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90-471: In January 1943, Artush County was established. In June 1986, Artush County became Artush City. In 2018, the dome of Eshtachi Mosque ( 39°41′33.46″N 76°7′25.88″E  /  39.6926278°N 76.1238556°E  / 39.6926278; 76.1238556 ) was removed. In recent times other mosques have been taken down too. At 10:23 pm on January 19, 2020, a 5.2 magnitude earthquake struck in Artush. It

180-795: A confederation of several Oirat tribes that emerged in the early 17th century to fight the Altan Khan of the Khalkha (not to be confused with the better-known Altan Khan of the Tümed ), Tümen Zasagt Khan , and later the Manchu for dominion and control over the Mongolian people and territories. This confederation rose to power in what became known as the Junggar Basin in Dzungaria between

270-842: A consequence of the Han–Xiongnu War from 133 BC to 89 AD, the Tarim Basin region of Xinjiang in Northwest China, including the Saka-founded oasis city-state of Khotan and Kashgar, fell under Han Chinese influence, beginning with the reign of Emperor Wu (r. 141–87 BC) of the Han dynasty . Much like the neighboring people of the Kingdom of Khotan , people of Kashgar, the capital of the Shule Kingdom , spoke Saka , one of

360-670: A flood, We went out among their cities, We tore down the idol-temples, We shat on the Buddha's head! In Turkic: kälginläyü aqtïmïz kändlär üzä čïqtïmïz furxan ävin yïqtïmïz burxan üzä sïčtïmïz The Buddhist Uyghurs of the Kingdom of Qocho and Turfan embraced Islam after conversion at the hands of the Muslim Chagatai Khizr Khwaja. Kara Del was a Mongolian ruled and Uighur populated Buddhist Kingdom. The Muslim Chagatai Khan Mansur invaded and used

450-503: A more lenient policy after mid-1757. Mark Levene, a historian whose recent research interests focus on genocide, has stated that the extermination of the Dzungars was "arguably the eighteenth century genocide par excellence." The Dzungar genocide was completed by a combination of a smallpox epidemic and the direct slaughter of Dzungars by Qing forces made out of Manchu Bannermen and (Khalkha) Mongols. Anti-Dzungar Uyghur rebels from

540-546: A number of Mongol nomadic tribes. These tribes resented the conversion of khan Tarmashirin to Islam and the move of the khan to the sedentary areas of Transoxiana . They were behind the revolt that ended in Tarmashirin's death. One of the khans that followed Tarmashirin, Changshi , favored the east and was non-Muslim. In the 1340s as a series of ephemeral khans struggled to hold power in Transoxiana, little attention

630-478: A process of manufacturing indigenously created gunpowder weapons. They created a mixed agro-pastoral economy, as well as complementary mining and manufacturing industries on their lands. The Dzungar managed to enact an empire-wide system of laws and policies to boost the use of the Oirat language in the region. After a series of inconclusive military conflicts that started in the 1680s, the Dzungars were subjugated by

720-641: A tight-knit partnership, with intermarriage between Dunhuang and Khotan's rulers and Dunhuang's Mogao grottos and Buddhist temples being funded and sponsored by the Khotan royals, whose likenesses were drawn in the Mogao grottoes. Halfway in the 10th century Khotan came under attack by the Karakhanid ruler Musa, a long war ensued between the Turkic Karakhanid and Buddhist Khotan which eventually ended in

810-683: A tomb dated to as early as the 7th century BC. According to the Sima Qian 's Shiji , the nomadic Indo-European Yuezhi originally lived between Tengri Tagh ( Tian Shan ) and Dunhuang in Gansu , China. However, the Yuezhi were assaulted and forced to flee from the Hexi Corridor of Gansu by the forces of the Xiongnu ruler Modu Chanyu , who conquered the area in 177–176 BC (decades before

900-513: A town named after its Saka inhabitants (i.e. saγlâ ). Although the ancient Chinese called Khotan Yutian (于闐), its more native Iranian names during the Han period were Jusadanna (瞿薩旦那), derived from Indo-Iranian Gostan and Gostana , the names of the town and region around it, respectively. Around 200 BCE, the Yuezhi were overrun by the Xiongnu . The Xiongnu then tried to invade the western region of China, but ultimately failed and lost control of

990-540: Is actually the earliest fortified urban settlement in the entire region, covering 6 hectares, and developed in four phases between c. 770 BC and 80 AD. Spouted jars were found at this site, similar to those of Chawuhu culture, and buckles and moulds with animal motifs resemble steppe traditions. Another people in the region besides these Tarim people were the Indo-Iranian Saka people, who spoke various Eastern Iranian Khotanese Scythian or Saka dialects. In

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1080-745: Is currently no road east across the Kumtag Desert to Dunhuang, but caravans somehow made the crossing through the Yangguan pass south of the Jade Gate. The whole Tarim Basin and the Taklamakan Desert are surrounded by railroads. The Southern Xinjiang Railway branches from the Lanxin Railway near Turpan, follows the north side of the basin to Kashgar, and curves southeast to Khotan, while Hotan–Ruoqiang railway loops around

1170-846: Is now replaced by the Karakoram Highway south from Kashgar. To the west of Kashgar via the Irkeshtam border crossing is the Alay Valley , which was once the route to Persia. Northeast of Kashgar the Torugart pass leads to the Ferghana Valley . Near Uchturpan the Bedel Pass leads to Lake Issyk-Kul and the steppes. Somewhere near Aksu the difficult Muzart Pass led north to the Ili River basin (Kulja). Near Korla

1260-470: Is of some importance historically. My own preference is for an explanation connecting it semantically with the name Saka, for the Iranian inhabitants of Khotan... In Northwest China , Khotanese-Saka-language documents, ranging from medical texts to Buddhist literature , have been found, primarily in Khotan and Tumshuq (northeast of Kashgar). They largely predate the arrival of Islam to the region under

1350-571: Is situated in the northwest part of the Tarim Basin , south of the Tien Shan mountains. Like most of Xinjiang, Artush has a cool arid climate ( Köppen BWk ) with hot summers, freezing winters and little precipitation and low humidity year-round. The annual mean temperature is 13.1 °C (55.6 °F) and the annual mean precipitation around 95 millimetres or 3.74 inches. Most of this limited precipitation falls from erratic thunderstorms in

1440-667: Is the Kunlun Mountains on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau . The Taklamakan Desert dominates much of the basin. The historical Uyghur name for the Tarim Basin is Altishahr ( Traditional Uyghur : آلتی شهر , Chinese : 六城 ), which means 'six cities' in Uyghur . The region was also called Little Bukhara or Little Bukharia . Xinjiang consists of two main geographically, historically, and ethnically distinct regions with different historical names, Dzungaria and

1530-709: The Achaemenid era Old Persian inscriptions found at Persepolis , dated to the reign of Darius I (r. 522–486 BC), the Saka are said to have lived just beyond the borders of Sogdiana . Likewise, an inscription dated to the reign of Xerxes I (r. 486–465 BC) has them coupled with the Dahae people of Central Asia. The contemporary Greek historian Herodotus noted that the Achaemenid Persians called all Indo-Iranian Scythian peoples "Saka". They were known as

1620-801: The Altai Mountains and the Ili Valley . Initially, the confederation consisted of the Oöled, Dörbet Oirat (also written Derbet) and the Khoid . Later on, elements of the Khoshut and Torghut were forcibly incorporated into the Dzungar military, thus completing the reunification of the West Mongolian tribes. According to oral history, the Oöled and Dörbet tribes are the successor tribes to

1710-697: The Eastern Iranian languages . As noted by the Greek historian Herodotus, the contemporary Persians labelled all Scythians "Saka". Indeed, modern scholarly consensus is that the Saka language, ancestor to the Pamir languages in northern India and Khotanese in Xinjiang , belongs to the Scythian languages . During China's Tang dynasty (618–907 AD), the region once again came under Chinese suzerainty with

1800-777: The Four Garrisons of Anxi . Tang hegemony beyond the Pamir Mountains in modern Tajikistan and Afghanistan ended with revolts by the Turks, but the Tang retained a military presence in Xinjiang. These holdings were later invaded by the Tibetan Empire to the south in 670. For the remainder of the Tang dynasty, the Tarim Basin alternated between Tang and Tibetan rule as they competed for control of Central Asia. As

1890-567: The Great Wall of China to present-day eastern Kazakhstan and from present-day northern Kyrgyzstan to southern Siberia (most of which is located in present-day Xinjiang ), were the last nomadic empire to threaten China, which they did from the early 17th century through the middle of the 18th century. During this time, the Dzungar pioneered the local manifestation of a ‘Military Revolution’ in Central Eurasia after perfecting

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1980-906: The Han Chinese conquest and colonization of western tip of Gansu or the establishment of the Protectorate of the Western Regions ). In turn the Yuezi attacked and pushing the Sai (i.e. Saka) west into Sogdiana, where in the mid-2nd century BC the latter crossed the Syr Darya into Bactria , but also into the Fergana Valley where they settled in Dayuan , south towards northern India, and eastward as well, where they settled in some of

2070-675: The Kaidu river . Structures made of mud bricks were found at Xintala , showing building techniques similar to those seen in early oasis sites in western Central Asia, as well as in Yanbulake . There were no burials in Xintala culture, and its settlements were small. Autosomal genetic evidence suggests that the earliest Tarim people arose from locals of primarily Ancient North Eurasian descent with significant Northeast Asian admixture. The Tarim mummies have been found in various locations in

2160-533: The Kara-Khanid Khanate in Semirechye , Western Tian Shan , and Kashgaria . The Karakhanids became the first Islamic Turkic dynasty in the tenth century when Sultan Satuq Bughra Khan converted to Islam in 966 while he controlled Kashgar. Satuq Bughra Khan and his son directed endeavors to preach Islam among the Turks and engage in conquests. Satok Bughra Khan's nephew or grandson Ali Arslan

2250-549: The Kazakh Steppe with several roads east. The Dzungarian Gate was once a migration route and is now a road and rail crossing . Tacheng or Tarbaghatay is a crossroads and former trading post. The Tarim Basin is the result of an amalgamation between an ancient microcontinent and the growing Eurasian continent during the Carboniferous to Permian periods, a process which ended in the earliest Triassic with

2340-675: The Manchu -led Qing dynasty (1644–1911) in the late 1750s. Clarke argued that the Qing campaign in 1757–58 "amounted to the complete destruction of not only the Dzungar state but of the Dzungars as a people." After the Qianlong Emperor led Qing forces to victory over the Dzungar Oirat (Western) Mongols in 1755, he originally was going to split the Dzungar Khanate into four tribes headed by four Khans. The Khoit tribe

2430-928: The Mongolian words züün gar , meaning 'left hand') are the many Mongol Oirat tribes who formed and maintained the Dzungar Khanate in the 17th and 18th centuries. Historically, they were one of the major tribes of the Four Oirat confederation. They were also known as the Eleuths or Ööled , from the Qing dynasty euphemism for the hated word "Dzungar", and as the " Kalmyks ". In 2010, 15,520 people claimed "Ööled" ancestry in Mongolia . An unknown number also live in China, Russia and Kazakhstan. The Dzungars were

2520-450: The Naimans , a group of Mongols who roamed the steppes of Central Asia during the era of Genghis Khan . The Oöled shared the clan name Choros with the Dörbet. Zuun gar "left hand" and Baruun gar "right hand" formed the Oirat's military and administrative organization. The Dzungar Olot people and the Choros became the ruling clans in the 17th century. In 1697, two relatives of Galdan Boshugtu Khan , Danjila and Rabdan, surrendered to

2610-482: The Qianlong Emperor ordered the genocide of the Dzungars , moving the remaining Dzungar people to the mainland and ordering the generals to kill all the men in Barkol or Suzhou , and divided their wives and children to Qing forces, which were made out of Manchu Bannermen and Khalkha Mongols . Qing scholar Wei Yuan estimated the total population of Dzungars before the fall at 600,000 people, or 200,000 households. Oirat officer Saaral betrayed and battled against

2700-401: The Taklamakan Desert , one south, and a middle one connecting both through the Lop Nor region. In the early period, beginning around 2000 BC, there were six different cultural zones in the Tarim Basin, and bronze began to appear. One of these cultures was the Xintala culture ( c.  1700 –1500 BC), near the site of Yanqi, also known as Karashar , to the north and east of the Tarim, at

2790-399: The Tarim Basin to inform them that the Qing were only aiming to kill Dzungars and that they would leave the Muslims alone, and also to convince them to kill the Dzungars themselves and side with the Qing since the Qing noted the Muslims' resentment of their former experience under Dzungar rule at the hands of Tsewang Rabtan . It was not until generations later that Dzungaria rebounded from

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2880-407: The Turfan and Hami oases had submitted to Qing rule as vassals and requested Qing help for overthrowing Dzungar rule. Uyghur leaders like Emin Khoja were granted titles within the Qing nobility, and these Uyghurs helped supply the Qing military forces during the anti-Dzungar campaign. The Qing employed Khoja Emin in its campaign against the Dzungars and used him as an intermediary with Muslims from

2970-454: The Turkic Kara-Khanids . Similar documents in the Khotanese-Saka language were found in Dunhuang dating mostly to the 10th century. After the collapse of the Uyghur Khaganate of modern-day Mongolia , Uyghur people migrated to the Tarim Basin and mixed with the Tocharians and converted to their religion, and adopted their method of oasis agriculture. In the tenth century, the Karluks , Yagmas , Chigils and other Turkic tribes founded

3060-488: The Vajrayana Buddhist Oirats were slaughtered, led to the Qing settling Manchu, Sibo (Xibe), Daurs , Solons , Han Chinese, Hui Muslims, and Turkic Muslim Taranchis in the north, with Han Chinese and Hui migrants making up the greatest number of settlers. Since it was the crushing of the Buddhist Öölöd (Dzungars) by the Qing which led to promotion of Islam and the empowerment of the Muslim Begs in southern Xinjiang, and migration of Muslim Taranchis to northern Xinjiang, it

3150-540: The 10th century "makes it likely that the ruler of Khotan was a speaker of Iranian ." Furthermore, he elaborated on the early name of Khotan: The name of Khotan is attested in a number of spellings, of which the oldest form is hvatana , in texts of approximately the 7th to the 10th century AD, written in an Iranian language itself called hvatana by the writers. The same name is attested also in two closely related Iranian dialects, Sogdian and Tumshuq ...Attempts have accordingly been made to explain it as Iranian, and this

3240-492: The 269,317 residents of Artush were Uyghurs , 30,174 (11.20%) were Kyrgyz , 21,754 (8.08%) were Han Chinese and 738 were from other ethnic groups. As of 2018, the population of Artush was 285,507. Artush is served by the Southern Xinjiang Railway . Historical English-language maps including Artush: Tarim Basin The Tarim Basin is an endorheic basin in Xinjiang , Northwestern China occupying an area of about 888,000 km (343,000 sq mi) and one of

3330-414: The 3rd century, bearing dual inscriptions in Chinese and Gandhari Prakrit in the Kharosthi script. Although Prakrit was the administrative language of nearby Shanshan , 3rd-century documents from that kingdom record the title hinajha (i.e. "generalissimo") for the king of Khotan, Vij'ida-simha, a distinctively Iranian-based word equivalent to the Sanskrit title senapati , yet nearly identical to

3420-408: The 600,000 or more Dzungars, especially Choros, Olots, Khoid, Baatud and Zakhchin , were destroyed by disease and attack which Michael Clarke described as "the complete destruction of not only the Dzungar state but of the Zungars as a people." Historian Peter Perdue attributed the devastation of the Dzungars to an explicit policy of extermination launched by Qianlong, but he also observed signs of

3510-558: The Afaqi (White Mountain) and the Ishaqi (Black Mountain). The Ishaqi defeated the Afaqi and the Afaq Khoja invited the 5th Dalai Lama (the leader of the Tibetans ) to intervene on his behalf in 1677. The Dalai Lama then called on his Dzungar Buddhist followers in the Dzungar Khanate to act on the invitation. The Dzungar Khanate conquered the Tarim Basin in 1678, during the Dzungar conquest of Altishahr , after which they set up Afaq Khoja as their puppet ruler. Xinjiang did not exist as one unit until 1884 under Qing rule. It consisted of

3600-423: The Alagou sites near the Turfan basin, and north to the region close to Ürümqi . Earlier diggings in the southern Tarim Basin, in the 1990s, suggested that Yuansha (Djoumbulak Koum) in the Keriya river valley was the earliest fortified urban site, from around 400 BC, but new surveys and excavations between 2018 and 2020, showed that the site Kuiyukexiehai'er (Koyuk Shahri), located in the northern Tarim Basin,

3690-440: The Dzungar Oirat Mongols in the region, with one third of Xinjiang's total population consisting of Hui and Han in the northern area, while around two thirds were Uyghurs in southern Xinjiang's Tarim Basin. In Dzungaria, the Qing established new cities like Ürümqi (former Dihua of Qing, 迪化) and Yining . The Qing were the ones who unified Xinjiang and changed its demographic situation. The depopulation of northern Xinjiang after

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3780-522: The Karakhanid leader. The "infidels" were defeated and driven towards Khotan by Yusuf Qadir Khan and the four Imams, but the Imams were assassinated by the Buddhists prior to the last Muslim victory. After Yusuf Qadir Khan's conquest of new land in Altishahr towards the east, he adopted the title "King of the East and China". In 1006, the Muslim Kara-Khanid ruler Yusuf Kadir (Qadir) Khan of Kashgar conquered Khotan, ending Khotan's existence as an independent state. The Islamic conquest of Khotan led to alarm in

3870-415: The Khotanese Saka hīnāysa attested in contemporary documents. This, along with the fact that the king's recorded regnal periods were given in Khotanese as kṣuṇa , "implies an established connection between the Iranian inhabitants and the royal power", according to the late Professor of Iranian Studies Ronald E. Emmerick (d. 2001). He contended that Khotanese-Saka-language royal rescripts of Khotan dated to

3960-457: The Oirats. In a widely cited account of the war, Wei Yuan wrote that about 40% of the Dzungar households were killed by smallpox , 20% fled to Russia or Kazakh tribes, and 30% were killed by the Qing army of Manchu Bannermen and Khalkhas, leaving no yurts in an area of several thousands li except those of the surrendered. During this war, Kazakhs attacked dispersed Oirats and Altays . Based on this account, Wen-Djang Chu wrote that 80% of

4050-407: The Qing Kangxi Emperor . Their people were then organized into two Oolod banners and resettled in what is now Bayankhongor Province , Mongolia . In 1731, five hundred households fled back to Dzungar territory while the remaining Olots were deported to Hulunbuir . After 1761, some of them were resettled in Arkhangai Province . The Dzungars who lived in an area that stretched from the west end of

4140-429: The Qing conquest of the Dzungars as having added new territory in Xinjiang to "China", defining China as a multi ethnic state, rejecting the idea that China only meant Han areas in "China proper", meaning that according to the Qing, both Han and non-Han peoples were part of "China", which included Xinjiang which the Qing conquered from the Dzungars. After the Qing were done conquering Dzungaria in 1759, they proclaimed that

4230-433: The Russians, the "people of the Central Kingdom" (dulimba-i gurun 中國, Zhongguo) were like the Torghut Mongols, and the "people of the Central Kingdom" referred to the Manchus. The Hulun Buir Oolods formed an administrative banner along the Imin and Shinekhen Rivers. During the Qing dynasty, a body of them resettled in Yakeshi city. In 1764 many Oolods migrated to Khovd Province in Mongolia and supplied corvee services for

4320-482: The Sai (塞, sāi, sək in archaic Chinese) in ancient Chinese records. These records indicate that they originally inhabited the Ili and Chu River valleys of modern Kazakhstan . In the Chinese Book of Han , the area was called the "land of the Sai", i.e. the Saka. A people believed to be Saka has also been found in various locations in the Tarim Basin, for example in the Keriya region at Yumulak Kum (Djoumboulak Koum, Yuansha) around 200 km east of Khotan, with

4410-411: The Tahe oil field. Below the level enriched with gas and oil is a complex Precambrian basement believed to be made up of the remnants of the original Tarim microplate , which accrued to the growing Eurasian continent in Carboniferous time. The snow on K2 , the second-highest mountain in the world, flows into glaciers which move down the valleys to melt. The melted water forms rivers which flow down

4500-430: The Tarim Basin ( Altishahr ), which Qing China unified into Xinjiang province in 1884. At the time of the Qing conquest in 1759, Dzungaria was inhabited by steppe-dwelling, nomadic Mongolic-speaking , Tibetan Buddhist Dzungars , while the Tarim Basin (Altishahr) was inhabited by sedentary, oasis-dwelling, Turkic-speaking Uyghur Muslim farmers. Dzungaria and the Tarim Basin were each governed separately until

4590-436: The Tarim basin, rebelled against the Moghulistan Khanate and broke away. Five years later Sultan Said Khan , a brother of the Khan of Moghulistan in Turfan , conquered the Dughlats but established his own Yarkent Khanate instead. By the early 17th century, the Naqshbandi Sufi Khojas , descendants of Muhammad , had replaced the Chagatayid Khans as rulers of the Tarim Basin. There was a struggle between two Khoja factions:

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4680-422: The Tien Shan join the Tarim, the largest being the Aksu . Rivers flowing north from the Kunlun are usually named for the town or oasis they pass through. Most dry up in the desert; only the Hotan River reaches the Tarim in good years. An exception is the Qiemo River which flows northeast into Lop Nor. Ruins in the desert imply that these rivers were once larger. The original caravan route seems to have followed

4770-405: The Yuezhi, albeit under slightly different names. After the Han dynasty, the kingdoms of the Tarim Basin began to have strong cultural influences on China as a conduit between the cultures of India and Central Asia and China. Indian Buddhists had previously travelled to China during the Han dynasty, but the Buddhist monk Kumārajīva from Kucha , who visited China during the Six Dynasties period

4860-498: The campaigns of conquest by Emperor Taizong of Tang (r. 626–649). From the late 8th to 9th centuries, the region changed hands between the Chinese Tang Empire and the rival Tibetan Empire . By the early 11th century the region had fallen to the Muslim Turkic peoples of the Kara-Khanid Khanate , which led to both the Turkification of the region and its conversion from Buddhism to Islam . Suggestive evidence of Khotan's early link to India are minted coins from Khotan dated to

4950-641: The closure of the Palaeo-Asian Ocean. At present, deformation around the margins of the basin is resulting in the microcontinental crust being pushed under Tian Shan to the north, and Kunlun Shan to the south. A thick succession of Paleozoic , Mesozoic and Cenozoic sedimentary rocks occupy the central parts of the basin, locally exceeding thicknesses of 15 km (9 mi). The source rocks of oil and gas tend to be mostly Permian mudstones and, less often, Ordovician strata which experienced an intense and widespread early Hercynian karstification . The effect of this event are e.g. paleokarst reservoirs in

5040-442: The conquest of Khotan by Kashgar by the Karakhanid leader Yusuf Qadir Khan around 1006. Accounts of the Muslim Karakhanid war against the Khotanese Buddhists are given in Taẕkirah of the Four Sacrificed Imams written sometime in the period from 1700 to 1849 which told the story of four imams from Mada'in city (possibly in modern-day Iraq) who traveled to help the Islamic conquest of Khotan, Yarkand, and Kashgar by Yusuf Qadir Khan,

5130-425: The creation of Xinjiang in 1884 . The Chinese called this the Tien Shan Nan Lu or Tien Shan South Road, as opposed to the Bei Lu north of the mountains. Along it runs the modern highway and railroad while the middle Tarim River is about 100 km south. The caravans met in Kashgar before crossing the mountains. Bachu or Miralbachi; Uchturpan north of the main road; Aksu on the large Aksu River ; Kucha

5220-467: The desert. 218 runs from Charkilik to Korla along the former course of the Tarim, forming an oval whose other end is Kashgar. The Tarim Desert Highway , a major engineering achievement, crosses the center from Niya to Luntai . The new Highway 217 follows the Khotan River from Khotan to near Aksu . A road follows the Yarkant River from Yarkand to Baqu . East of the Korla-Charkilik road, travel continues to be very difficult. Rivers coming south from

5310-440: The destruction and near liquidation of the Dzungars after the mass slayings of nearly a million Dzungars. Historian Peter C. Perdue has shown that the annihilation of the Dzungars was the result of an explicit policy of extermination launched by Qianlong, Perdue attributed the elimination of the Dzungars to a "deliberate use of massacre" and has described it as an "ethnic genocide". The Qing "final solution" of genocide to solve

5400-409: The diverse subjects of the Qing were all part of one family, the Qing used the phrase "Zhong Wai Yi Jia" 中外一家 or "Nei Wai Yi Jia" 內外一家 ("interior and exterior as one family"), to convey this idea of "unification" of the different peoples. In the Manchu official Tulišen 's Manchu language account of his meeting with the Torghut leader Ayuka Khan , it was mentioned that while the Torghuts were unlike

5490-419: The east and Dunhuang's Cave 17, which contained Khotanese literary works, was closed shut possibly after its caretakers heard that Khotan's Buddhist buildings were razed by the Muslims, the Buddhist religion had suddenly ceased to exist in Khotan. The Karakhanid Turkic Muslim writer Mahmud al-Kashgari recorded a short Turkic language poem about the conquest: English translation: We came down on them like

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5580-425: The eastern Tarim Basin such as Loulan , the Xiaohe Tomb complex , and Qäwrighul . These mummies have previously been suggested to be of Tocharian origin, but recent evidence suggests that the mummies belonged to a distinct population unrelated to later Indo-European pastoralists, such as Afanasievo. In the Iron Age , the Chawuhu culture (c. 1000–400 BC) flourished in the Yanqi (Karashar) oasis, and also reached

5670-423: The finding of a vast, carbon-rich underground sea beneath the basin. It is speculated that the Tarim Basin may be one of the last places in Asia to have become inhabited: It is surrounded by mountains and irrigation technologies might have been necessary. The Northern Silk Road on one route bypassed the Tarim Basin north of the Tian Shan mountains and traversed it on three oases-dependent routes: one north of

5760-415: The largest basins in Northwest China. Located in China's Xinjiang region, it is sometimes used synonymously to refer to the southern half of the province, that is, Southern Xinjiang or Nanjiang ( Chinese : 南疆 ; pinyin : Nánjiāng ), as opposed to the northern half of the province known as Dzungaria or Beijiang. Its northern boundary is the Tian Shan mountain range and its southern boundary

5850-490: The last vestiges of the Indo-Greek Kingdom, expanded back into the Tarim Basin in the 1st–2nd centuries CE, where they established a kingdom in Kashgar and competed for control of the area with nomads and Chinese forces. The Yuezhi or Rouzhi ( Chinese : 月氏 ; pinyin : Yuèzhī ; Wade–Giles : Yüeh -chih , [ɥê ʈʂɻ̩́] ) were an ancient people first reported in Chinese histories as nomadic pastoralists living in an arid grassland area in

5940-431: The local specialty is the common fig . Sheep are the main livestock in Artush. The Artush City Vocational Skills Education Training Service Center in Artush has served as one of the Xinjiang internment camps . As of 1997, 81.5% of the population of Artush was Uyghur. As of 1999, 79.68 per cent of the population of Artush were Uyghur and 7.21 per cent of the population were Han Chinese. As of 2015, 216,651 (80.44%) of

6030-812: The long run, supplying one-fifth of the country's total oil supply by 2010, with an annual output of 35 million tonnes . On June 10, 2010, Baker Hughes announced an agreement to work with PetroChina Tarim Oilfield Co. to supply oilfield services, including both directional and vertical drilling systems, formation evaluation services, completion systems and artificial lift technology for wells drilled into foothills formations greater than 7,500 meters (24,600 feet) deep with pressures greater than 20,000 psi (1,400 bar) and bottom-hole temperatures of approximately 160 °C (320 °F). Electrical submersible pumping (ESP) systems will be employed to dewater gas and condensate wells. PetroChina will fund any joint development. In 2015, Chinese researchers published

6120-453: The mountains and into the Tarim Basin, never reaching the sea. Surrounded by desert, some rivers feed the oases where the water is used for irrigation while others flow to salt lakes and marshes. Lop Nur is a marshy , saline depression at the east end of the Tarim Basin. The Tarim River ends in Lop Nur. The Tarim Basin is believed to contain large potential reserves of petroleum and natural gas . Methane comprises over 70 percent of

6210-405: The natural gas reserve, with variable contents of ethane (<1% – c. 18%) and propane (<0.5% – c. 9%). China National Petroleum Corporation 's comprehensive exploration of the Tarim basin between 1989 and 1995 led to the identification of 26 oil- and gas-bearing structures. These occur at deeper depths and in scattered deposits. Beijing aims to develop Xinjiang into China's new energy base for

6300-399: The new land which formerly belonged to the Dzungars, was now absorbed into "China" (Dulimbai Gurun) in a Manchu language memorial. The Qing expounded on their ideology that they were bringing together the "outer" non-Han Chinese like the Inner Mongols, Eastern Mongols, Oirat Mongols, and Tibetans together with the "inner" Han Chinese, into "one family" united in the Qing state, showing that

6390-442: The north side of the basin. Formerly it continued to Loulan , but some time after 330 AD it turned southeast near Korla toward Charkilik , and Loulan was abandoned. The Tarim ended at the now-dry Lop Nur, which occupied a shifting position east of Loulan. Eastward is the fabled Jade Gate which the Chinese considered the gateway to the Western Regions . Beyond that was Dunhuang with its ancient manuscripts and then Anxi at

6480-489: The oasis city-states of the Tarim Basin. Whereas the Yuezhi continued westward and conquered Daxia around 177–176 BC, the Sai (i.e. Saka), including some allied Tocharian peoples , fled south to the Pamirs before heading back east to settle in Tarim Basin sites like Yanqi (焉耆, Karasahr ) and Qiuci (龜茲, Kucha ). The Saka are recorded as inhabiting Khotan by at least the 3rd century and also settled in nearby Shache (莎車),

6570-481: The problem of the Dzungars made the Qing sponsored settlement of millions of Han Chinese, Hui, Turkestani Oasis people (Uyghurs) and Manchu Bannermen in Dzungaria possible, since the land was now devoid of Dzungars. The Dzungaria , which used to be inhabited by Dzungars is currently inhabited by Kazakhs. In northern Xinjiang, the Qing brought in Han, Hui , Uyghur, Xibe , and Kazakh colonists after they exterminated

6660-632: The region to the Chinese. The Han Chinese wrested control of the Tarim Basin from the Xiongnu at the end of the 1st century under the leadership of General Ban Chao (32–102 CE), during the Han-Xiongnu War . The Chinese administered the Tarim Basin as the Protectorate of the Western Regions . The Tarim Basin was later under many foreign rulers, but ruled primarily by Turkic, Han, Tibetan, and Mongolic peoples. The powerful Kushans , who conquered

6750-670: The south and west side of the Traim. They are part of the Taklimakan Desert railway loop, joined together with sections of the Golmud–Korla railway , Hotan–Ruoqiang railway , Kashgar–Hotan railway , and Southern Xinjiang railway . The main road from eastern China reaches Ürümqi and continues as highway 314 along the north side to Kashgar. Highway 315 follows the south side from Kashgar to Charkilik and continues east to Tibet. There are currently four north–south roads across

6840-648: The south side. At the time of the Han dynasty conquest, it shifted to the center (Jade Gate-Loulan-Korla). When the Tarim changed course about 330 AD it shifted north to Hami . A minor route went north of the Tian Shan. When there was war on the Gansu Corridor trade entered the basin near Charkilik from the Qaidam Basin . The original route to India seems to have started near Yarkand and Kargilik, but it

6930-480: The summer months, although at this time relative humidity averages less than 35 percent. Artush includes three subdistricts , one town , six townships and one other area: Other: Artush's economy is primarily agriculture, the agricultural products are mainly cotton, grapes, and sheep. Industries in Artush include salt-making, cotton-ginning, food processing and cooking oil processing. Agricultural products include wheat, corn, sorghum, sesame, rice and others, and

7020-556: The sword to make the population convert to Islam. After being converted to Islam, the descendants of the previously Buddhist Uyghurs in Turfan believed that the "infidel Kalmuks" ( Dzungars ) were the ones who built Buddhist monuments in their area, in opposition to the current academic theory that it was their own ancestral legacy. The eastern regions of the Chagatai Khanate in the early 14th century had been inhabited by

7110-514: The traditional Uyghur name for it was Altishahr ( Uyghur : التى شهر , romanized :  Altä-shähär , Алтә-шәһәр ). It was formerly the area of the Eastern Chagatai Khanate 東察合台汗國, land of the Uyghur people before being conquered by the Dzungars. The population of the Tarim Basin is estimated at approximately 5.5 million. Dzungar people The Dzungar people (also written as Zunghar or Junggar ; from

7200-669: The two separate political entities of Dzungaria and the Tarim Basin (Eastern Turkestan). Dzungharia or Ili was called Zhunbu 準部 (Dzungar region) Tianshan Beilu 天山北路 (Northern March), "Xinjiang" 新疆 (New Frontier), or "Kalmykia" (La Kalmouquie in French). It was formerly the area of the Dzungar (or Zunghar) Khanate 準噶爾汗國, the land of the Dzungar people . The Tarim Basin was known as "Tianshan Nanlu 天山南路 (southern March), Huibu 回部 (Muslim region), Huijiang 回疆 (Muslim frontier), Chinese Turkestan , Kashgaria, Little Bukharia, East Turkestan ", and

7290-477: The west end of the Gansu Corridor . Settlements include Kashgar; Yangi Hissar , famous for its knives; Yarkand , once larger than Kashgar; Karghalik (Yecheng), with a route to India; Karakash ; Khotan , the main source of Chinese jade; eastward the land becomes more desolate; Keriya (Yutian); Niya (Minfeng); Qiemo (Cherchen); Charkilik (Ruoqiang). The modern road continues east to Tibet. There

7380-739: The western part of the modern Chinese province of Gansu during the 1st millennium BC. After a major defeat by the Xiongnu, in the 2nd century BC, the Yuezhi split into two groups: the Greater Yuezhi ( Dà Yuèzhī 大月氏) and Lesser Yuezhi ( Xiǎo Yuèzhī 小月氏). They introduced the Brahmi script, the Indian Prakrit language for administration, and Buddhism , playing a central role in the Silk Road transmission of Buddhism to Eastern Asia. Three pre-Han texts mention peoples who appear to be

7470-547: Was captured by the Tang in 644 and the kingdom of Kucha was conquered in 649 . The expansion into Central Asia continued under Taizong's successor, Emperor Gaozong , who dispatched an army in 657 led by Su Dingfang against the Western Turk qaghan Ashina Helu . Ashina was defeated and the khaganate was absorbed into the Tang empire. The Tarim Basin was administered through the Anxi Protectorate and

7560-607: Was once an important kingdom; Luntai ; Korla , now a large town; Karashar near Bosten Lake ; Turpan north of the Turpan Depression and south of the Bogda Shan ; Hami ; then southeast to Anxi and the Gansu Corridor . Most of the basin is occupied by the Taklamakan Desert which is too dry for permanent habitation. The Yarkand , Kashgar and Aksu Rivers join to form the Tarim River which runs along

7650-717: Was paid by the Chagatayids to the eastern regions. As a result, the eastern tribes there were virtually independent. The most powerful of the tribes, the Dughlats , controlled extensive territories in Moghulistan and the western Tarim Basin. In 1347 the Dughlats decided to appoint a khan of their own, and raised the Chagatayid Tughlugh Timur to the throne. In 1509 the Dughlats, vassal rulers of

7740-596: Was particularly renowned. Music and dances from Kucha were also popular in the Sui and Tang periods. During the Tang dynasty , a series of military expeditions were conducted against the oasis states of the Tarim Basin, then vassals of the Western Turkic Khaganate . The campaigns against the oasis states began under Emperor Taizong with the annexation of Gaochang in 640. The nearby kingdom of Karasahr

7830-482: Was proposed by Henry Schwarz that "the Qing victory was, in a certain sense, a victory for Islam". Xinjiang as a unified defined geographic identity was created and developed by the Qing. It was the Qing who led to Turkic Muslim power in the region increasing since the Mongol power was crushed by the Qing while Turkic Muslim culture and identity was tolerated or even promoted by the Qing. Qianlong explicitly commemorated

7920-758: Was slain by the Buddhists during the war. Buddhism lost territory to the Turkic Karakhanid Satok Bughra Khan during the Karakhanid reign around Kashgar. The Tarim Basin became Islamicized over the next few centuries. In the tenth century, the Buddhist Iranic Saka Kingdom of Khotan was the only city-state that was not conquered yet by the Turkic Uyghur (Buddhist) and the Turkic Karakhanid (Muslim) states. The Buddhist entitites of Dunhuang and Khotan had

8010-594: Was the Iron Gate Pass and now the highway and railway north to Ürümqi. From Turfan the easy Dabancheng pass leads to Ürümqi. The route from Charkilik to the Qaidam Basin was of some importance when Tibet was an empire. North of the mountains is Dzungaria with its central Gurbantünggüt Desert , Ürümqi, and the Karamay oil fields. The Kulja territory is the upper basin of the Ili River and opens out onto

8100-401: Was to have the Dzungar leader Amursana as its Khan. Amursana rejected the Qing arrangement and rebelled since he wanted to be leader of a united Dzungar nation. Qianlong then issued his orders for the genocide and eradication of the entire Dzungar nation and name. Qing Manchu Bannermen and Khalkha (Eastern) Mongols enslaved Dzungar women and children while slaying the other Dzungars. In 1755,

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