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99-557: The area was formerly used as China's nuclear test site . The nuclear testing caused no apparent ill effects on the camels, which continued to breed normally. After China signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 1996, the camels were reclassified as an endangered species . Since then, human incursions into the area have caused a sharp drop in the camel population. The reserve is situated in an uninhabited, arid desert of mountains and valleys. The Tarim Basin

198-948: A boat-shaped coffin wrapped in ox hide, containing the mummified body of a young woman. In 1979, some of the earliest of the Tarim mummies were discovered in burial sites at Qäwrighul (Gumugou), which is located to the west of Lop Nur, on the Könchi (Kongque) river. Forty-two graves, most of which dated from 2100 to 1500 BC, were found. There were two types of tomb at the site, belonging to two different time periods. The first type of burial featured shaft pit graves, some of which had poles at either end to mark east and west. Bodies were found extended, usually facing east, and sometimes were wrapped in wool weavings and wearing felt hats. Artifacts found included basketry, wheat grains, cattle and sheep/goat horns, bird bone necklaces and bracelets, nephrite beads, and fragments of copper (or bronze), although no pottery

297-842: 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

396-606: A dimension of 300 to 400 li (roughly 120–160 km) in length and breadth, indicating it was once a lake of great size. These early texts also mentioned the belief, mistaken as it turns out, that the lake joins the Yellow River at Jishi through an underground channel as the source of the river. The lake was referred to as the "Wandering Lake" in the early 20th century due to the Tarim River changing its course, causing its terminal lake to alter its location between

495-474: A few thousand years old, were opened the bodies were often found to be mummified and grave goods well preserved. The earliest sites are associated with an ancient people of Indo European origin. Loulan or Kroran was an ancient kingdom based around an important oasis city already known in the 2nd century BCE on the north-eastern edge of the Lop Desert. It was renamed Shanshan after Chinese took control of

594-670: 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

693-546: A formal moratorium on nuclear testing the following day, although further subcritical tests were suspected. In 2012, China announced plans to spend US$ 1 million to clean up the Malan nuclear base in Lop Nor to create a red tourism site. In December 2023, a report emerged indicating that China was making preparations to resume nuclear tests in a remote desert. Satellite imagery provided evidence of these preparations, revealing

792-546: 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

891-600: 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 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

990-448: A support area with multiple buildings. What was once a modest site with only a few buildings had transformed into a modern and sophisticated complex, complete with security fences. One of the new structures was a bunker that was fortified with earthen berms and lightning arresters, indicating its suitability for handling high explosives. Tests on miniaturization of missiles and warheads can also be possibly carried out at this site. However,

1089-459: A thriving Tocharian culture. Archaeologists have discovered the buried remains of settlements, as well as several of the Tarim mummies , along its ancient shoreline. Former water resources of the Tarim River and Lop Nur nurtured the kingdom of Loulan since the second century BC, an ancient civilisation along the Silk Road , which skirted the lake-filled basin. Loulan became a client state of

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1188-641: 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

1287-683: 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

1386-513: 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

1485-571: 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 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

1584-578: 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 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

1683-540: 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

1782-667: Is also served by the Hotan–Ruoqiang railway , which loops around the south and west side of the Tarim Basin , part of the Taklimakan Desert railway loop, joined together with sections of the Golmud–Korla railway , Kashgar–Hotan railway , and Southern Xinjiang railway . Given the extreme dryness and resulting thin population, remains of some buildings survived for a significant period of time. When ancient graves, some

1881-511: Is an endorheic basin in Xinjiang , Northwestern China occupying an area of about 888,000 km (343,000 sq mi) and one of 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

1980-679: Is in the east of the Taklamakan Desert ecoregion. Because this region is surrounded by mountains, it is cut off from the Asian monsoon and from Arctic air masses. The result is one of the driest place on earth. Due to the aridity and salinity of the soil, vegetation cover is sparse, varying from 6% in the Kuruk Tagh mountains, up to 30% on flood plains of the Airgin mountains in the south. Halophytes predominate. The north slope of

2079-470: 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

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2178-416: Is recorded as on the decline, and there are no domesticated camels in the reserve. Lop Nur#Nuclear weapons test base Lop Nur or Lop Nor ( Oirat : ᠯᠣ᠊ᠫ ᠨᡇᡇᠷ , romanized:  Lob nuur , from an Oirat Mongolic name meaning "Lop Lake", where "Lop" is a toponym of unknown origin ) is a now largely dried-up salt lake formerly located in the eastern fringe of the Tarim Basin in

2277-592: Is to the west, the Altyn-Tagh mountains form a southern barrier, and the Karum Tagh range (an extension of the Tien Shan ) mountains are to the north. A corridor of sand dunes run north–south on the eastern edge of the site, protecting the camels from eastern influences, as does the dry lake bed of Lop Nur to the west. The Altun Shan National Nature Reserve borders Lop Nur to the southwest. The climate of

2376-709: 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

2475-642: 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

2574-777: 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

2673-530: 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 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

2772-906: 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

2871-675: 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

2970-533: 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

3069-630: The Lop Nur Wild Camel National Nature Reserve . A highway from Hami to Lop Nur (Xinjiang Provincial Highway 235) was completed in 2006. The Hami–Lop Nur Railway , which runs 374.83 kilometres (232.91 mi) north to Hami, along the same route, opened to freight operations in November 2012. The railway is used to transport potassium-rich salt mined at the lake to the Lanzhou–Xinjiang railway . It

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3168-699: 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 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

3267-507: 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

3366-582: The Tarim River and Shule River drain from the west and east respectively, is the last remnant of the historical post-glacial Tarim Lake, which once covered more than 10,000 km (3,900 sq mi) in the Tarim Basin but had progressively shrunk throughout the Holocene due to rain shadowing by the Tibetan Plateau . Lop Nur is hydrologically endorheic , it is landbound and has no outlet, and has relied largely on meltwater runoffs from

3465-486: The Tianshan , Kunlun and the western Qilian Mountains . The lake measured 3,100 km (1,200 sq mi) in 1928, but has dried up due to construction of reservoirs which dammed the flow of water feeding into the lake, and only small seasonal lakes and salt marshes may form. The dried-up Lop Nur Basin is covered with a salt crust ranging from 30 to 100 cm (12 to 39 in) in thickness. An area to

3564-762: 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 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

3663-823: 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

3762-540: 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

3861-431: The 20th century. A mummy called the Beauty of Loulan was found at a cemetery site on the bank of Töwän River. The Xiaohe Cemetery is located to the west of Lop Nur. This Bronze Age burial site is an oblong sand dune, from which more than thirty well preserved mummies have been excavated. The entire Xiaohe Cemetery contains about 330 tombs, about 160 of which have been violated by grave robbers. A local hunter guided

3960-414: 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

4059-558: 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

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4158-423: 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,

4257-450: The Arjin Mountains in the south, and the Aqike Valley below, have more vegetation cover and provide the best habitat for the wild camels. The wild camel population of the reserve was estimated at 638 in 2013. Virtually all of them are found in the southeastern third of the area, although they do roam outside the boundaries. The Aqike Valley appears to be the prime breeding ground, as it benefits from more extensive vegetation, snow melt from

4356-430: The Chinese Foreign Ministry has dismissed the report and its "utterly irresponsible" claims. China has denied any nuclear testing plans on the site. Lop Nur is home to the wild Bactrian camel , which is a separate species from the Bactrian camel . The camels have continued to breed naturally despite the nuclear testing. China signed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty in 1996 but did not ratify it. Subsequently,

4455-466: The Chinese empire in 55 BC, renamed Shanshan . Faxian went by the Lop Desert on his way to the Indus valley (395–414), followed by later Chinese pilgrims. Marco Polo in his travels passed through the Lop Desert . In the 19th century and early 20th century, the explorers Ferdinand von Richthofen , Nikolai Przhevalsky , Sven Hedin and Aurel Stein visited and studied the area. It is also likely that Swedish soldier Johan Gustaf Renat had visited

4554-414: The Chinese explorer Yu Chunshun died while trying to walk across Lop Nur. 40°10′N 90°35′E  /  40.167°N 90.583°E  / 40.167; 90.583 Lop Nur, situated in the arid Xinjiang region of China's far west, serves as an extensive military base. This location was selected for nuclear testing due to its desolate and isolated nature, devoid of any permanent inhabitants, though

4653-522: 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

4752-417: 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 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

4851-415: 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

4950-453: The Lop Nur dried basin, the Kara-Koshun dried basin and the Taitema Lake basin. This shift of the terminal lake caused some confusion amongst the early explorers as to the exact location of Lop Nur. Imperial maps from the Qing dynasty showed Lop Nur to be located in similar position to the present Lop Nur dried basin, but the Russian geographer Nikolay Przhevalsky instead found the terminal lake at Kara-Koshun in 1867. Sven Hedin visited

5049-482: 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

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5148-404: The Swedish explorer and archeologist Folke Bergman to the site in 1934. An excavation project by the Xinjiang Cultural Relics and Archaeology Institute began in October 2003. A total of 167 tombs have been dug up since the end of 2002 and excavations have revealed hundreds of smaller tombs built in layers, as well as other precious artifacts. In 2006, a valuable archeological finding was uncovered:

5247-411: 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

5346-419: 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 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

5445-509: The Tarim River and Konque River were separated through human intervention, and Lop Nur dried out again by 1964. In 1972, the Daxihaizi Reservoir was built at Tikanlik, water supply to the lake was cut off, and all the lakes for the most part then dried out, with only small seasonal lakes forming in local depressions in Taitema. The loss of water to the lower Tarim River Valley also led to the deterioration and loss of poplar forests and tamarix shrubs that used to be extensively distributed along

5544-436: 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:

5643-420: 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 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

5742-404: 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 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

5841-405: 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

5940-418: The area in 1900–1901 and suggested that the Tarim river periodically changed its course to and from between its southbound and northbound direction, resulting in a shift in the position of the terminal lake. The change in the course of the river, which resulted in Lop Nur drying up, was also suggested by Hedin as the reason why ancient settlements such as Loulan had perished. In 1921, due to human intervention,

6039-403: The area when he was helping the Zunghars to produce maps over the area in the eighteenth century. The lake was given various names in ancient Chinese texts. In Shiji it was called Yan Ze (鹽澤, literally Salt Marsh), indicating its saline nature, near which was located the ancient Loulan Kingdom . In Hanshu it was called Puchang Hai (蒲昌海, literally Sea of Abundant Reed) and was given

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6138-490: The atmosphere. In 2009, Jun Takada, a Japanese scientist, published the results of his computer simulation which suggests – based on deaths from Soviet tests – that 190,000 people could have died in China from nuclear-related illnesses. Enver Tohti, an exiled pro-Uyghur independence activist, claimed that cancer rates in the province of Xinjiang were 30 to 35% higher than the national average. On 29 July 1996, China conducted its 45th and final nuclear test at Lop Nor, and issued

6237-463: The broader Xinjiang region is home to the Uyghurs , a predominantly Muslim ethnic group that has historically faced widespread detentions and stringent security measures in Xinjiang conflict . The Uyghurs have persistently voiced concerns regarding the health risks posed by the towering mushroom clouds and the release of radioactive fallout . China established the Lop Nur Nuclear Test Base on 16 October 1959 with Soviet assistance in selection of

6336-421: The camels were classified as an endangered species on the IUCN Red List . Since the cessation of nuclear testing at Lop Nur, human incursions into the area have caused a decline in the camel population. Wild Bactrian camels have been classified as critically endangered since 2002 and approximately half of the 1400 remaining wild Bactrian camels live on the former Lop Nur test base, which has been designated

6435-498: 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

6534-442: 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,

6633-422: The desert has been the cutting of poplars and willows for firewood; in response, a restoration project to reclaim the poplar forests was initiated. The Kara-Koshun dried basin may be considered part of the greater Lop Nur. On 17 June 1980, Chinese scientist Peng Jiamu disappeared while walking into Lop Nur in search of water. His body was never found, and his disappearance remains a mystery. On 3 June 1996,

6732-419: 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

6831-425: 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

6930-423: 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

7029-411: The kingdom in 1st century BCE. It was abandoned some time in the seventh century. Its location was discovered by Sven Hedin in 1899, who excavated some houses and found a wooden Kharosthi tablet and many Chinese manuscripts from the Jin dynasty (266–420). Aurel Stein also excavated at the site in the beginning of the 20th century, while Chinese archaeologists explored the area in the latter part of

7128-613: 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

7227-812: 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

7326-474: The lower Tarim River Valley forming the so-called "Green Corridor". In 2000, in an effort to prevent further deterioration of the ecosystem, water was diverted from Lake Bosten in an attempt to fill the Taitema Lake. The Taitema Lake however had shifted 30 to 40 kilometres (19 to 25 mi) westwards during the past 40 years due in part to the spread of the desert. Another cause of the destabilization of

7425-508: 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

7524-452: The mountains, and an underground water table that approaches 2 meters from the surface. The camels have adapted to drinking the salt water of the desert. In recent years, professional management has been brought to the reserve, with patrols and guard checkpoints, scientific surveys, public education initiatives, and has channeled water from the mountains to prime breeding areas. The population of wild camels appears to be recovering. Poaching

7623-405: 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

7722-432: 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 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

7821-468: 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

7920-609: The northern half of the province known as Dzungaria or Beijiang. Its northern boundary is the Tian Shan mountain range and its southern boundary 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

8019-399: The northwest of Lop Nur has been used as a nuclear testing site . Since the discovery of potash at the site in the mid-1990s, it is also the location of a large-scale mining operation. There are some restricted areas under military management and cultural relics protection points in the region, which are not open to the public. From around 1800 BC until the 9th century the lake supported

8118-485: 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 the west end of the Gansu Corridor . Settlements include Kashgar; Yangi Hissar , famous for its knives; Yarkand , once larger than Kashgar; Karghalik (Yecheng), with

8217-489: 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),

8316-411: The presence of a drilling rig that had created a deep vertical shaft. This shaft was believed to be designed to contain the destructive power of radiation resulting from large nuclear explosions . Further analysis of the satellite images since 2017 also uncovered the development of new infrastructure at the site. This included the construction of new roads, power lines, an electrical substation, and

8415-577: 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

8514-460: The reserve has been described as "hostile". Extreme aridity, extreme heat in summer, extreme cold in winter, and abrasive sandstorms create an environment that few plants or animals are adapted to survive. The climate classification is Cold desert climate " ( Köppen climate classification "BWk" ). Parts of the area receive an average of only 10–20 mm of precipitation per year, with an average 4,000 mm/year evaporation. The Lop Nur Reserve

8613-472: The site, with its headquarters at Malan ( 马兰 , Mǎlán ), about 125 kilometres (78 mi) northwest of Qinggir . The first Chinese nuclear bomb test , codenamed " Project 596 ", occurred at Lop Nur on 16 October 1964. China detonated its first hydrogen bomb on 17 June 1967. Until 1996, 45 nuclear tests were conducted. These nuclear tests were conducted by dropping bombs from aircraft, mounted on towers, launching missiles, detonating weapons underground and in

8712-642: The southeastern portion of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region , northwestern China , between the Taklamakan and Kumtag deserts. Administratively, the lake is in Lop Nur town ( Chinese : 罗布泊镇 ; pinyin : Luóbùpō zhèn ), also known as Luozhong ( 罗中 ; Luózhōng ) of Ruoqiang County , which in its turn is part of the Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture . The lake system, into which

8811-556: 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

8910-440: The terminal lake shifted its position back to Lop Nur. The lake measured 2400 km in area in 1930–1931. In 1934, Sven Hedin went down the new Kuruk Darya ("Dry River") in a canoe. He found the delta to be a maze of channels and the new lake so shallow that it was difficult to navigate even in a canoe. He had previously walked the dry Kuruk Darya in a caravan in 1900. In 1952 the terminal lake then shifted to Taitema Lake when

9009-669: 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

9108-683: 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

9207-547: 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

9306-497: 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 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

9405-661: Was discovered. The second type of burial, from a later period, also consisted of shaft pit graves, surrounded by seven concentric circles of poles. Six male graves were found, in which the bodies were extended on their backs, and facing towards the east. Few artifacts were found, except for some traces of copper, or bronze. Miran is located to the south-west of Lop Nur. Buddhist monasteries were excavated here, and murals and sculptures showed artistic influences from India and Central Asia , with some showing influences from as far as Rome . Tarim Basin The Tarim Basin

9504-574: 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 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

9603-717: 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

9702-596: 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

9801-758: 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

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