The Oghuz forebears of the Teke migrated to Transoxiana in the 7th century. Lieutenant Colonel H.C. Stuart reported that in the 1830s the Teke tribe began to settle in the lower Murghab River delta near Merv, which, he said, they destroyed around 1855. From here the Teke extended their reach to Kizil-Arvat, ultimately splitting into the Ahal Teke, located between Kizil-Arvat and , and the Merv Teke, mainly between the Tejen and Murghab Rivers. The Ahal and Mary Teke were separated by a Persian-controlled zone north of the Kopetdag Mountains called Deregez. Though technically under Persian suzerainty, the Teke were de facto autonomous, and noted for raids to capture slaves for sale in the markets of Khiva and Bukhara. At one point the shah of Persia offered a reward of five tomans "for the head of each Turkoman killed raiding within his frontier." Sir Henry Rawlinson wrote of the Ahal Teke in 1879, The Teke had militarily resisted Persian incursions in the 19th century intended to pacify them. The Teke came under Russiancolonial rule in the 1880s. Though the Turkmen tribes defeated Russian troops during the first incursion in 1879, a subsequent invasion between 1880 and 1881, culminating in the second Battle of Gökdepe, resulted in imposition of Russian Imperial authority. Following surrender, the Teke commander, Ovezmurat Dykma-Serdar, was commissioned a major in the Russian Imperial Army. Russia's conquest of the Teke was completed in 1884 with the taking of Merv.
Culture
Historically each Turkmen tribe has had its own unique carpet pattern, clothing, headgear and dialect. Teke Turkmen carpets often feature a standard Teke rosette, called the guşly göl, which in the words of O'Bannon "has the least variation of all Turkoman guls and has apparently changed least through time. This is the design which is also called Royal Bokhara...It is almost always connected by intersecting blue or black lines. It is an oval-shaped octagon, usually not more than four inches high and eight inches wide. The secondary gul is a diamond-shaped form and is sometimes referred to as a 'tarantula'." The design of this rosette is reproduced in the layout of the Altyn Asyr Bazaar in Ashgabat, and is the topmost rosette on Turkmenistan's national flag.
Demographics
The Teke tribe can be subdivided in two, the Ahal Teke and Mary Teke. Lt. Col. Stuart noted as well subdivision into four clans, the Wakil, Beg, Suchmuz, and Bukshi: Stuart estimated in 1881 the number of "Akhal Tekke" at "25,000 tents" and of "Merv Tekke" at "40,000 tents", which latter number included "Salor ". He estimated five people per tent, implying a total Teke tribal population of about 325,000 in that year. Today members of Teke tribe are predominantly found in the southeastern regions of Turkmenistan. They represent over a third of Turkmenistan's population. Major tribes of Turkmenistan have mainly settled different parts of the country. Soviet policy on nationalities managed to diminish tribal identities in Turkmenistan, but the identities are still important in contemporary social contexts. Teke, and especially its subdivision Ahal Teke, have traditionally dominated Turkmenistan's political structure. Former President Saparmurat Niyazov was and current President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow is of the Ahal Teke tribe.
Linguistics
The linguist Larry Clark wrote, The official Turkmen language is based on the Ahal Teke and Mary Teke dialects. Stuart wrote in 1881, "The Turkomans speak a variety of Turki differing very little from the Turki spoken all over Northern Persia, and the Turks of Persia understand it, though there are some differences. The Persians call the Turki spoken by the Turkmans, Jagatai." The common use of Chagatay as the Turkic lingua franca of Central Asia, however, changed under Soviet rule in 1924 when Russian became the common literary language of Central Asia and local dialects of Turkic languages were allowed to be used in publications. Initial efforts in the late 1920s and early 1930s to create a common literary Turkmen language incorporating elements of all major dialects failed when Joseph Stalin's purges resulted in death of the intellectuals involved. Following independence the political dominance of the Teke tribe led to de facto adoption of the Teke dialect as the standard for literary Turkmen speech and writing. As Clark put it,
Etymology
Stuart asserted, "Tekke means wild goat. The word Tekke also is applied to the old he-goat that leads a flock of goats." The modern definition of the word is "billy goat".
