interest in directing a Flash Gordon film. On 11 June 2015, Vaughn told "Yahoo" that he had begun writing the sequel's script and that he might direct. In September 2015, Millar reiterated that the sequel was in development and that Vaughn was looking for ways to bring Firth back without sacrificing the story's integrity. Later that month, "The Hollywood Reporter" confirmed that Egerton had also signed on for the "Robin Hood: Origins" franchise, which would begin shooting in February 2016; Egerton's schedule was accordingly in conflict with the "Kingsman" sequel. But in mid-October it was confirmed that the scheduling issues had been settled between both studios. Lionsgate planned to begin "Robin Hood"s production right after Egerton wrapped filming on "Kingsman: The Golden Circle", which was expected to begin production in April 2016.


title: Kingsman (franchise)

text: On 17 February 2016, it was revealed that Julianne Moore was in negotiations to play the film's villain. On 10 March 2016, Halle Berry was cast as the head of the CIA. Her role later turned out as that of Statesman's tech support. In late March, Vaughn confirmed Berry's and Moore's casting, as well as the title, "Kingsman: The Golden Circle". On 8 April 2016, Pedro Pascal was cast as Jack Daniels. The same day, a promotional poster was released featuring Firth's character's glasses, confirming his return; Firth's return was officially confirmed on 11 July 2016. Channing Tatum confirmed his casting on his Twitter account, while "Variety" confirmed that Elton John was in talks for a role. In late April, Vaughn said of the sequel, "writing this was the hardest thing I've ever done." Jeff Bridges was added to the cast on 28 May 2016. Vinnie Jones announced on Twitter that he had been cast in a role.


title: Kingsman (franchise)

text: Principal photography on the film began on 15 May 2016 in Birmingham. Filming also took place in Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden. On 13 September 2016, "Kingsman: The Golden Circle" completed initial filming. Additional footage was shot in London in December 2016.


title: Kingsman (franchise)

text: "Kingsman: The Golden Circle" was originally scheduled for release on June 16, 2017, by 20th Century Fox, but was pushed back to October 6. Then it was pushed up from October 6 to September 22. The film was given an IMAX release. It eventually opened in the UK on September 20.


title: Kingsman (franchise)

text: In June 2018, Vaughn announced that a prequel film was in active development, stating that the plot would take place during the early 1900s and depict the formation of the spy agency, and that the project would be filmed back-to-back with "the third regular "Kingsman" film". In September 2018, it was announced that Ralph Fiennes and Harris Dickinson would star in the prequel. In October 2018, it was rumored that Rachel Weisz and Brad Pitt were being considered for roles in the film. In November 2018, it was revealed that Daniel Brühl, Charles Dance, Rhys Ifans, and Matthew Goode would co-star in the film. The film would reportedly be a period drama stylistically, and will explore the formation of the Kingsman tailors and agency, with the tagline for the film being "The man who would be Kingsman." In June 2019, the film's official title was announced to be "The King's Man".


title: Kingsman (franchise)

text: "The King's Man" was released on December 22, 2021 by 20th Century Studios. The film was originally slated for a November 2019 release but was delayed eight times due to production issues and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Kingsman (franchise)

text: In May 2017, Vaughn stated that a sequel to "The Golden Circle" is currently in development, adding that he and co-writer Goldman mapped out the plot during production on the second film. Vaughn later stated that his personal choice for the role of the villain is Dwayne Johnson. By June 2018, the filmmaker announced that the third movie would be filmed back-to-back with a prequel, serving as "the conclusion of the Harry Hart-Eggsy relationship". Colin Firth and Taron Egerton will both reprise their roles from previous films. Vaughn stated production is scheduled to begin some time between late 2019 and early 2020. In September 2020, the film was given the working title of "Kingsman: The Blue Blood". In December 2021, Vaughn revealed that filming on the sequel will begin in September 2022, for an intended 2023 release date but in July 2022, Egerton believed that filming would start in 2023.


title: Kingsman (franchise)

text: On July 20, 2017, Fox released an animated crossover short film between "Kingsman" and "Archer", titled "#TBT to That Time Archer Met Kingsman", featuring Eggsy and Sterling Archer. The short was unveiled at the 2017 Comic-Con’s "Kingsman: The Golden Circle" panel in Hall H, following Eggsy as he discovers Archer to have stumbled into the Kingsman's secret arsenal hidden in the bespoke suit shop, helping himself to guns and alcohol. Fighting to reclaim the goods, Eggsy challenges Archer to "the most gentlemanly of competitions": a drinking contest, while planning to drug him via a glass; Archer instead drinks the bottle and passes out. Eggsy, insulted by Archer's behaviour, vows to go to America and "teach them a lesson". Taron Egerton and H. Jon Benjamin respectively reprise their roles as Eggsy Unwin and Sterling Archer.


title: Kingsman (franchise)

text: In June 2018, upon announcing his new film studio, Vaughn revealed that an eight-episode "Kingsman" television series was in early development.


title: Kingsman (franchise)

text: Initially announced as a spin-off film in September 2017, a television series centred around the franchise's American secret agent organization named the Statesman is in development. In June 2018, Vaughn announced his new film studio along with several projects currently in development including "Statesman"; confirming that Channing Tatum, Jeff Bridges and Halle Berry would reprise their respective roles. In December 2021, Vaughn announced that the project was officially being redeveloped as a television series. The filmmaker stated that they look to Marvel Studios' "Loki" on Disney+ for inspiration on the series.


title: Kingsman (franchise)

text: The first film - "Kingsman: The Secret Service" originated when Mark Millar and Matthew Vaughn were at a bar discussing spy movies, lamenting that the genre had become too serious over the years and deciding to do "a fun one". To have the time to make the film, Vaughn had to opt out of directing "", which he called "a really tough decision". He reasoned that if he did not do it, "somebody else... [would] wake up and do a fun spy movie. Then I would have written a bloody screenplay that no one would want to make." Colin Firth joined the cast to lead the film on 29 April 2013. It was initially reported in 2013 that Leonardo DiCaprio was in talks to play a villain, although Vaughn himself later denied that he was ever considered, stating that he came as close to playing the role "as I am to becoming the Pope". Instead the role of the villain went to Samuel L. Jackson. Jackson took the role in part because of a career-long dream to be in a James Bond movie. As he felt that this was unlikely to come true, he took on the role, stating "I felt like this was an opportunity to play a really great Bond villain". Jackson's character has a notable lisp, which was partially inspired by the stutter he had during his childhood. In September 2013, Vaughn cast Sophie Cookson for the female lead, preferring a newcomer over more obvious candidates like Emma Watson and Bella Heathcote. Mark Hamill was cast as Professor James Arnold, a reference to his character in the source comic book being named "Mark Hamill".


title: Kingsman (franchise)

text: Millar and Vaughn stated that a sequel was possible if the first film performs well at the box office, and Vaughn expressed interest in directing the sequel. Vaughn also noted that he hoped to have Firth back in the sequel, and that Strong was interested in returning as well. It was confirmed that Taron Egerton was contracted for the sequel. When asked how they would incorporate Firth's character into the sequel, Millar stated that various ideas have been discussed, including giving Harry Hart an evil brother, or perhaps turning the character into a ghost. Fox later announced a sequel was in the works, but it was unclear if Vaughn would return to direct. On 11 June 2015, it was confirmed Vaughn had begun writing the sequel, and that he might return to direct it. Principal photography was set to begin in April 2016, with a 6 October 2017 release date. It was reported that Julianne Moore was in talks to star as the new villain, and Halle Berry might sign on as the Head of the CIA. On 18 March 2016, Edward Holcroft was also confirmed to reprise his role as Charles "Charlie" Hesketh. Vaughn later revealed the sequel's title to be "Kingsman: The Golden Circle". The plot follows Eggsy and Merlin joining forces with "Statesman", their American counterpart after Kingsman was destroyed by the film's villain Poppy, played by Moore. On 7 April 2016, Egerton revealed the first poster for the film, which strongly hinted that Firth would return for the film; the poster features Harry Hart's trademark pair of glasses with one of the lenses missing below the tagline (a borrowed quote from Mark Twain) stating "reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated". Sophie Cookson will also reprise her role as Roxy Morton in the sequel. The next day, Deadline reported that Pedro Pascal was in talks for the role of Jack Daniels. On 12 April 2016, Elton John was in talks about joining the cast of the upcoming sequel. The next day, Channing Tatum announced on his Twitter account that he was joining the cast as Agent Tequila.


title: Kingsman (franchise)

text: A prequel to the franchise titled "The King's Man" was released on 22 December 2021. In June 2018, Vaughn announced that the prequel film would be titled "Kingsman: The Great Game" and stated that the plot would take place during the early 1900s and would depict the formation of the spy agency and would be filmed back-to-back with "the third regular "Kingsman" film". On November 9, 2018, Egerton confirmed he would not return for the prequel, however, he would still portray the character in future installments. It was originally scheduled to be released on 8 November 2019, but delayed eight times through 2020 and 2021 due to production issues and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Matthew Vaughn stated that if a sequel were to be developed he would like to see the story about the first decade of the Kingsman agency with all characters that audience see at the end. According to the Hollywood Reporter, he said:


title: Kingsman (franchise)

text: "Kingsman: The Blue Blood" is the planned sequel to "The Golden Circle" and the fourth movie in the franchise. In December 2017, Vaughn provided insight into his plans for the untitled film, confirming there would be one massive new addition to the cast, though he has not decided who would play the role yet. In March 2018, Vaughn confirmed he was still working on the script for the movie. In another interview, he teased the possible return of Mark Strong's Merlin, but did not confirm or deny the rumours. Vaughn revealed to Empire that he's planning a Kingsman movie which would cap-off the "Harry Hart-Eggsy relationship" trilogy. In December 2021, Vaughn revealed that filming on the sequel will begin in September 2022.


title: Kingsman (franchise)

text: Vaughn revealed that a spin-off film of "", revolving around the Statesman, an American secret agent organization, was in early development. The film's working title was announced to be "Statesman". In June 2018, Vaughn announced his new film studio along with several projects in development including "Statesman", confirming that Channing Tatum, Jeff Bridges and Halle Berry would reprise their roles in the film.


title: Kingsman (franchise)

text: In August 2017, it was confirmed that "Kingsman: The Golden Circle" would have a tie-in game to accompany its release, and that it would be a turn-based match-3 role-playing combat game, released on iOS and Android by the Korean mobile game company NHN PixelCube. The game also includes characters from "", and was released globally on 14 September 2017, about a week before the film's release. Unlike the films, the game does not have graphic violence or explicit language, but it is classified a "12+" rating for "mild realistic violence". In the days before the film's release, another mobile game based on the "Kingsman" franchise, simply titled "Kingsman: The Secret Service", was announced to be in development also for iOS and Android, by American mobile game developer YesGnome. The game is a hybrid action adventure-construction simulator, where players construct impregnable secret bases, similar to "Fallout Shelter", while infiltrating enemy bases in run-and-gun missions based on the plot of at least the first film. The Android version remained in early access for many months. "The Golden Circle" is free-to-play, offers in-app purchases, and supports online player-versus-player multiplayer, while "The Secret Service" is sold as a paid game.


title: Kingsman (franchise)

text: Several months later after the launch of the tie-in mobile game for "Kingsman: The Golden Circle", on April 24, 2018, it was announced that the game's servers will be shut down on May 23, 2018, after "careful consideration" and the game's poor player base. Meanwhile, after many months in early access, Yesgnome's "Kingsman: The Secret Service" was finally released on May 1, 2019.


title: Kingsman (franchise)

text: "Kingsman: The Golden Circle: The Official Movie Novelization", the novelization of the 2017 film "Kingsman: The Golden Circle", written by Tim Waggoner, was released on September 22, 2017.


title: Kingsman (franchise)

text: Luxury retailer Mr Porter has been a marketing partner of the franchise since the first film, when it worked with costume designer Arianne Phillips to design the bespoke suiting, while everything from the ties and shirts to eyewear, umbrellas, shoes and watches were designed by heritage brands such as Cutler and Gross, George Cleverley, Mackintosh, Bremont, and Adidas Originals. The collaboration is the first of its kind, making "Kingsman: The Secret Service" the first film from which customers can buy all of the outfits they see. On 8 September 2017, Mr Porter opened its first Kingsman shop between Berry Bros. & Rudd and Lock & Co. Hatters on St James's Street in Central London. Both the Kingsman shop and Berry Bros. & Rudd were integral locations for "Kingsman: The Golden Circle", while Lock & Co. was featured on the first film.


title: Kingsman (franchise)

text: In May 2017, TAG Heuer partnered with Fox to make the TAG Heuer Connected the official watch of the Kingsman agents. In August 2017, Fox partnered with Old Forester to release a Statesman edition of their 95 proof Bourbon whiskey for the U.S. market. In addition, GlenDronach released a Kingsman Edition 1991 of their Scotch whisky. Director Vaughn cited GlenDronach as his favourite scotch whisky brand, and the distillery used casks from 1991, as it is the fictional year of Eggsy's birth. Only 240 bottles have been allocated to the U.S. market, all of which are signed by Vaughn. In addition, Berry Bros. & Rudd released a Kingsman edition of their No. 3 London Dry Gin. In September 2017, Hard Rock Cafe introduced the "Poppy Burger" in their menu to promote "The Golden Circle".


title: Los Angeles County, California

text: Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, with 9,861,224 residents estimated as of 2022. It is the most populous non–state-level government entity in the United States. Its population is greater than that of 40 individual U.S. states. At and with 88 incorporated cities and many unincorporated areas, it is home to more than one-quarter of California residents and is one of the most ethnically diverse counties in the United States. Its county seat, Los Angeles, is also California's most populous city and the second-most populous city in the United States, with about 3.9 million residents. In recent times, statewide droughts in California have placed great strain on the County’s (and the City of Los Angeles's) water security.


title: Los Angeles County, California

text: Los Angeles County is one of the original counties of California, created at the time of statehood in 1850. The county originally included parts of what are now Kern, San Bernardino, Riverside, Inyo, Tulare, Ventura, and Orange counties. In 1851 and 1852, Los Angeles County stretched from the coast to the state line of Nevada. As the population increased, sections were split off to organize San Bernardino County in 1853, Kern County in 1866, and Orange County in 1889.


title: Los Angeles County, California

text: Prior to the 1870s, Los Angeles County was divided into townships, many of which were amalgamations of one or more old ranchos. They were:


title: Los Angeles County, California

text: According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of , of which (85%) is land and (15%) is water. Los Angeles County borders of coast on the Pacific Ocean and encompasses mountain ranges, valleys, forests, islands, lakes, rivers, and desert. The Los Angeles River, Rio Hondo, Ballona Creek, the San Gabriel River and the Santa Clara River flow in Los Angeles County, while the primary mountain ranges are the Santa Monica Mountains and the San Gabriel Mountains. The western extent of the Mojave Desert begins in the Antelope Valley, in the northeastern part of the county.


title: Los Angeles County, California

text: Most of the population of Los Angeles County resides in the south and southwest, with major population centers in the Los Angeles Basin, San Fernando Valley, and San Gabriel Valley. Other population centers are found in the Santa Clarita Valley, Pomona Valley, Crescenta Valley and Antelope Valley.


title: Los Angeles County, California

text: The county is divided west-to-east by the San Gabriel Mountains, which are part of the Transverse Ranges of southern California, and are contained mostly within the Angeles National Forest. Most of the county's highest peaks are in the San Gabriel Mountains, including Mount San Antonio at the Los Angeles-San Bernardino county lines, Mount Baden-Powell , Mount Burnham and Mount Wilson . Several lower mountains are in the northern, western, and southwestern parts of the county, including the San Emigdio Mountains, the southernmost part of Tehachapi Mountains and the Sierra Pelona Mountains.


title: Los Angeles County, California

text: Los Angeles County includes San Clemente Island and Santa Catalina Island, which are part of the Channel Islands archipelago off the Pacific Coast.


title: Los Angeles County, California

text: "Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos can be of any race."


title: Los Angeles County, California

text: Los Angeles County had a population of 9,818,605 in the 2010 United States Census. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 583,364 people (i.e., 1,152,564 births minus 569,200 deaths) and a decrease due to net migration of 361,895 people. Immigration resulted in a net increase of 293,433 people, and migration from within the United States resulted in a net decrease of 655,328 people.


title: Los Angeles County, California

text: The racial makeup of Los Angeles County was 4,936,599 (50%) White, 1,346,865 (13.7%) Asian, 856,874 (9%) African American, 72,828 (0.7%) Native American, 26,094 (0.3%) Pacific Islander, 2,140,632 (21.8%) from other races, and 438,713 (4.5%) from two or more races.


title: Los Angeles County, California

text: Non-Hispanic whites numbered 2,728,321, or 28% of the population. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race numbered 4,687,889 (48%); 36% of Los Angeles County's population was of Mexican ancestry, 3.7% Salvadoran, and 2.2% Guatemalan heritage.


title: Los Angeles County, California

text: The county has a large population of Asian Americans, being home to the largest numbers of Burmese, Cambodian, Chinese, Filipino, Indonesian, Korean, Sri Lankan, Taiwanese, and Thai outside their respective countries. The largest Asian groups in Los Angeles County are 4.0% Chinese, 3.3% Filipino, 2.2% Korean, 1.0% Japanese, 0.9% Vietnamese, 0.8% Indian, and 0.3% Cambodian.


title: Los Angeles County, California

text: The racial makeup of the county is 48.7% White, 11.0% African American, 0.8% Native American, 10.0% Asian, 0.3% Pacific Islander, 23.5% from other races, and 4.9% from two or more races. 44.6% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race. The largest European-American ancestry groups are German (6%), Irish (5%), English (4%) and Italian (3%). 45.9% of the population reported speaking only English at home; 37.9% spoke Spanish, 2.22% Tagalog, 2.0% Chinese, 1.9% Korean, 1.87% Armenian, 0.5% Arabic, and 0.2% Hindi.


title: Los Angeles County, California

text: The county has the largest Native American population of any county in the nation: according to the 2000 census, it has more than 153,550 people of indigenous descent, and most are from Latin America.


title: Los Angeles County, California

text: As estimated by the Public Policy Institute of California in 2008, Los Angeles County is home to more than one-third of California's undocumented immigrants, who make up more than ten percent of the population.


title: Los Angeles County, California

text: Los Angeles County contains the largest Iranian population outside of Iran of any other county or county equivalent globally.


title: Los Angeles County, California

text: At the 2000 census, there were 9,519,338 people, 3,133,774 households, and 2,137,233 families in the county. The population density was . There were 3,270,909 housing units at an average density of .


title: Los Angeles County, California

text: Of the 3,133,774 households 37% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48% were married couples living together, 15% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32% were non-families. 25% of households were one person and 7% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.98 and the average family size was 3.61.


title: Los Angeles County, California

text: The age distribution was 28% under the age of 18, 10% from 18 to 24, 33% from 25 to 44, 19% from 45 to 64, and 10% 65 or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.0 males.


title: Los Angeles County, California

text: The median personal earnings for all workers 16 and older in Los Angeles County are $30,654, slightly below the US median; earnings, however vary widely by neighborhood, race and ethnicity, and gender. The median household income was $42,189 and the median family income was $46,452. Males had a median income of $36,299 versus $30,981 for females. The per capita income for the county was $20,683. There are 14.4% of families living below the poverty line and 17.9% of the population, including 24.2% of under 18 and 10.5% of those over 64.


title: Los Angeles County, California

text: Los Angeles County has the highest number of millionaires of any county in the nation, totaling 261,081 households as of 2007.


title: Los Angeles County, California

text: The homeownership rate is 47.9%, and the median value for houses is $409,300. 42.2% of housing units are in multi-unit structures. Los Angeles County has the largest number of homeless people, with "48,000 people living on the streets, including 6,000 veterans," in 2010.


title: Los Angeles County, California

text: In 2015, there were over two thousand Christian churches, the majority of which are Catholic. Roman Catholic adherents number close to 40% of the population. There were 202 Jewish synagogues, 145 Buddhist temples, 38 Muslim mosques, 44 Baháʼí Faith worship centers, 37 Hindu temples, 28 Tenrikyo churches and fellowships, 16 Shinto worship centers, and 14 Sikh gurdwaras in the county. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles has approximately 5 million members and is the largest diocese in the United States. In 2014, the county had 3,275 religious organizations, the most out of all US counties.


title: Los Angeles County, California

text: The Government of Los Angeles County is defined and authorized under the California Constitution, California law and the Charter of the County of Los Angeles. Much of the Government of California is in practice the responsibility of local governments such as the Government of Los Angeles County.


title: Los Angeles County, California

text: The county's voters elect a governing five-member Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. The small size of the board means each supervisor represents over 2 million people. The board operates in a legislative, executive, and quasi-judicial capacity. As a legislative authority, it can pass ordinances for the unincorporated areas (ordinances that affect the whole county, like posting of restaurant ratings, must be ratified by the individual city). As an executive body, it can tell the county departments what to do, and how to do it. As a quasi-judicial body, the Board is the final venue of appeal in the local planning process, and holds public hearings on various agenda items.


title: Los Angeles County, California

text: As of 2020, the Board of Supervisors oversees a $35.5 billion annual budget and over 112,000 employees. The county government is managed on a day-to-day basis by a Chief Executive Officer and is organized into many departments, each of which is enormous in comparison to equivalent county-level (and even many state-level) departments anywhere else in the United States. Some of the larger or better-known departments include:


title: Los Angeles County, California

text: The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, despite its name, is a County department. Technically it is a state-mandated county transportation commission that also operates bus and rail.


title: Los Angeles County, California

text: In the United States House of Representatives, Los Angeles County is split between 18 congressional districts: In the California State Senate, Los Angeles County is split between 15 legislative districts:


title: Los Angeles County, California

text: On November 4, 2008, Los Angeles County was almost evenly split over Proposition 8, which amended the California Constitution to ban same-sex marriages. The county voted for the amendment 50.04% with a margin of 2,385 votes.


title: Los Angeles County, California

text: The Los Angeles County Superior Court is the county's court of general jurisdiction, while the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California may hear cases where federal jurisdiction is present. Both are headquartered in a large cluster of government buildings in the city's Civic Center.


title: Los Angeles County, California

text: Historically, the courthouses were county-owned buildings that were maintained at county expense, which created significant friction since the trial court judges, as officials of the state government, had to lobby the county Board of Supervisors for facility renovations and upgrades. In turn, the state judiciary successfully persuaded the state Legislature to authorize the transfer of all courthouses to the state government in 2008 and 2009 (so that judges would have direct control over their own courthouses). Courthouse security is still provided by the county government under a contract with the state.


title: Los Angeles County, California

text: Unlike the largest city in the United States, New York City, all of the city of Los Angeles and most of its important suburbs are located within a single county. As a result, both the county superior court and the federal district court are respectively the busiest courts of their type in the nation.


title: Los Angeles County, California

text: Many celebrities have been seen in Los Angeles courts. In 2003, the television show "Extra" (based in nearby Glendale) found itself running so many reports on the legal problems of local celebrities that it spun them off into a separate show, "Celebrity Justice".


title: Los Angeles County, California

text: State cases are appealed to the Court of Appeal for the Second Appellate District, which is also headquartered in the Civic Center, and then to the California Supreme Court, which is headquartered in San Francisco but also hears argument in Los Angeles (again, in the Civic Center). Federal cases are appealed to the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which hears them at its branch building in Pasadena. The court of last resort for federal cases is the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C.


title: Los Angeles County, California

text: The following table includes the number of incidents reported and the rate per 1,000 persons for each type of offense.


title: Los Angeles County, California

text: According to the authors of "Wild L.A.", a book about urban biodiversity, “Los Angeles is the birdiest county in the country with over 500 recorded species.” L.A.’s amenable climate supports a large number of introduced, tropical and migratory species. Because of the county’s wide range of biomes it is possible to see desert bighorn sheep and green sea turtles in the same day, without crossing the county line. The range of habitats in the county is “greater than in many states, with mountains, wetlands, desert, ocean, meadows and chaparral, each with its own endemic species.”


title: Los Angeles County, California

text: Los Angeles County is commonly associated with the entertainment and digital media industry; all five major film studios—Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures, Warner Bros., Universal Pictures, and Walt Disney Studios—are located within the county. Numerous other major industries also define the economy of Los Angeles County, including international trade supported by the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach, music recording and production, aerospace and defense, fashion, and professional services such as law, medicine, engineering and design services, financial services. High-tech sector employment within Los Angeles County is 368,500 workers, and manufacturing employment within Los Angeles County is 365,000 workers.


title: Los Angeles County, California

text: The Los Angeles County Office of Education provides a supporting role for school districts in the area. The county office also operates two magnet schools, the International Polytechnic High School and Los Angeles County High School for the Arts. There are a number of private schools in the county, most notably those operated by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese.


title: Los Angeles County, California

text: The county's most visited park is Griffith Park, owned by the city of Los Angeles. The county is also known for the annual Rose Parade in Pasadena, the annual Los Angeles County Fair in Pomona, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Los Angeles Zoo, the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, the La Brea Tar Pits, the Arboretum of Los Angeles, and two horse racetracks and two car racetracks (Pomona Raceway and Irwindale Speedway), also the RMS Queen Mary located in Long Beach, and the Long Beach Grand Prix, and miles of beaches—from Zuma to Cabrillo.