Kingdom of Khotan

The Kingdom of Khotan was a Buddhist oasis kingdom in the southern Tarim Basin, centered on Khotan. It flourished along the Silk Road from antiquity until its conquest in the 11th century.

Khotan: Khotan is an oasis city in the southern Tarim Basin, in present-day Xinjiang, China. The kingdom took its name and political center from this oasis city.
Karez: A karez is an underground canal system that carries groundwater to fields and settlements. Underground irrigation helped oasis communities farm despite scarce surface water.
Faxian: Faxian was a Chinese Buddhist monk who traveled to India and Central Asia in the early fifth century. His travel account describes Buddhist institutions in Khotan during his journey westward.
Dandan Oilik: Dandan Oilik is an abandoned settlement northeast of Khotan, known for Buddhist ruins and wall paintings. Its remains show Buddhist art and settlement beyond the kingdom’s central oasis.
Kara-Khanid Khanate: The Kara-Khanid Khanate was a Turkic Muslim state that ruled parts of Central Asia from the tenth to thirteenth centuries. Its conquest of Khotan in the 11th century replaced the kingdom’s Buddhist rulers.
Tarim Basin: The Tarim Basin is an arid region of Xinjiang, surrounded by the Tian Shan, Kunlun, and Pamir mountains. Khotan occupied the basin’s southern rim, where mountain rivers sustained oasis settlements.
Sericulture: Sericulture is the cultivation of silkworms to produce silk. Khotan became associated with silk production and its transmission across Central Asia.
Xuanzang: Xuanzang was a Chinese Buddhist monk who traveled to India in the seventh century and recorded his observations. His account reports on Khotan’s Buddhist landscape and political life.
Rawak Stupa: The Rawak Stupa is a Buddhist monument near Khotan, surrounded by remains of sculpted figures. Its monumental sculpture demonstrates the kingdom’s distinctive Buddhist artistic culture.
Islam in Xinjiang: Islam in Xinjiang is the history and practice of Islam among communities in the region of northwestern China. The kingdom’s fall formed part of the transition from Buddhist to Muslim political dominance in the southern Tarim.

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