Sighnaq

Sighnaq (Turki/Kypchak: سغناق; Kazakh: Сығанақ, romanized: Syğanaq) was an ancient city in Central Asia (in modern Kyzylorda Region).

According to Hayton of Corycus, Sighnaq was located in the Karatau Mountains, from where the river Kara Ichuk, a tributary of Syr Darya, emanates.

Klaproth says that the city was located on the banks of Mutkan, a right hand side tributary of Syr Darya, that emanates from the Karatau mountains, but he does not mention his source.

It is believed that in the 10th century there was a semi-sedentary city of the Oghuz Turks near the border, where they exchanged their products with those of Muslim states to the south.

Annexed by Timur in the late fourteenth century, in 1427, Baraq Khan, khan of the Blue Horde and also of the Golden Horde, claimed Sighnaq from Shah Rukh, the son of Tamerlane, who refused; Baraq defeated the Timurids and occupied the city; the Timurids recovered it after his death (c. 1428), but Abu'l-Khayr, founder of the Uzbek Khanate, conquered it in turn in 1446.