History of Xinjiang

The history of Xinjiang concerns the peoples, states, trade networks, and political changes of the region now comprising China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

Tarim Basin: An arid basin in southern Xinjiang, ringed by mountains and containing the Taklamakan Desert and ancient oasis settlements. Its oasis communities formed the setting for many of Xinjiang’s earliest recorded societies.
Silk Road: A network of routes that connected East Asia with Central Asia, South Asia, and the Mediterranean through trade and travel. Xinjiang’s oasis routes linked Chinese states with Central Asian markets and ideas.
Uyghurs: A Turkic people whose communities are concentrated in Xinjiang and whose history includes diverse political and religious traditions. Uyghur communities have been central to the region’s cultural and political history.
Xinjiang Province: A Qing province established in 1884, replacing military administration with provincial government over much of the region. Its creation formalized Qing incorporation after the reconquest of the 1870s.
East Turkestan: A historical and political name used for parts or all of Xinjiang, especially in movements advocating independence or distinct regional identity. Its use contrasts with official Chinese naming and reflects competing claims about the region’s political identity.
Tocharians: An ancient Indo-European-speaking population known from texts and archaeological remains in the Tarim Basin. Their languages and settlements reveal the region’s early cultural and linguistic diversity.
Gaochang: An oasis city and kingdom near modern Turpan that served as a political and commercial center in the Tarim Basin. Its changing rulers show how local states mediated between larger empires.
Yarkent Khanate: A Muslim state ruled by Chagatai descendants in the Tarim Basin from the early sixteenth to the late seventeenth century. Its rulers governed major oasis cities before Qing expansion into the region.
East Turkestan Republic: A short-lived republic proclaimed in 1933 in Kashgar by leaders seeking an independent state in the Tarim Basin. Its brief existence reflects the fragmentation and competing political projects of Republican-era Xinjiang.
Xinjiang: A Chinese name meaning “new frontier,” used for the region incorporated into the Qing empire in the eighteenth century. The name’s imperial origins shape debates about how the region’s history is described.

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History of KazakhstanRelated: Cross-border Kazakh communities and neighboring steppe empires connect the two histories.