Minorsky, citing Marquart, Barthold, Semenov and other sources, proposes that the name Kīmāk (pronounced Kimäk) is derived from Iki-Imäk, "the two Imäk", probably referring to the first two clans (Īmī and Īmāk) of the federation.

[11] However, Golden later changed his mind, reasoning that, as the Medieval Kipchak dialectal sound-change /k/ > ∅ had not yet happened in the mid-7th century Old Turkic, the identification of Yemeks with Kimeks is disputed.

[12] According to Tishin (2018), Yemeks were simply the most important of the seven constituent tribes whose representatives met at the Irtysh valley, where the diverse Kimek tribal union emerged, as related by Gardizi.

[14] The Kimek state was formed at the end of the 9th– and beginning of the 10th century composed out of tribal domains, ruled by a khagan who was the supreme among subject leaders.

The Kimaks led a semi-settled life, as the Hudūd mentioned many wandering tribal grazers as well as a town named *Yimäkiya (> Yamakkiyya > ms. Namakiyya); while the Kipchaks, in some customs, resembled the contemporary Oghuzes, who were nomadic herders.

According to Pritsak (1982:331-33),[24] Kimeks were known to Chinese as 庫莫 Kumo < MC kʰuoH-mɑk̚ < *qu(o)mâġ associated with the Xi < *ɦei < *Ġay, a people whom Islamic writers knew as Qay and whose ethnonym is often linked to Mongolic *mogaï "snake" (Khalkha могой mogoj).

The Kipchaks, described by Hudud al-Alam, occupied a separate territory located to the west, approximately in the southeastern part of the Southern Urals.

Abu Said Gardezi (d. 1061) wrote that the Kimak state incorporated seven related tribes: Yemeks, Kipchaks, Eymür, Tatar, Bayandur, Lanikaz, and Ajlad.

At its height, the Kimak Kaganate had 12 nuclear tribes, extending from the Irtysh river and Altai mountains in the east to the Black Sea steppe in the west, into the taiga fringes in the north, and southward into the desert-steppe.

After their decline, the Jeti-Su Kimaks retreated back to the upper Irtysh region, and the western Kipchak-Kimaks settled in the North Pontic steppes.

Kimaks, together with Oguzes, seized Kangar Pecheneg lands along the Seyhun (Syr-Darya) and in the Aral area, taking over the pastures in the Southern Urals.

Under pressure from joint assaults by Cuman/Kipchaks and their linguistic Oghuz cousins of the Kimek Khaganate, and taking advantage of the weakness of the Khazar Kaganate, the Pecheneg moved through its territory to the west, bringing destruction to the settled populations of Bulgars and Alans in the N.Caucasus.

In his 10th-century work, Ibn Haukal drew a map showing that Kipchak-Kimak tribes together with Oghuzes pastured in the steppes north of the Aral Sea, and al-Masudi at approximately the same time wrote that all of them were coaching along Emba and Yaik.

The main western neighbors of Kimek-Kipchaks in the 10th century were Bashkirs, with whom at that time the westernmost Kipchak clans established very close contacts.

[30] They dominated the heartland of Asia, controlled a key central portion of the Silk Road, and influenced events from China to Persia and Europe, on a par with the Scythians and Mongols.

[33] At the end of the 10th century, not only the Caliphate writers and scientists were knowledgeable about them, but in the Central Asian states journeys to the Kimak country were well known and discussed in the markets and chaihanas (tea houses).

In the beginning of the 11th century the Kimaks and Kipchaks pushed the Oguzes to the south, Petchenegs to the west, Karluks to the southeast, and the Ugrians to the north into the Siberian taiga, and became owners of the ancient Kangju.

The Rus chronicles under year 1054 records an appearance near Kiev of the Oguz people, who were pushed by Kipchaks, a branch of middle Irtysh and Ob Kimaks.

Pletnyova identified the Kais as Kimaks and the Sharys as Kipchaks, whose endonym was calqued by East Slavs as Polovtsy (compare OES polovъje, meaning "light yellow").

[37] However, Golden identified the Qays as the Kumo Xi who were of Proto-Mongolic origins, and Shary as "Yellow Uyghurs", led by Basmyl chiefs, rather than Kipchaks.

The migration of the Central Asian Mongolic-speaking nomads pushed by the Mongolic Khitay state Lyao formed in Northern China in 916 AD.

[18] In the 12th century the territory of the khanate included the southern Urals, the eastern Volga area, the Mangyshlak Peninsula, and the region northwest of the Aral Sea.

[40] The Kimak economy was classic Central Asian pastoral nomadism, with the Turkic pattern of widely varying local economic specializations and adaptations.

The summer home of the Kimak Khakans was in the town of Imak, in the middle Irtysh, the winter capital was Tamim on the southern shore of lake Balkhash.

Sedentary life led to construction of more stable dwellings, in the settlements and cities clay-walled semi-dugouts were widely used alongside felt yurts.

Pride, prestige, and leadership were associated with the use of falcons, hawks, golden eagles, and hunting dogs, and with the pursuit of beasts of prey, including the now extinct Caspian tiger and the snow leopard.

Kimak presence on the Volga enabled them to use local major trade routes, and put them in contact with the Byzantine and Viking worlds.

[46] The most typical and notable feature of Kimak-Kipchak and Cuman culture are the kurgan stelae or balbals, erected at sanctuaries with square fencing of rough stone and gravel.

The grave gifts are those necessary for a nomad during a trip to the next world: horse harnesses, weapons, less frequently personal decorations and vessels with ritual food.

If his face becomes yellow, it is a sign of fertility and good, if it becomes white, harvest will fail, if it becomes green means illness and epidemics, and if it becomes black, it indicates a death of the Khakan or a distant journey.