Seljuks were Turkic nomads from Turkmenistan, related to the Uighurs, who entered the Abbasid empire around 950 AD and gradually converted to Sunni Islam. By 1030 AD the Seljuks were beginning to try to get power for themselves, and they soon conquered the Ghaznavids (who were also Turkic) and controlled most of Persia (modern Iran). Their capital was at Isfahan. Like the Ghaznavids, the Seljuks spoke Persian and encouraged Persian culture.
By 1055, the Seljuk king Togrul Beg had conquered Iraq too, and although there was still an Abbasid caliph in Baghdad, the caliph pretty much had to do whatever the Seljuk sultan Togrul Beg wanted him to do. When Togrul Beg died in 1063, he was succeeded by his nephew Alp Arslan (Alp Arslan means "the
By 1055, the Seljuk king Togrul Beg had conquered Iraq too, and although there was still an Abbasid caliph in Baghdad, the caliph pretty much had to do whatever the Seljuk sultan Togrul Beg wanted him to do. When Togrul Beg died in 1063, he was succeeded by his nephew Alp Arslan (Alp Arslan means "the