Period: 552 - 745 (193 Years)
Founded By: Bumin Kağan
Area Covered: Impassable valleys of Altay (Cathay) and from Pacific Ocean to the Black Sea (18,000,000 sq.kms./6,949,839 Sq.miles).

Emperors:
Bumin Kağan (?-553)
İstemi Kağan (553 - 576)
Tapar Kağan (576 - 581)
Bağa İşbara Kağan (581 - 587)
Çur-Bağa Kağan (587 - 588)
Tunga Turan Kağan (588 - 600)
Bilge Tardu Kağan (600 - 603)
Kimin Türe Kağan (603 - 609)
Şibi Kağan (609 - 619)
Çulluk Kağan (619 - 621)
Kara Kağan (621 - 630)
Şirbe Kağan (630 - 646)
Çibi Kağan (646 - 647)
İpi Tulu Kağan (647 - 653)
Çenku-Yabgu (653 - 659)
Eçine Türçe Kağan (659 - 679)
Eçine Kür Pur Çur Kağan (679 - 682)
İlteriş Kutluğ Kağan (682 - 693)
Kapağan Kağan (693 - 716)
Bilge Kağan (716 - 734)
İçen Bilge Kağan (734 - 739)
Bilge Kutluğ Kağan (739 - 741)
Penge Kağan (741 - 742)
Süyen Kağan (742)
Özmuş Kağan (742 - 744)
Peymen Kağan (744 - 745)

The Chinese sources relay the information about the Göktürks in varieties. According to one legend:

"Turks are one of the branches of ancient Huns. They are from Ashina Tribe and they survive as different society. But Turks are killed by Lin nation and are subjected to genocide. There is only one 10-year-old boy saved from the genocide. The soldiers of Lin Country do not kill the boy since he was so young but cut his feet. They throw the boy to the swamp where a female wolf feeds the boy. When the boy comes to maturity, the she-wolf becomes pregnant from the boy. When the prince of Lin learns this occasion, he tries to kill the wolf and the boy who flee to the mountains which is in north of Kaoch'ang (Turfan). The pregnant she-wolf gives bith to 10 boys in a cave where there are meadows and plants in one of these mountains. As the boys grown up, they marry with different girls. A new tribe grows from each woman. It is the Ashina family from which the Göktürk Kağan were out of. The sons and daughters of Ashina family grew up and became hundreds of families. After few generations left the cave and settled at the skirts of Mount Altai (Cathay) depended on Juan-Juan Tribes Union and worked as iron workers."

Another Chinese Legend: "The antecedents of Turks live in north of Hsi-Hai (West Sea). The Lin Nation massacres the Turks but a small child. They cut his legs and arms and throw hin in the middle of a meadow which was in the center of 'Great Swamp'. A female wolf feeds him, raises him and gets pregnant from him. Lin attempts to kill the wolf but since she was communicating with the gods, she learns the situation and flees with the boy to a mountain where there was a large cave with a fertile valley inside. She gives birth to 10 boys. One of these boys establishes the Ashina Tribe and erects a standart of wolf head to show that he did not forget his roots."
(Abridged and translated from Türklerin Tarihi (History of Turks), Doğan Avcıoğlu by K. Can Arman)

: 09 November 2007/04:15 GMT