Chagatai people

The Chagatai (also Chagatai Tajiks or Tajik Chagatai) are one of the Tajik peoples of Uzbekistan. The Chagatai live in the Surxondaryo Province in south-east Uzbekistan and in southern Tajikistan. They numbered 63,500 in 1924-25. Together with the Kharduri, the Chagatai are one of the ethnographic groups of Tajiks who maintain a distinct identity. The origin of the people is unknown, although the name Chagatai is of Mongol origin, as Chagatai was a son of Genghis Khan.

The Turkic Chagatai language is not the language of the Chagatai Tajiks.